An Insider´s Bike Tour outside Medellin and The Rock of El Penol

Today was a yet another wondrous day. I´m running out of adjectives that mean "awesome" to use in this blog because we´ve really had a lot of "awesome" days. So today I go with "wondrous". I´m totally open to suggestions by the way if anyone out there has a large vocabulary, at least larger than mine, and is willing to share.

So we were hoping to get the bikes into the Kawi dealership today but it turns out that it´s some huge Colombian Holiday and everything is shut down....figures. But this didn´t matter because the motorcycles decided to start up perfectly this morning and run like the gems they once were all day long. A while back Kyle had made a contact with a Scottish guy named Al who lives here in Medellin through the ADV aka Adventure Rider´s forum. Al offered to meet up with us and take us on a motorcycle tour around the area. Al is a recently transplanted Colombian and moved here from Ecuador where he owns 2 bars and spent the last 10 years. He´s currently working on opening a third pub-style bar here in Medellin called the Barking Spider, haha. Anyways, he rides a big KTM 950 Adventure and took us on an amazing tour today that we never would have been able to experience if it wasn´t for him. The final destination of this tour was El Penol.....see the shots below. And thanks a lot Al!

Al and his friend Paul showed up at our hostel this morning for the ride. It was amazing, Kyle´s bike fired up on the first try like there was never anything wrong. I think his bike is playing tricks on him or something. The big orange bike in the background is Al´s. Pretty cool bike and sure is a head-turner riding around in this area.

We rode about 30 miles out on a bunch of great twisty mountain roads and looked up and saw this enormous monolith....El Penol. El Penol (literally "the stone") is a ginormous, 200m high granite rock that rises straight up from the banks of Embalse del Penol, an artificial lake surrounding the area. You can see the shots of the lake from the top of the rock below.

Here´s the concrete staircase they´ve built that takes you up to the top of the rock. Didn´t count the stairs but there´s a lot...

There´s a 360 degree view from the top of the El Penol, pretty breathtaking. Here´s a shot of the lakes that surround the area. There´s a lot of nice houses and boats on the lake.

This little lady needs no introduction, she´s standing on the side of the mountain and watches over everyone climbing up.

Yours truly...

Here´s a group shot from today. Big Al told us he hates normal photos because they are too boring. He said the only way we were getting a picture of him was if there was some ear pulling involved. Big Al´s on the far right and Pauls on the left. Great guys.

Just a short post today, if the bikes are running fine tomorrow we head out from Medelling. If not there will definitely be a trip to the dealer in the works. Stay tuned....and thanks for following of course!

Mud Volcanoes, Bike Problems and the Stunning Country that is Colombia

So we finally made it Medellin today after a couple of challenging days on the road which included a beautiful ride into the mountains as well as motorcycles strapped into the backs of trucks. The main issue has been our bikes. The KLR´s were running like gems the entire trip with no problems until we blasted them with saltwater for 4 days straight on the sailboat. This was the beginning of our (mainly Kyle´s) mechanical/electrical problems. The second we pulled the bikes off the boat in Cartagena, Kyle´s green machine started having problems. We pulled the tank and unclogged the fuel valve, and after a couple attempts at a bumpstart we got it fired up. My bike has been a little pestering as well, but it always ends up firing up while Kyle seems to have gotten the short end of the stick bikewise. The rest of the story is in the pictures below. They say a picture´s worth a thousand words....enjoy!

First some fun before we get into the bike problems. Before we left Cartagena I joined our group of friends from the boat for a trip out to Volcan de Lodo El Totumo. It´s a naturally occurring mud volcano that is shaped like a large molehill and spews a lukewarm mud that has the viscosity of a thick cream. They´ve built stairways up to the top and you can take dip in the mud. This was definitely one one the coolest experiences I´ve had yet on the trip. The mud is so thick that it basically supports your entire bodyweight and suspends you in any position that you choose. Pretty crazy sensation. Not to mention its great for your skin, or so they say...

After we got out the local villagers took us down to the lagoon you see in the background. These women literally lead you by hand in to the water and start bathing you in the water to get the mud off. They scrub your hair, ears and whatever other bodypart may be hiding mud. They even told us guys to take our shorts off in the water, we did the scrubbing ourselves for that part of course... By the way the guy standing to the right of me in the picture below wasn´t in our group. He was wearing a pretty sweet thong though as you can see. Can´t tell if that´s a sock or he´s just happy to see me....Oh man that´s wrong, I know it, but just can´t help it :)



Now for the bike problems. After spending the majority of the second day in Cartagena at the Vehicle Import office to get our paperwork taken care of, we found a great local bike shop and the fun began. As you see in the picture above, this is the first of four times in the last six days Kyle´s bike has been in pieces. The guys at the shop were awesome though, and we left thinking the problems had been fixed. They also changed our oil, washed our bikes, scrubbed the rust from the saltwater of of all surfaces of the bikes. We hung out with them for a while and had a great time. One of the countless times in Columbia that we found the people to be more than friendly.

While Kyle´s bike was being worked on inside this guy did a great job of washing my bike. It was covered in saltwater before this and looked brand new afterwards.

After leaving Cartagena we got hit by some rain in the countryside. This was the start of the second round of bike problems.

This would be round two for taking Kyle´s bike apart. We were pulled over at a gas station with the bike in pieces when this big group of riders, the Moto Club of Medellin, pulled over to offer their services. We tried diagnosing the problem in several ways. It seemed the spark plug wasn´t firing so we pulled the plug and tested it. I think we´ve finally nailed it down to an electrical problem with the wirning to the spark plug. It´s really weird though because it seems like the bike works fine when it´s dry and hot, but completely shuts down when it hits any water.

The riders´ group was so awesome. They used all their contacts to find us a good mechanic in the small little town nearby and also gave us the name of the best Kawasaki mechanic here in Medellin. Another example of the genuine nature of most all Colombians we´ve met thus far. We hooked up our tow strap to Kyle´s bike and I towed him into the local town to find the mechanice. The Moto Club was even kind enough to go completely out of their way and give us a 6 bike escort the 15 miles back into town while we were towing.

Here´s round three. This guy got the bike running but we´re not sure he fixed the root of the problem. Our goal was to just make it to Medellin to find the Kawasaki dealership.

The above and next few shots are from yesterday´s ride (after the shop) up into the mountains towards the town of Yarumal. Our plan was to be in Medellin yesterday but we got held up and decided to crash in Yarumal for the night. A completely genuine Colombian town, we were the only tourists there. It was a pretty spectacular place set high up in the mountains. We found a great little hotel and had dinner while the town seemed to be partying big time on Saturday night. I had a delicious filet mignon steak for the equivalent of about $4 US Dollars....pretty nice.





Round 4 of the dismantling this morning in the parking garage of the hotel.

Here´s Kyle after we loaded up the bike into the back of this pickup. This guy drove the bike the remaining 70 miles into Medellin. It was a pretty incredible ride for me at least down the mountaing with a bunch of awesome twisties and amazing scenery. Medelling is set in a valley right between a couple of large mountain ranges. Yes, its true that Medellin was once the Cocaine capital of the world, but it seems to have a much different feel these days. It has a bustling city center with large skyrises as well as beautifully maintained neighborhoods on the outskirts of town where we are staying. We found a great little hostel called the Casa Kiwi and are going in search of this renowned mechanic tomorrow. We´ll keep you updated....

Colombia is awesome

Wow what day is it today? Clay posted some pics a couple days back and I think I'm over due for an update on our boat trip and our first few days in Colombia.

After leaving Panama city early (kind of but not too early) we road out to a town called El Llano which is North East of Panama city and is toward the Carribean coast. But Just before we arrived in El Llano we were stopped by huge amounts of cars and trucks that were parked in the road. As we weaved our bikes between the traffic or more like a parking lot we arrived at the scene of the crime... a protest in the country. There has been disputes in rural Panama between titled land owners and the local governments about using the land for tourism development. In this case the rightful owners have had their land taken away by the local government so they could widen the road and build hotels. Kind of sad. Anyways somebody had the smart idea to send an ambulance through the protesters road block and once the protesters let that ambulance go through it was a free for all and vehicles just started shooting the gap. After that little hold up we were on our way down the dirt road and over the river crossing (clay posted pics earlier) to the San Blas Islands. We loaded up the bikes on to Fritz The Cat and we were off. We spent 3 days and 2 nights kind of cruising through the islands getting drunk, swimming and throwing ourselves off the sail boat in any possible retarted way we could think of. After San Blas the true adventure begins. the 200 nautical mile journey almost perfectly east from Panama to Cartagena, Colombia.
Sailing on the open ocean for almost 36 straight hours was pretty exciting. The intial bit of water was covered during the night. We set sail after dark and Fritz was able to use the boats GPS, radar and autopilot systems to navigate the islands and reach the open water. From there our course was pretty much fixed at 75 degrees which is just lightly north of east until we arrived in Cartagena, but it varied between 70 and 90 degrees based on wind conditions. Our speed varied between 4 and 7 nmph which i don't think is very fast for a boat like this but with winds coming from the north that was about as fast as we could comfortably go. Fritz also aided our sail power with some motor which helped keep the boat from drifting as a result of our relatively upwind course. During the 2nd night at sea the conditions became somewhat entensified (sp?) when the wind reached speeds of 25 to 30 knots and the swells increased to 12 ft. We had water coming over the boat for sure. The bikes had a nice salt water bath to be sure.
But not to be outdone fritz was unfazed and sailed us into the Port of Cartagena with Dophins in toe right on schedule.
Cartagena is a beautiful and romantic city, or so says Lonely Planet.... not sure what makes a place romantic.... but without a doubt it is beautiful. We will post pics as evidence soon. I took a bike ride to discover the city with my new friends Matt, Paul and Brice.
Yesterday after doing our vehicle import stuff, we set out to find a motorcycle shop, and we did find a great one, and for 20 bucks clay and I got our bikes washed, our oil changed, our chains cleaned and our disk brakes polished (because of salt water rust) and we made friends with the guys at the shop as well. They invited us to go for a ride with them tonight and promised us to show us the real Cartagena. We are definitly going to take them up on the offer. I'm having kind of a lazy day today, just crusing the web and walking around town eating and drinking as I please. The others went to a mud volcano, can't wait to hear the stories, but it was a little hot today to be playing around in the mud for me.
Colombia in general is impressive, at least what I have seen so far. The country is nicely developed in its own way, and that is to say mostly without American influence. The people here are happy and genuine and they our into their own lives which is refreshing coming from Central America where the street people would nag you and beg you. Here you are not bothered and the feeling as you walk down the street is fantistic, especially when I think to myself "I'm in Colombia right now, Cool!"

An Amazing Ride on the Cat and Cartagena

Wow...the last few days of our trip deserve an entire blog in themselves. We spent the last 4.5 days sailing from Panama to Colombia on "Fritz the Cat" Catamaran and it was a pretty incredible experience. There were many highs and lows on the boat including beaufiful islands and beaches as well as 12 foot swells in the open ocean that led many onboard to lose their stomachs. Not to mention our Captain, Fritz, was a pretty amazing guy who made the entire experience so much more memorable.

There´s so much to talk about and I think Kyle is going to go into much more detail about the trip so I would just like to upload some pictures from the trip and leave the knitty gritty to him. Plus it´s St. Patty´s day and we´re in the most beautiful City we´ve seen so far on the trip. Yes that´s right, it´s Cartagena, Colombia. Absolutely amazing place. I know I´ve said that before but it truly is the most picturesque place I´ve seen. Absolutely breathtaking. Anyways, here´s some pics...

The road from Panama City to Carti where we picked up the boat was a lot of fun. Pretty nicely graded dirt road. We were definitely sliding the rear around some of the corners. We passed the Toyota Land Cruiser carrying the rest of the crew on our boat on this road.

There was one river crossing we had no choice but to traverse. It was actually pretty fun. We watched a few cars go through first then I worked up the courage to go through. Not too bad at all, just some wet feet.

Here´s Kyle going through, makes it look easy, huh?

Oh man loading the bikes o the boat was quite an experience. The Captain Fritz was super confident though and everything worked out well. Fritz sure knows how to tie a knot. He used his boom to lift the bikes and sit them on the deck.

Here´s my bike being loaded. Big thanks to the Aussies Alex, Matt and Paul who were a huge help with the bikes. Truly a real class act of people we met on the boat.

This is a shot of one of the little islands outside of Carti not far from where we launched the Cat. The local people have built their huts literally RIGHT up to the edge of the water. Kinda reminds me of a little village from the movie Waterworld. They all have hand carved boats and are truly expert fisherman and boaters.

One of the local women on the island. They hand stitch these beautiful patterns into all sorts of materials.

Here´s a shot of some of the folks on the boat on the first night. We put back a respectable amount of Rum that night. In total there were 8 guys and 5 gals, including 4 Aussies, 3 Israelis, 3 Canadians, 1 Spaniard and of course your 2 favorite American Guys. Oh yeah, Fritz is Austrian, such a great accent. It´s Arnold without the American influence.

Here´s a shot of the bike strapped down to the boat with one of the awesome little Carribean islands in the background. Remember the upright position of the bike in this shot.

Doesn´t it look like something out of a Corona Commercial? Rough life we have right now.

Here´s Frits, the One and Only. I bet kyle will give you some good Fritz stories. A really good guy that Fritz. A chef by trade, we had some really awesome meals and fresh baked bread every morning when we woke up. Not a bad sailor either.

Like I said, rough life we have....

Such clear water. These shots are still in the San Blas Islands before we hit the big ocean. Everyone was still happy and holding down their lunch at this point.

Here´s my bike after a really tough night on the open ocean sailing towards Colombia. Didn´t get much sleep that night. Kyle and I were lucky enough to not get seasick. Can´t say the same for many others.

About 6 dolphins literally escorted us the last 10 miles into Colombia. Such an amazing thing to see. They were playing all around the boat and weaving in and out from each other. We all took it as a sign of good things to come in Colombia. A great way to end the boat trip.

You can see the port of Cartagena in the background. A lot of big buildings and construction going on there.

This crazy looking Pirate Ship was anchored in the Port we pulled into. Looks like something you see at Disnelyand on the Pirates of the Carribean ride. Fully functional and operational boat though. Pretty amazing.

The above and following are a few shots from today in Cartagena. By far the most beautiful city we´ve been to so far. It feels really safe here as well. Not something you expect to hear about Colombia, eh?

That´s all from me for now. Log in soon to hear from Kyle....

Few Shots of the Canal, Just Because I Can...

Kyle is cracking up while typing here so his post should be pretty funny, well at least for him. In the meantime, enjoy some shots of the Panama Canal. We went to check a small section of it out this afternoon called the Miraflores Locks. Pretty amazing to say the least. We are basically pros on the Panama Canal now so if youŕe interested come talk to us sometime.... ;)

By the way I finally figured out what the problem was with some of the pictures I uploaded and not being able to click on them to bring up the full sized shot. So they should all work now if you click on the photo itself. Yes I know, I am a Genius, you don't have to say it.

The Miraflores Locks is the first system of channels from the Pacific Side that allow one large ship to pass through at a time. The canal operators bring the water levels of the channels up and down to move the boats through and over the different terrain levels underneath.

Here's a big oil tanker making it's way West towards the Pacific Ocean. It takes a total of 8 hours to pass through the canal from coast to coast and can cost big ship like this over $50,000 each time they use the canal.

You can see the varying water levels in this shot. They use the water to act basically as a"ship elevator" if you will. These channels fill up in about the time it takes to fill up a bathtub, pretty incredible.

Here´s a map of the entire canal in the Visitors Center. Probably not the easiest to see but we were just at a little section of it on the Pacific Side, close to Panama City.

When we pulled up to the Hostel yesterday these kids were pretty enamored with the bikes. Kyle put his helmet on one of them and put him on my bike for a photo. They were pretty excited.

Anyways, that's it for now. Tomorrow we load up the bikes and ourselves on Fritz' Catamaran and take off for the San Blas Islands and Columbia!!! We'll update you in a few days when we reach land. We´re really excited for the boat and Columbia. Talk you all soon.

Clay