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Section 3, part 3: Volcano Alley
Day 36: Loja to Catacocha, 95k Our day started by climbing out of Loja. We started before the city woke up, quiet streets and barely any traffic. Once out the city limits the road turned to beautifully greenery lined highway with wild flowers, pine trees and eucalyptus trees. The air was cold and the fog…
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Section 3, part 2: Volcano Alley
Day 31: Puyo to Macas, 130k We must be getting stronger because today was not a difficult riding day. Mostly rolling hills with a climb after lunch, but we made it through. We rode along highway 45 or the Troncal Amazonia. At about 25k there was a look out point, Mirador. It cost $.50 per…
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Section 3, part 1: Volcano Alley
Day 28: Quito to Papallacta, 75k I decided not to ride today to give my saddle sores another day of rest. I rode the bus and talked food with the tour chef. 6:30am on a Saturday of a holiday weekend made for an easy ride out of Quito. The ride was basically a long ascent…
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Section 2, part 3: Coffee and Cocoa
Day 24: Pasto to Ipiales, 40k We rode the bus to lunch so we could ride to a tourist attraction/catholic pilgrimage site, Las Lajas Sanctuary. The planned ride was about 85k and the tour director recommend that we skip to lunch so we could ride the extra 12k round trip to the church. Bruce and…
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Section 2, Part 2: Coffee and Cocoa
Day 20: San Augustin to Coconuco, 110k The morning started out cool and cloudy. We had a long decent before we started to climb. Bruce missed the first turn on the descent and added about 20 minutes and 5k to his day. We began climbing into the town of Isnos. We stopped at a bakery…
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San Agustin
Bruce and I were very excited to see the ruins in San Agustin. We first learned of the ruins in a coffee shop if Bogota, Tocoa Cafe. The barista gave us a quick lecture about the coffee beans that come from the region. I did a quick Internet search and learned that San Agustin has…
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Section 2, Part 1: Coffee and Cocoa
Bogota Rest days are usually busy with running errands to replenish toiletries and bike supplies, laundry, and bike maintenance. We don’t really get to be tourists and we might get a nap. We had 2 full days in Bogota and were able to complete our errands and enjoy the city a bit. Right next to…
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Section 1, Part 3: Undiscovered Country
Day 8: Medellin to Pipinita 91 k We joined with the Siclas group again for the convoy out of the city. We had to ride in a group on the highway during morning rush hour traffic. I continue to be amazed that Colombian drivers are beyond aggressive, but everyone seems to be patient. I have…
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Section 1, Part 2: Undiscovered Country
Day 4 San Marcos to Caucasia Due to poor dirt road conditions after rain storms, we chartered a 30 ft rice boat to go down the river. The early morning was quiet and serene with fisherman on their canoes and the locals sitting along the river, sipping their Aguapanela. The boat ride was about…
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Section 1, part 1: Undiscovered Country
Day 1: Cartagena to Maria Labaja, 90 k We left Cartagena at 6:30 am, rode in a large group throughout the city for the first 20k because drivers are crazy in the city and its our first day. Once out of the city and industrial parks we quickly approached rural Columbia: Beautiful rolling pastures,…
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The Nations Abroad 