101 kms. Now we really left the mountains, but still they made us climb 1150 (!) meters this day. Our Colombian day-record until now. Funny how these mountains trick you, you are going down all the time and while doing this you have to climb so many meters.
Beautiful stretch. Left at 07.00 hrs, had breakfast 10 kms out of town, pan caliente, warm bread and some sweet coffee. Leaving the city we passed through some very poor areas. Wooden huts with corrugated iron roofs stacked over each other against the mountain side. There were piles of rubbish along the road, where scores of these small vultures were feeding. One scene was striking: amidst these vultures a man was squatting on the rubbish and like the birds he was scavaging for food. Glad to be past this scene.
It was a long hot day, temps in the high thirties. We made many stops and had a lot of jugo natural, freshly pressed fruit juice, from all kinds of fruits that they have plenty of. You have them natural, with crushed ice and water or with milk. All variations are a treat. At about 17.00 we met with Ian, a Brit living in Canada, who had started in Vancouver, had done 12.000 kms in 7 months so far and was heading south to Argentina. I was a bit concerned about his bike. He had cantilever brakes, and from my own experience I know that they don’t do very well in steep downhills. On top of that he had disengaged the rear one, because his rear wheel wasn’t straight any more. And the mountains we had been in for 10 days were right in front of him. But he looked a guy who can solve any problem, so he will be alright I’m sure. His current challenge – so he told us – was not to pay for accommodation between the coast and Bogotà. So far he had been succesful, just knocked on people’s doors and asked for a place to sleep. It appeared to work in this kind country.
Reaching San Alberto we were addressed by a young boy, if we were looking for a hotel. After a check with a nicely dressed gentlemen I was told: “Vaya con el” so we followed the little chap and he took us to a clean and quiet place with aircon rooms for 36000 pesos. Not bad, he only wanted some coins for a “gaseoso”. Done with pleasure. In the evening we had a hamburger again. Are we being Americanised here? ….. forbid.

Te track: Download 20100113_buca_sanalberto.gpx