When In Colombia . . .

Sahagun – Buenavista, Colombia

A few years ago Diana and I took our annual anniversary bike trip to Bayfield, Wisconsin. En route we stopped in Ashland, where we met a nice English woman named Jo, who was biking across the country and then heading south to Argentina. Jo sent occasional reports on her journey and I remember reading about her travels through South America. She mentioned biking through the heat of the day when all the locals were taking siestas. 

When we met Jo, Diana and I were in our very rough planning stage for this trip – which didn’t mean much, really – just that we were trying to figure out when we would start. But reading Jo’s narrative was kind of nerve-wracking really. I mean, neither of us had ever been to South America. Diana had a medical conference in Cancun once, but that was as close as either of us ever came to “real” Latin America. And, really, resorts like Cancun are a pretty curated version.

Little things have stuck with me. I remember being kind of nervous about the heat of the day in tropical places, and peeing in these foreign countries. 

Would it be okay to pee along the side of the road? Would they fine me for lewd behavior? Would I be deported? Worse, would Diana get in trouble? After all, she has to go “full moon” every time she pees. And as our kids will confirm, Diana is really not too worried about being discrete. Diana and our friend Kim are two peas in a pod on this point. I guess they figure that if someone wants to look, that’s their problem . . .

One time they were up at Kim’s cabin in Hayward and they decided to go skinny dipping. The only problem is that the immediate neighbors were also up – including their 17-year-old son. 

Kim’s husband Craig ended up getting a call: “Your wife and her friends are running around naked. We would appreciate it if they didn’t exhibition themselves in front of our son . . .”

Kim and Diana? They didn’t care. I guess they put their swim suits on after that – but it’s not like they felt bad about it . . .

So, yeah, I was kind of worried about the whole peeing thing. (For those who don’t do a lot of bicycle touring, let me just tell you that there are numerous pee stops every day. This is especially true in most of Latin America – where the great outdoors is a much more pleasant and hygienic experience than your average baño. 

But it turns out that, like most worries in life, there was no need to fret. I will admit that other than Diana I haven’t seen a single woman squatting. But the guys are peeing everywhere. Against fence posts. By the tree. Behind the motorcycle. Or, many times they just pull the car over, open the car door, and pee behind the door. 

I’m sure folks down here are a little surprised to see the full lunar landing gear with Diana, but, like so many things down here, Latin Americans are pretty relaxed. No one cares.

Anyway, I started out discussing biking in the heat of the afternoon; another thing I was worried about. Would we wilt in the heat? (Answer: yes). Would the locals be aghast that we were out biking? (Answer: they really don’t care . . .) Could we figure out another plan in order to avoid all this? (Answer: It took a few days – but I think we have it figured out now.)

New plan: get up before the crack of dawn – so that we can be biking at the earliest possible time. We were on the road by 6:20 this morning – a full two hours before our usual liftoff. 

It worked great. Two hours of really good riding. And, while the oven is pretty much full blast by 11, it turns out you have a few hours you can ride in the heat before you really start to melt. 

Today we were effectively done by 12:30. 60 miles down – and we’re feeling great. 

This plan had the added benefit of allowing us to enjoy Colombian roadside breakfast. 

Dr. Liu doesn’t necessarily give her stamp of good health to this food – pretty much everything is fried – some of it fried twice – and it is a little hit or miss – but there is some good stuff for sure. Arepas? Pretty yummy when they are fresh off their second frying. These papa (potato) things? Also yummy – especially when they have kind of a curry inside. And then sometimes they give you plain salt-boiled potatoes. Especially nice because it feels like they are half-way healthy – and almost a vegetable. 

This morning we stopped at one of the numerous arepa stands in a little town called La Ye. We met Fernando and Merillo (sp?). Amazing curry-papa arepas – kind of shaped like the sun. Fernando also had maracuja (passion fruit) juice for us. Refreshing and delicious. Diana and I have decided that we will pick some passion fruit the next chance we get . . . We think we have passed a number of these maracuja trees along the way . . .

A few other observations about Colombia . . .

Maybe more so than some of the other countries that we’ve biked through, there seems to be a pretty wide gap between the more well-to-do towns and some of the poorer areas. The first day or two out of Cartagena were pretty rough. Little huts made with mud walls. It kind of looked like electricity only came to some of these places in the last few years. Not obvious that there was running water even – and if there was, I doubt it was truly potable. 

But the second half of yesterday things started getting nicer – and that trend continued today. Hard to put your finger on – but definitely nicer homes. Not that these people have a lot of resources either – but they appear to be doing pretty well really. 

I haven’t figured it out yet, but it seems like maybe Colombia has banned stores that might compete with small retailers in its smaller towns. There are gas stations – but none of them have attached convenience stores. Buy gas, or buy nothing. There are no other convenience stores that we’ve seen. No 7-11s. No Kwik Trips. No Bucky’s. No Va & Vens. 

Which is all cool. Helps the little guy. You just have to learn how to spot the tiendas (“stores” for all you Gringos out there). Many of them don’t have signs, and they are pretty much the front of people’s houses – so it’s easy to ride right by. 

Other things we haven’t figured out . . . The animals. Lots of animal signs. And yesterday we saw what must be a sloth ladder – so that the poor things can make it across the road without being carried. But actual animals? Nada. 

Looks like we have one more day of rolling and then the next day we reach the mountains. Basically a 35 mile stretch of straight up. At least it should be cooler once we get up there . . .

That’s the news from Buenavista. 

Which reminds me of the Bemidji Finlandia – which used to take place at Buena Vista – a ski hill outside of Paul Bunyan’s hometown. Don’t let the similar names confuse you – these are definitely two different places . . . One has snow and Paul Bunyan and Babe, the Blue Ox, the other has rain and chorizo and loud music and lots of motorcycles.

But the ski area Buena Vista and the Finlandia remind me of ski racing generally . . . And today is the Seeley Hills Classic. Kind of sad to miss my annual duel with Caitlin Gregg – but I figure we’ll have plenty of opportunities to duke it out in the future. (I’m chocking today up as a victory; for sure I biked further than Caitlin skied – so there you go . . .)

Anyway, hope all our ski friends had a good time. I understand it’s been another rough snow year – but at least it’s been cold and I’m sure the white stuff will be coming. 

It certainly isn’t falling here . . .

Race reports in the comments welcomed . . .