We awake in our little room and head down to the beach below. The stairs are steep, almost more a ladder than stairs, which is going to be tricky with the luggage. Down below, we watch as Felix, the young man who hosts the hostel, preps everything for when the guests awake. Rake the sand, sweep the sand of of everything, spray the area down with something (hopefully not too nasty). The people here sure do work hard for their money. Felix is the last one to bed and the first one up at the hostel.
We eat breakfast and have coffee. Neither were particularly good but the scenery more than makes up for it. The showers weren’t looking that good either, so I just decided on a morning dip in the ocean, most refreshing. While floating in the warm waters, all by myself and just after sunrise, the thought came to me that most shark attacks are early morning. Seconds later I spot a disturbance in the water 20 meters or so away, so I scramble quickly to vacate. As the small log broke the surface and floated by, I was happy no one was there to witness my bravery.
As of 9 am, Felix took off down the beach and arranged for a boat to come bring us back to the parking area. I struggle with all my bags down the stairs-ladder, while Chris ends up with Felix bringing his down for him. Our boat arrived and Felix and the boat captain, Mateo, load our stuff into the launch. We say goodbye and get shuttled along the coastline to the parking. As we beach and our bags are unloaded, Mateo mentions he will bring the bags up the hill to the parking lot for a propina (tip). We agree to this and watch a skinny 45 year old man haul our two bags over his head and walk the steep, sandy/rocky path, barefoot to the parking lot. I tipped him 10,000 pesos (about $4), which I thought would be normal, but it must have been a lot, as Mateo was very happy and tried to stay and help me load the bike. Chris tipped him separately a minute later, so it must have been a decent haul. As we pulled away, he kept telling us to remember Mateo. If we come back, remember his name and look for Mateo.
Leaving the coast, we turn back inland for the last couple of days on the motorcycles. Now, back on the pan American highway, we run into 3 separate bikes all doing the entire route. First is a german couple, who are doing the route on a Colombian plated 200cc Chinese bike they has bought. Next, a young dutch guy who shipped his honda nighthawk to Halifax and then spend the next 8 months working his way to Colombia. Lastly, as we stopped for the day, a Mexican couple on a BMW, working their way down south America.
After a nice but relatively uneventful day of travel, we stop in Caucasia for the night. A search of hotels on the drive through doesnt find much, so I head back to one we had stayed at 3 years ago. A nice hotel behind a gas station. Decent price and my phone still remembered the wifi password. We went to dinner at a little roadside place, “Sazon Y Sabor Asados”. I had the beef Hawaiian style, which means the beef takes the place of a crust, but has all the pizza toppings on top of it. Sounds weird, but it was really good. Chris had something similar, but not Hawaiian.
We call it a night and head back to the hotel.
Colombia Motorcycle Ride 