Colombia - South towards Medellin

Eventually I looped around to the Caribbean coast again, about 200kms south of Cartagena and stayed in a little town that only appeared as a name on my open source mapping, with no streets or buildings indicated. Arboletes is a bustling little town right on the edge of the Caribbean with a large central square full of vendors and mototaxis. 

I did a couple of loops around the town to the stares and a few thumbs up from the locals, looking for a hotel. There was a large waterfront hotel that was clearly aimed at the luxury tourist and didn’t appeal to me at all. I rode past another couple of smaller hotels that had no obvious parking and followed the coast out of town for a kilometre. There I found The Elephant Hotel on about 2 acres with a swimming pool and access to the beach. It had an interesting eclectic collection of large timber furniture including a long table made from a single piece of timber and a motorcycle model.

I walked into town and looked at the colourful and varied shops and bars lining the main street that was again crammed with motorcycles. I have a few sewing chores to do with my kit. The hammock has a hole in the side and one of the straps came off the side of my Airhawk seat cover, both needing needling. I was also looking for stickers and cloth patches but they seem to be non existant. I spoke with lots of locals in the shops and they were smiling, friendly engaging and tried really hard to help. The language is still difficult to understand with the local dialect but I met one woman who spoke English and she explained a couple of the local greetings that is typical for Colombia when you enter a shop.

I walked back to the square and spoke with the mototaxi guys. They knew who I was and remembered seeing Ziggy and knew where I was staying. These guys are connected! We had a talk and a few laughs and I shared photos on my iPhone of my family and Ziggy. They were all smiles and handshakes when I left. I ate at a local restaurant opposite the square and had a hearty soup and main course with zapotie juice for $4.

Then caught a mototaxi home.

I think the thing I like most about Colombia are the tollways. At each toll station – piaje – there is a lane on the right hand side that is specifically for motorcycles. If you are on two wheels you need not pay any toll. Oh Colombia, you are a forward thinking nation!

The ride along this part of the coast was great, a mixture of long straights and bends with small towns that each had their own unique character. 

There is a whole holiday just in this area with the road following the Caribbean coast into a large bay, the Gulf of Uraba the other side of which goes into the area of land adjoining Panama. At the bottom of the gulf on the shores of the cool-named town of Turbo, is the Bay of Colombia. 

All the stories of the Darien Gap with bandits and drug lords may have some truth, but I was told it has some of the most beautiful coastal areas in Colombia. There are a few islands off the coast and there are signs to some of them but I didn’t take the time to really explore. I found out more about this area later and access doesn’t appear on Google maps.

My next stop was a little town called Mutata. It was on the highway and not overly attractive but it was getting to that time of the day and it was starting to rain a little. I was just about to really start the mountain riding and I thought it best to start on a new day. I found a small hotel on the edge of town with very clean rooms on the first floor and no other guests, for $10. To me the first floor is above the ground floor whereas in the US the first floor is the ground floor. Confusing. After a comfortable night’s sleep I woke to rain. Heavy set in rain. Not the start to the mountain roads I was looking for. I decided to use the time to catch up on some writing and uploading photos. It was nice to have some motel time to myself. As much as I like hostels and staying with people, I love my time to myself just to have some quiet space.

As fortune would have it, I woke to clear blue skies and dry roads. I packed up early and headed south in the warm morning air. Soon I was into the mountains and taking some beautiful elevated views. 

The morning mist was still hanging in the heights and the colours varied as layer upon layer of mountain ranges opened up ahead of me.

The traffic was light and the temperature a comfortable 25C as Ziggy breathed fresh air into her mechanical lungs and purred through the landscape. Incredibly I get my best fuel economy riding in this type of country, mountain ups and downs with lots of bends. At one point my computer calculated 3.8L/100kms. Not everyone was having such a good day. 

It was a great days ride however fairly short as I stopped at Santafe de Antioquia, a recommended town to stop at as it was Friday afternoon and Medellin is a large city. I learnt in Central America that weekends are the best time to enter cities.

The hotels were a bit more pricey here, the first quote I had was over $100US for the night. I eventually found one for $20, a beautiful place with a spa and king size bed. I was the only one there from what I could tell. The town itself is a tourist destination for locals from Medellin. There is a large square with stalls, coffee shops, restaurants and bars. 

Once again there were lots of motorcycles and quite a crowd of people. I found something to eat and later went out to check out the bars, expecting a decent Friday night in the town. Bit of a disappointment. Collectively the six or so bars had ten couples and a few groups of guys and that was it. The streets had young guys racing their unlit motorcycles at crazy speeds around the neighbourhood but it seems the people that were around in the late afternoon were all having a quiet night. I was back in my hotel by eleven. So much for plans of a night out.