Colombia

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We had lots of debate about when to start riding given Rachel's thumb injury. We asked if we could stay another night in the apartment but it was not free. This meant we either moved somewhere else in Cartagena or started riding. 

In the end Rachel decided her thumb was ok to get on the bike (she is very tough) and we headed for a campsite about 25km out of town.

The ride out was hectic. We were bottom of the pecking order with motos, cars and buses above us but we felt safe the whole time. The carriageways were a seething mass of vehicles all squeezing ever forwards and making use of every centimetre of tarmac. Despite this, we had time to engage in friendly chats with other road users at traffic lights and we didn't feel vulnerable at any point. It is incredibly absorbing riding in busy traffic and I have a love of it that I think stems from my time as a cycle courier.

The busy roads, the short distance and Rachel's sore thumb meant not many photos. However we did capture this amazing bright red tree. The colours were even more vivid in real life.

We liked this sign warning drivers to be aware of athletes in the road.

We stayed on a small farm (finca) owned by Graham who was originally from Scunthorpe but has been in Colombia for 50 years. He had some great insights into life there during the peak of Escobar's cartel reign. 

He has three raised, covered camping platforms that look out over jungle towards the coast. We were glad to be raised and under shelter as a heavy rain storm came through in the night.

We were only at about 200m above sea level but it felt a long way down first thing in the morning. We passed through a busy town called Turbana and got lots of friendly waves. This young lad rode alongside us for a few KM out of town.

At Gambote we rode alongside some very extensive wetlands for quite a way and marveled at the wading birds before climbing this bridge to cross a river flowing out of them.

We were on toll roads but the good thing about Colombia is that cyclists can use them for free. There is always a small lane past the toll booths specially for cyclists.

We saw this warning sign several times during the day but had no idea what it was warning us of. Any suggestions?

The final part of the day was riding through palm plantations that were busy harvesting the fruits for palm oil. The seed heads are collected in the motorbike/pickup vehicle and then transported to bigger lorries. It is clearly big business here.

We found a hotel with attached restaurant for the night. Just as we arrived, a huge rainstorm arrived and we would have got drenched just walking to our room so we decided to eat in the restaurant to save the bother of cooking for ourselves. 

It is so cheap. The room is the equivalent of £10 and a meal of: rice, lentils, eggs and fried plantain accompanied by two huge jugs of lime juice and a coffee was the equivalent of £5. We think we are going to like it here.

Google photos https://photos.app.goo.gl/p8J9ERd7iN2bGiZy9

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