From Costa Rica to Ecuador

Last time I wrote, I was waiting for Geraldine in Costa Rica. Amazing how fast time is going!

So, with Geraldine, we rode from Quepos, Costa Rica, to Portobelo, Panama. We had plenty of time to reach this point allowing us to accept more invitations, to stay in place we liked, to meet people. Firslty, with Martin, who welcomed us in his garden, took us at the river and shared his time with us. We waited 3 hours for the bus on that day, under the sun, but apparently, this is the way it is, here in Panama. Some days later, it was Rommel, who took us 100 kms back in his car, because there was a party in the city, while Sublime stayed in Gaol, at the policia of Romedios. After the party, about 2am, we went to the grocery store... normal. A huuuuge supermarket open 24h/24h. Rommel asked us what we wanted for breakfast... who is able to answer this at 2am, a little bit drunk, after a day of 80kms by bike and 4 hours on the dance floor?? Hopefully, we didn't pedal the next day, so we cooked all the day with Rommel's mum. She was a little woman, super cute and nice, she taught us how to cook plantain banana. Lazy, funny day!

After this break, we were on the road again, crossing Panama, sleeping on church's feets, in police or fireman stations (where I got my Policia cap!!) or at the houses of all the amazing people we met! Then we found a little corner of paradise, at San Carlos, Panama beach lodge, which is... on the beach! Abdiel and Abdiel, the two owners of this hostel, were super attentive to make our stay as good as possible... more than owners, they quickly became friends! As well as Alexia, a french-american women with whom it was a pleasure to spend time and Giovanni and Flavia, from Italy who were also riding a bike across the world! (I should meet Giovanni again on the road normally!). Amazing discussions, super fun surfs lessons, great barbecues, time to relax and read, time to talk to my family... I really enjoyed this moment.

With Geraldine, we had 5 (more or less)days left, during which we crossed the Panama Canal, with emotions! Admiration in my case for the engineering success this canal represents, crossing a whole continent, and with... fear but courage for Geraldine. Indeed, she got over her vertigo on the bridge! And then, quite quickly, we were in Portobello, on the Caribbean coast, coming from the Pacific coast! Geraldine and I parted ways there. My travel with her was (again) super different than with the previous bikemates. Indeed, it was her first travel in this mindset, so without experience, she often let me lead, following me, but I can't think about anyone so enthusiast to learn, discover and enjoy!

So... Portobelo! With its fortifications, its conquistadors history, its old Aduana building. It's a village where africans, Panamanian indigeneous, occidentals colons and tourists are together, mixing nationalities and cultures! And guess who was there too? Alexia! Yep! She joined me there (we really had good talks about Life, our lifes, humour, and everything!). I can’t help but think she joined me because I sent her a picture of a baby sloth in my arms. I don't know what was worth the most.. me or the baby sloth. Anyway, Alexia, hope to see you again somewhere on earth!

Do you know that there is no road between Panama and Colombia? Just a dense jungle, full of narco-traficants, guerrillas, snakes, spiders, and disgusting stuff.

I crossed it alone, just with a machete! Well... almost!

Instead, I took a sailing boat from Portobelo to Cartagena, an organised trip going to the cliché-paradise, the San Blas Islands. Beforehand, I thought it would be a cruise full of lazy-not funny-fat tourists, so I was hesitant. I couldn't be more wrong than that. Each of those 21 passengers had a cool story, a different experience, and was more interesting than the other. I need to mention firstly Phil and Charles (from Quebec, <3 their accent), who are traveling with motorbike (cheaters) from Canada to Peru. It was really fun to compare our adventure, the way they travel,... then Clare and Paul (british) made us laugh with each sentence, Nikki was the first ready to dance and party, Cynthia and Julian (from Switzerland ) became good friends too, as well as Wilma (Germany), Joost (Germany), Thomas and Julia (Switzerland), Danielle and Barry (Canada), Eric and Andy (New Zealand)... this boat was incredible. Some statistics: on 21 passengers, 18 (i think) threw up the first night in open sea (i didn't!), 10 were engineers (why??). But hopefully, it was not so agitated the next 5 days. Instead...turquoise water, white sand, parties on the beach around bonfires, coconuts directly from the tree, snorkelling to observe corals, just the paradise. And if you add the amazing food Sophie was cooking for us, like fresh lobster, double breakfast,... aaaah! I already want to go back!

But a lot of other adventures were waiting for me. When I reached Cartagena, my stomach was not in a perfect shape and I just lost all the people from the boat, my bike was full of salt, and I was alone after 5 days full of emotions. Hard life. But I would not feel blue for long ! Finally, I found everyone again, and I spent 4 days in Cartagena, enjoying the colonial building of the center, washing my bike, partying (a lot) with (a lot) of travellers from the boat or whom I met I-just-don’t-know-how, going to the theatre (I am too ashamed to say which movie we saw).

Finally, after 14 days without my dear Sublime, I was on the road again! With Olivier! Olivier, that I didn't know before, had made bike travels before, so huge difference for me, he was perfectly used to travel like this! It means that we quickly found a rhythm quite similar to the one I had with Lio, with an average of 100kms a day.

The second day with Olivier and to start on good basis, we were attacked. We were on an isolated road, in the countryside, at 25 km/h, enjoying the landscapes, when the bad guys came. They were 4 on a motorcycle, they passed us really close and stopped just in front of us. So Sublime hit them, and we fell on the ground. I didn't realised directly what was happening. But then, we turned the bike straight up, and Olivier ran away to try to get help from people passing by by car. One of the bad guys, the one with the machete, asked for my bag, but naive and (maybe a little bit) stupid as I am (surely), I answered, smiling «pero... señor... porque estan haciendo este? No es amable... por favor, el bolsa es miya...» so «but...sir... why are you doing this? It is not kind, and it is my bag». At this time, people started to stop, so the 4 bad guys took their moto and went away. Finally, nothing was stolen, no injuries, just a little bit of fear. But we took Sublime back, and we were ready for new adventures!

And a few days later, Didier and two of his friends joined us to ride 20 kms up to the village where we were supposed to stop. He was actually living there in a huuuge beautiful house. We met all his family, his amazing wife Leidy and we had a great diner with them, trying a lot of typical Colombian food. This kind of hosting and kindness make you forget super fast that there exists bad guys. The proportion of them is sooo tiny, that you can easily approximate it to... zero. Trust me I am an engineer (always wanted to say that :-D ).

Well, Olivier and I were crossing a unexpectedly beautiful part of Colombia, full of green field, with cows and horses at the side of a river. After a few days, we met again with Phil and Charles (with their motorbike) on the road, then in the village of Taraza. Yep yep... with a moto, they are as fast as us. Okay, maybe not in term of kilometres, but we have found each other on the road more than once! While they were fixing their bikes, Olivier and I were climbing the up-hill to Medellin. It was hard, hot, physical, but good !! And at the end, having the rain with (on) us, we have offered us a night in an hotel, whouhou, a warm shower!!

Quite fast, the next day, we have reached Medellin, where we stayed in Almarita Guest house, held by a belgian couple, Dryan and Alice. What a feeling to be in a place where you can find belgian mood! Like a poster of Theatre de Poche on the wall, the music, or the language expressions of Dryan. Have I said that Dryan was moreover a cyclist? The first thing he showed me was his new homemade beautiful bike. Good job! As a traveler, he gave me a book of Paulo Coelho, thanks bro!

The city of Medellin is amazing. I would love to spend one month or two there to perfectly understand the mechanisms behind this city. It is stuck in the middle of a huge valley, where mountains are no longer green but red. Red because of the millions of bricks houses climbing in all directions to the summits. But not only. Along the river, you will find a neighbourhood for partying with bars and clubs, another for culture with a botanical garden, the university, a "casa de la cultura", another totally dedicated to sports with the stadium, olympic pools,etc... of course, another which is the historical center, a business center... and all of this is linked by ultra-modern metro, tram, electrical-stairs or even cable-cabin. There, by the magic of travelling, I came across familiar faces. Cynthia, Wilma, Thomas, Julia, Julian from the boat, Phil the Quebecois and Matt and Duane from UK, met separately in Cartagena. It could seem superficial, but I was so happy to have a bunch of friends with me. I missed it more than I thought, to be in a group of known friends without need of presentation...

In Almarita Guest house, I also found Hanna, a Belgian girl who will pedal with me in May. Whoop whoop, the first "spontaneous" bikemate!

With Olivier, we still had to reach Cali. We enjoyed a lot the way between Medellin and Cali, in the mountains, passing by the wonderful valley of Corcora. Just imagine a big open valley covered with super green grass, in which grow enormous palm trees like in a cartoon, not totally right. The village of Salento, with its homemade art, its small streets and its tejo bar! El tejo is a game that consists in throwing a metallic ball onto small bag of gunpowder to explode them. And again, guess who was back? Hanna and Matt! They must be following me! To my biggest pleasure!

Olivier and I finally reached Cali, the salsa capital of Colombia, where we met Romain, the next (unknown) bikemate, to share an evening, the three of us and Hanna. So I left Olivier there and took the road with Romain... almost. Indeed, after 2 pedal tours, we have realised that the gears could not handle the new chain. Let us get new gears then. At the bike shop, we chatted a little bit with Jenny, the owner of EcoMobil, which is organising visit tour of Cali by... tandem. She finally invited us to stay in the “shop” with 50 tandem bike! Even a tandem in bamboo! That was a funny evening, with plenty of interesting chat. After that, Romain and I were ready to cross south of Columbia to Ecuador. And then, I made a mistake. Romain was not Olivier. We were in the mountains, but trying to go too fast, with a rhythm not adapted for Romain. Moreover, the road was quite busy and less beautiful on some part. So, Romain and I had a lot of fun, making jokes, etc, but after some days, Romain admitted that was not what he expected about biking. So we decided to reach Otavalo in Ecuador, and to rest our legs there for a few days. I also wanted to enjoy my birthday, so it was good timing. In this small typical city, people are dressed with black clothes on which they wear colored fabrics, and a black hat over their long hairs. Ecuadorian are often super small and smiling! The atmosphere was good in Otavalo, and we managed to identify our favourite bar rapidly! But nobody is going to drink without deserving it ! So one day, we hiked to the laguna Cotacachi, and the other one, to the volcano of the same name. 4944m high. What a view! At the top, that we reached after 6 hours of walking, climbing, jumping, we were able to see the snowy summit of the Cotapaxi volcano, 200kms away from where we were. The last 300m consisted in climbing between rocks and snow, without any clear path, following our guide, avoiding the falling rocks, and trying to breath despite the lack of air. Amazing experience!

Finally, Romain and I took the road again, by bus. We had tried to find a plan that would fit his goals and wishes with mine. But it was not super easy. We had some argument about remarks I have done without thinking, our sensibilities being exceptionally high due to physical and mental tiredness. Relationship are essential, but never easy... Between Romain and I, I have felt one of the highest complicity but even though, he is the one with whom it was the most difficult to handle the human side. Well, I knew from the beginning that spending 24h/24h with the same person will not be easy, and that the human side will take me energy and teach me a lot. It's confirmed, and I also confirm that I like it!

Romain and I went until Puyo, the gate of the Amazonia, finishing our adventure together, as good friends despite everything.

There, I reunited with Pierre, a good friend, met a few months before my trip. He was full of good energy and motivation, with an enormous stock of jokes. I was super happy to see him again! We spent one day in the Amazonia to discover amazing animals, plants, waterfalls, villages. This forest is a food storage, a pharmacy and an IKEA. You can find everything you need if you know where to search. Except, maybe, bike routes! So, we were back on Sublime to discover Ecuador. We had some problem with flats tubes (15 in 4/days), we had rain, we had climbs and up hill, but... we had fun! And beer, and good food! We slept in magical places, in the mountain forest, in the community building of small villages of 50 inhabitants, in garden of family without a complete understanding of who is the son of who, who is the sister, the mother, the grand-mother.... but, wherever you are, whatever you do, if you can smile and laugh about everything, nothing else matter ! And the road were not busy, beautiful (when the sun came out), people were nice and relaxed... pure happiness!

I don't know why but the days felt shorter, less hours in a day with Pierre. And it was already finish, already north of Peru, already with Hanna!

Yep yep, Hanna from Medellin with whom I am now! We will be together for 10 days. And we have a new strategy! We need to take some buses to catch up to the delay caused by the "problems" of the trip (because I want to reach Argentina), so we'll follow the rivers as much as we can, and then, we will take buses to get to the next river! Hanna and I have a good rhythm, same idea of the travel on many aspect, and it is easier to decide things. And she is the first bikemate who speaks Spanish, making my life a little bit easier! We went to Kuelap together, ruins of a Chachapoya city (before my beloved Inca) at the summit of a mountain. Lamas are walking between old stones, eating thick green grass, with a breathtaking view behind. Ouaaaaw.

It is funny, because since Mexico, I didn't see the cultural change as clearly as the one I saw between USA and Mexico, which was huuuge of course. But now, I can say than there is a world between each single area I have been through, even if people kindness does not change!

I am now 3 months away from the end of this wonderful adventure, I feel a lot of stuff, I can't wait to see my family, friend, and my dear Belgium again, but I still have plenty of places to see! I am already super happy with all the experiences I had, good or bad but always teaching me something. I now know myself better, I know (a little part of ) the world better, and this is priceless!

See you soon!

Love, food, bike!

Orianne

Thanks again to my sponsors :

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