Today’s agenda s a full one: Ipiaples and the beautiful Sanctuary of Las Lajas, a basilica church nestled in a crack between the mountains of southern Colombia. Then cross the border into Ecuador and hopefully make it to Quito all in one day. I have breakfast at the hotel and hit the road.

It’s a beautiful ride up and out of the La Cocha valley.

So I get a little mixed up in Ipiales again…I’m riding down this street I don’t like the environs so much, but then I spy some military guys. I like stopping to ask police and militarias directions because I feel safe.  So I pull over to the curb and shut off the engine. These kids with guns are not more than 20-22. Three of them all three come over and start chattin with me. They do not care that I am lost…they want to know all about  me, where I come from, all about the bike how many cc’s, how much does it cost, what’s this (GPS) etc. Theya re all relaxed, so relaxed that one of them rests on his machine gun…the only problem is…

THE BUSINESS END OF THE MACHINE GUN IS ON THE TOE OF MY RIGHT BOOT!!!

First I try to curl my toes out of the way…not working.
Next I try to slide my booted foot gently out of the way…not working.

Finally, I just move my foot out of the way real quick-like, and the soldier nearly falls over, and I nearly fall over with the bike trying to get away from the gun.

Ha!

I was too nervous to take pics there, but as I rounded the corner I took one over my shoulder…impressive armature! In hindsight I am glad it was only a machne gun on my foot and not one of the tanks on my foot…

I got out of town pretty esaily with their directions, and back onto the Panamericana sur.

PEAJE!

Gosh, pretty nice road for the main South American thoroughfare…

Ipiales, Colombia.

I decide to have lunch here…I am hungry and not sure how long the side trip to Las Lajas will take. I stop at this  panaderia (bake shop) and have a tamale, fresh juice, and a bunelo (a typical Colombian fried bread thing). The area is a little seedy, so I park the bike right out front where I can dine and watch the bike. There’s a lot of interest int eh bike on the street, many people stopping, looking, touching, etc.  The boundaries in Latin America are a little different than in the USA, so I try to walk a good line between letting things be the way they are, and watching for my personal safety and that of the bike.

I have to pay to park. Las Lajas is obviously a MAJOR tourist attraction. Luckily, the sellers here are a little more respectful of where they are selling (a holy place)–they are not calling out to tourists, trying to pull you into their booths.

These are thank-you’s to Mary, blessings from families, etc.

Holy Water.

The walkway back up.

I LOVE the contrast. The  incongruity  of it all. They were BLASTING music all the way down…

I suppose everywhere the trash needs to be picked up…but sheesh…mid-day in a place of deep spiritual connection and reverence? How often do you get a pic of THAT? I laughed all the way up the (steep!) hill.

You know, when I pulled in, I thought these were statues. I jumped when one got up and left…

Ok, not too far to the border. But, oofa, I don’t feel good. Stomach is a little weird. Just “off”…cannot explain it.

Leaving Colombia is quite sad for me…I made many good friends, overcame many fears, have eaten some of the best food of my trip, and seen some of the most spectacular scenery so far. Three weeks was not nreay enough! I want to come back and see the the whole North coast. I hope the elections this fall brings Colombia a new president that is equally committed to fighting the guerillas, and maybe will help the people a little more <end of my political opinions>

Colombia was marvelously efficient in handling my exit paperwork. It took less than 10 minutes to do both my bike and MY paperwork.

Aduana office: you actually got to go inside and SIT DOWN! First time! Border crossings are looking up!

Migracion:

I got a little later start than I would like, but it was worth waiting for the fog to clear off.  The Panamericana was great.

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Except for this poor guy…

PEAJE!

Up, down, across mountain ranges…

Brunch. I was starving! Thsi was a really good roadside restaurant mean with fried bananas, salad, yucca, rice, and some stew/bean concoction.

PEAJE!

I get mucked around a bit in the city of Pasto, but find my way around and back out to the country to a special place that Mrs. Villegas told me about.

I got bungled up in Pasto, but I am getting better and better with asking for (and understanding!) directions…

And soon I got onto the right “country” road leading to Lago de la Cocha. Both Sory and Liliana had told me how gorgeous it was, so I was easer to see it.

The shadows are getting long, I amr eady to be off the bike, and thankfully I finally see my Lake…Lago de Cocha.

Shadows were getting loooooooooooooooong…

I wind up at this hotel on the lake, and I decide to get off the bike and take some pics. It’s so beautiful and peaceful.

A fellow comes out of the hotel and asks if I am looking for a room. I know it is too expensive for my budget, but I decide to play along. Yup, he wants like $90/night. I say that’s too much…he asks what i usually pay, an I tell him the truth: around $20-$30 dollars. He asks me to wait, goes in, calls the boss, and I end up with the room for $30. Its the top end of my budget, but it’s so NICE there. I decide to splurge, without even seeing the room.

The fellow has a lovely daughter, Yeraldin, around 8-10 years old.  She’s really sweet, and once I get the bike snugged inside their portico, she insists on carrying my bag up to the room for me. I change out of motorcycle clothes and decide to go for a walk…when I come downstairs the young girl hands me a not…she’s wrtten me a welcome card on notebook paper, welcoming me to the hotel. Heck, no need to buy anything, this is one  of the most valuable souvinirs of my trip!!

I ask her father if Yeraldin can accompany me for my sunset pics walk, and she’s delightful, if energetic,  company.

She hops, skips and jumps all the way down to the lake, then starts throwing every type of natural matter she can find into the lake…

She follow me around all night. we practice counting in English, she helps me with Spanish vocabulary. At 8 pm she completely runs out of gas and tells me she is going to bed. Phew! I was exhausted by all her energy too!

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The next morning she chats with me while I eat breakfast, then she’s off to school.

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I bring some goodies over to the house and have breakfast with the girls.

Andrea wants to take me for a tour of the things I have not seen yet in Popayan…and she’s not too hard to talk into going on my bike with me…

Isn’t she cute?

We ride up to the Bolivar statue, and sit amongst the lovers and families and chat for a while. The sun is at an awkward angle to take pics, and it’s hard not to capture the massive graffiti that is on the monument

Next stop is San Joe Church. It’s lovely.

We walk to the main square…

And there are some guys offering pics of kids on this little guy.

Then it’s back to the fabrica for lunch. Why do we always go there for lunch? Because Jorge’s folks used to live there, and there is a house attached to the fabrica. Today Mr and Mrs Villegas went and did their monthly marketing. I do not know it yet, but I will get a tour of all the wonderful and strange vegetables they buy.

But first, LUNCH!

Mrs. Villegas will probably hate me, but I needed this picture…She is so fastidious (and gave me numerous lectures on eating healthy) that every few months she empties out the kitchen, scrubs it down, cleans everything and puts it back in. I just thought it was so funny to see the entire contents of her kitchen on the back porch…

She prepared my favorite…caldo do…de..yes! Choclo (corn)

Fried bananas (maduros)–gosh I love them. Served here with Arepas. Better with butter and salt. Otherwise, terribly boring. Oh yeah, I had a good one in Cali stuffed with cheese, too.

Third course: Beef, carrots, rice. I’m going to have to get Edward to visit her and learn to cook some of these great things…

OK, the market tour:

ha! But she won’t just let me take pictures, she has to arrange everything…an as she is arranging I get full descriptions (mostly forgotten because I leave the cooking to others)

Tomate de Arbol. (Tomato from the tree?) Ever seen such a thing? I’m not such a big fan…

Now this IS my favorite;;;LULO!!!

Um…tried one before. kinda like gelatinous goey mess with seeds and I forget the name. No thanks, Andrea can have it all

Funky potatoes…

Well, then it was time to collect my bags and say goodbye…How sad! I was happy to have beeen ‘adopted’ for a week…

Even the neighbors got in on the good-bye.

Today Catalina and her sister Andrea pick me  up at 6:30 am to go up to the Thermals at Coconuco. We want to get there before it gets too hot and also before the crowds set ii.

We have breakfast together on the way there, and then get there about 8 am. I am really psyched to have some  girl time–I’ve been missing it and I really have just fallen in love with Catalina. I call her the sister of my heart–we just clicked and have a deep and honest communication between us.

I thought this was a cool pic…the calcified water drain. The baths smell like sulphur. We stink. But the water is very hot and thank goodness clean since we are the second people there for the day…they don’t even have all the pools filled up yet.

Catalina is used to me, but Andrea is learning that I like to stop and tae lots of pics…here’s Cata arranging for us to have luck with their folks back at the wine factory. I am excited to tell Jorge of my tour idea.

Here are some pics of the finest CHIVA ever made…

Look at the details!!!

Cata is gracious enough to take me back to the little city, where I want to buy something I saw for Edward…

We are all relaxed after the baths…poor Andrea just falls over in the back seat of the car,,,

we went and had delicious arroz con pollo for lunch, chatted a good long while, then I made my goodbye. I can talk to these girls for hours on end, but honestly I am soooooooooooooooo relaxed after the mineral baths I want to go back to the hotel. I konck out at 8:30 pm

(continued)

Okay, well fed, my ride back to Popayan starts in earnest.

It’s beautiful scenery, along 150 +/- km of dirt roads, and I am loving it.

Some days I don’t make very good time because I stop and take so many pictures. I love these days where I just *travel*, not have an overbearing schedule I need to keep up with, or a set time to be anywhere, just as long as I am there before dark.

CHIVA!

I’ve learned that when I see a flock of motorbikes along te road, it usually means there’s a road crow working up ahead…

I rise up into the Park…

Bad baby cow! He was trukking along down the road….no momma cow in sight.  They might have to  put a second stick on this one…

Wish I’d'a seen one of these critters.

“Bridge in Bad Repair”

It seemed like I roose up and down and went through about 4 distinct goegraphical changes along the way…the landscape was really quite remarkable…

Down into a neat little valley…and had TWO cups of local strawberries and cream for lunch.

Sheesh, the scenery just kept getting better and better. It was turning out to be one of “those” days…unforgettable days of the trip.

This was the most amazing day In the space of a day I rode from Mountains to Jungle to Pampa to Flatlands.

About halfway through the day an idea struck me: Why not lead a boutique tour of 5-6 motorcyclists that want to see this fabulous country, but do not want to do it alone? I now have the insider knowledge and contacts through Asturias Motos and other people I’ve met to make it happen…

I was so excited about this idea I could not wait to share it with Cata and the Villegas family.

Packing up early that morning, a local finds a baby owl in the street. He works at the Archaealogical park and says he will take it there to release…I tell in that the owl has no wing feathers yet, it cannot fly, and it needs its mother still to learn to hunt.

The host at the hostal tells him to take it to the Veterinarian and he will pay the bill…thanks gracious Don Mario at Hostal Maya!!!

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I decide to take the road to the North out of San Agustin. This is for three reasons…one, the more southern road is closed between 8-12 am, two I hate to backtrack even a little, and three I would ik to see the big waterfall that they say is second highest in South America (since I missed the FIRST highest one in Venezuela, Angel Falls)

This road is quite rural and goes through several small villages.

I also pass through miles of sugar cane fields…

Everyone has their work cut out for them up here.

After passing a couple of sugar mills, I finally stop roadside to snap some pics of this one…

and what happens next is SO typical of Colombia, and why I loved it there so much.

A lady comes out and says hellp. I tell her I’ve been riding through all this sugar cane, and finally I had to take a picture of a mill. She invites me for a tour! It turns out to be a panela mill. Panela is this sweet substance, what you get when you burn off all the water from the sugar cane. They sell it packaged in the store, crumbled as a sweetener (it has a distinct taste so be prepared!) They also sell it here at the mill in a brick form. People will add water to it again and make a morning warm drink out of it, or use it to make candies and such.  Here’s more info from Wikipedia.

Heres the business end of the mill: the fire.

She tells me they burn every two weeks. They spend two weeks cutting, then two weeks burning and making the bricks. They use the spent cane stalks to fuel the fire. I am glad I came here when they were not burning– otherwise I would probably not have gotten a tour!

Ok, Yum. They left this is in the vat…

Mind you, this is sticky, sweet matter. There are bees EVERYWHERE. Everyone that knows me knows that I can become irrational when confronted with flying-stinging things. It’s 800 degrees but I leave all my gear on!

Here’s the “still”

The molds:

And the crowd that has gathered to talk to the gringa.

I’d like to point  out that this happened everywhere I went–immense interest in a stranger. This was one of the few times I’ve been bold enough to ask to take a picture.

At the end of the tour I bought a brick of Panela and gave it to the Villega family when I arrived back in Poayan…looking at the pics again they much have thought I was nuts bringing them this sticky blob. What’s a girl to do?

Although rural and poor, there is quite a lot of beauty up here…and not very much trash!

Another one of the many, many panela mills up here.

Colombians love their sweets! Here’s a whole wall full of them in a really small, rural tienda I stopped at.

from the store I got directions to the Salto de Borbones (the waterfall) .

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The place is deserted. And vandalized. It looks like the people just walked away…

I backtrack a bit

And I get to a town where I can have breakfast (soup! it’s whats for breakfast!)

I ask why the lookout for the waterfall is in such a sorry state, and they tell me its because of the guerillas! The people running the place got sick of all the hassles and left. It was SUCH a great place, too. So peaceful. Although the waterfall was so far away it wasn’t much to look at…

Or tourism anywhere for that matter…

I suppose there’s all kinds of tourism to be had, if one looks for it.

I did NOT go looking for anything extraordinary, but while in  San Agustin the extraordinary came up and offered itself to me…in the form of

a) a tour of a cocaine “factory”…

b) i was offered unset emeralds on the street…(and I had to say NO three times before the guy finally got the message)

c) a “shamanistic” tour…this one was the best…i stopped to ask this guy directions up on the dirt road I showed you…he was standing by the road. He tells me where I need to go, and offers me his guide services at the archaealogical site  I decline, and then he whips out his three ring binder, and starts showing me pics of plants, as he is telling me he can set me up with a shaman: what type of journey would I like? Mushrooms, some weird cactus, i forget now butt like 4-5 substances. I say no thanks, but then ome the pics of the types of experiences I can have…floaty people, rainbows, psychedelic new age art, etc. I say to him I wlil leave the hallucunations to the shamans, and I leave.

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One thing I would like to mention: ALL THREE of these folks were wearing “official” tourism department badges! ALL THREE!

So when Humberto dropped me off,  he told me there’s a colectivo (collective taxi) that leaves every 10 minutes from the museum to the town…just grab that to get back to my hotel.

Well, of course when I am done there is no colectivo.

There’s an ambulance there, and since there is no one else around, I start chatting with the driver and the nurse…

turns out they had a private duty run and delivered a patient nearby, and were going to overnight locally. They said they were heading back into town and offered me a ride…

We laughed and joked and had a good ‘ole time…and took pics and had a really nice goodbye…

and they rolled by with full lights and sirens just to make me laugh…

Well I decided to “splurge” and rent a horse (and guide) to tour San Agustin. There are 4 sites that are up in the backcountry that I hoped would make it worthwhile.

Having owned horses most of my life, I explained to my guide, Humberto (who works at the tourist office in San Agustin–is that a conflict of interest?!?) I explained to Humberto that if he showed up in the morning with a skinny, maltreated horse I was not going on the tour and I was not going to pay him. I said I was only going to give my money to someone who took good care of their animals. He thought I was nuts, but he did show up with a horse that had a little flesh on it…

First Stop: La Caquira

This tour is obviously geared towards tourists…we walk around a museum, and Humberto tells me I have to pay the lady $2 for the tour. Then he offers me a banana.

Old instruments to squeeze the juice from the sugarcane.

Old brazier for the sugar juice.

Old still.

Old instruments.

Old something (I forget).

Off we go again…

My view for most of the morning.

My guide, Humberto.

Yup, everyone in Central and South America has a cell phone. It still cracks me up to see indigenous women using them for some reason…

I now have a new favorite fruit: Lulo. Heres a Lulo plantation.

ah, the bad cow. Whenever you see a cow wearing one of these it means he’s been bad (usually an escape artist). Humberto laughed when I said “vaca mala“.

These figures are dug up from graves. They are placed in front of the body in the tomb: if the buried person is male, they get a female protector. If female, they get a male protector.  Note that they all (except the owls) have Jaguar teeth. Jaguars were an important part of the culture.

This carving is significant: it still retains vestiges of the paint from when originally interred:

Motifs from the graves recur on “modern” houses.

After 5.5 hours on horseback, I was ready to get off. Humberto ended the tour at the Parque Arqueologico, where I (thankfully) hed to walk for a few hours.

Here’s a pic for my friend that appreciate weird vegetation:

I took over 200 pics inside the park. To spare your computers endless bandwith usage, I am just going to give you the complete tour of the statue forest (35 sculptures).

Enjoy!