"La Mitad Del Mundo!" - (The Middle of the World)

Cali

It turned out to be an 8 hr ride on Christmas Day through the twisty mountain roads of Colombia. Some beautiful and surprising scenery. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Colombia but I didn`t really expect rolling green hills and mountains. At times it felt like we were riding through the Alps and at other times we could have been in England. The roads were some of the best I`d ridden in Latin America.

Nevertheless, it was a long day. Longer than I would have liked having been off the bike for a while and my back was definitely complaining as we pulled up outside our next hostel, strangely located in the middle of a quiet residential district.

That night we went out in search of food and more importantly, a cold beer, hoping we would have more luck than we had on Christmas Eve. We found a lively strip and several beers and some BBQ`d chicken later I was ready for an early night! The hectic scene and thumping drum and bass music were taking their toll. As Andy pointed out,

“You know you`re getting old when the music is too loud to have a conversation!”

Cali may be a party town, but we both agreed it wasn`t a place to hang around in for long, in fact Andy was setting off in the morning to head for Pasto and then into Ecuador. I`d decided to stay one more day to allow my back to recover. After waving him off I went back to my room and hoped to catch up on e mails, the blog and skype, only find the internet had gone down. I was a little irritated, in fact so irritated, I packed the bike and an hour after Andy had left, I too was on the road.

I was going as far as the little colonial town of Popayan which was only a couple of hours ride. Hopefully my back would be able to manage that.

Popayan was a much nicer place, and like all colonial towns had some beautiful buildings and lovely central plaza which was decorated with Christmas lights and at night looked amazingly festive, which was more than could be said of me!

The joy of Christmas had definitely passed me by, mainly because of being on the road and also I still prefer Christmas in a cold climate.

I arrived in Popayan on Boxing Day and of course everything was closed, so I decided to stay another day, and set off the next day for Pasto, the last big town before the border. This proved to be another long day of about 6 hrs riding.

The main road between Popayan and Pasto had been closed for several days due to landslides, but Andy had mailed me to say it was now open. Nevertheless, there were many hold ups where the road was being repaired.

On the road I also experienced an interesting Colombian tradition. It appears that on this day for some reason, the local population of all the towns and villages have decided that it is a good idea to throw buckets of water and water filled balloons on to all passing traffic. I got a complete soaking. What a great idea. I`m still laughing about it now.

I eventually arrived in Pasto (wet and irritated) and just didn`t like the place so I kept on riding and ended up in the little town of Ipiales quite near the border where my back told me to stop.

The town was much closer to the border than I realised and the next day it only took me 5 mins to get there.

The crossing into Ecuador was the easiest I`d experienced. No hassle and very friendly. It was the complete antithesis of Honduras.

Ecuador

As with Colombia, I didn`t really know what to expect of Ecuador, but I was again surprised. The quality of the roads was excellent, much better than England. In fact most of the roads seemed to be virtually new, probably as a result of the massive investment in the infrastructure paid for by huge loans from the U.S, that the Ecuadorian government will never be able to repay, which of course is exactly what the U.S wants (see “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” by John Perkins for the real story).
Anyway, enough of politics.

On the way I passed a rider coming the opposite way on exactly the same bike as mine, and as I gave him the customary wave it occurred to me that I hadn`t seen any other biker for a long time and that thought was occupying my mind when a few minutes later I checked in my mirror and saw the same bike right behind me signalling for me to stop. I pulled over and cut the engine,

“Do you speak English?”

“A little”, I replied with a grin.

“I noticed you were riding the same bike and I was on my way to find a garage” said Yaniv, an Israeli who had been riding with his girlfriend.

“My girlfriend has had a fall off road and broken her clutch lever. I don`t suppose you have a spare?”

“As a matter of fact I do!” I replied, rummaging through my spares and tool pannier.

What are the chances of that? In the mountains of Ecuador, looking for a spare clutch lever for a BMW Dakar and you just ride by another rider on exactly the same bike who just happens to have a spare?

After all the help I`ve been offered on the road, it was a real pleasure to help somebody else in need. Thanking me profusely, he gave me his card, and because he is heading the same way, no doubt we will meet up again on the road somewhere.

I didn`t want to push my body too hard, but wanted to get close to Quito, so as I arrived in the town of Cayambe, it seemed a good place to stay for the night and was only an hour`s ride the next day to Quito. I was excited about the prospect of spending New Year with my friends Tim and Kris who were stopping in Quito en route back home to New Zealand.

I was really looking forward to seeing them as the planned rendezvous had been under threat many times in the previous few months and as I got closer to Quito, I realised just how important it had become to see friendly, familiar faces again.

I had met up with Tony and Claire in Carlsbad, and of course Jane in Costa Rica. This would be the last of the planned rendezvous and I wanted to make sure it happened.

The next morning I was up early and on the road with plenty of time in hand so I decided to visit the Equator Monument as it was on the way. Le Mitad del Mundo As I arrived at the “Real Equator” (not sure where the false one is) I felt strangely emotional and had a lump in my throat as it just occurred to me that I had ridden from the Arctic Ocean to the Equator, and it was with some sense of pride I had my picture taken in front of the monument.

My moment of reflection over, I pressed on to Quito. The GPS maps I had been using were often hit and miss in terms of accuracy so I hoped it would manage to navigate through what is a pretty big city. The GPS did its job and got me within “asking distance” and a few minutes later I pulled up outside “Casa Encalada”.

Tim and Kris were due to land that night so it gave me some time to settle in and finally wash my dirty riding gear. As I wandered the hilly streets to orientate myself, I found myself breathing heavily very quickly, then I realised that Quito is over 9,000 ft.up in the mountains. I reminded myself it was important to keep hydrated so decided it was time for a beer.