Colombia Dirt Ride

Outside Bogata, Ville de Lleva...

A great hostel..with an interior garden..and some work on the Transalp...

 Some repairs required on the Transalp..

 These guys were up to no good, making squirt guns...

The carpentry work was exquisite..

Flowers in November: one of the major exports from Colombia is flowers..

Christmas trees in November: international celebration...

Heading towards Bogata

 We began to come across lakes towards the west...

Greenhouses...

 There was an underground cathedral associated with a long running salt mine...

Finally, the BMW dealer in Bogata...

 Apparently they are building these 650 BMW bikes in Brazil..very expensive.

Down in the shop...

 The BMW shop in Bogata had some tricked out bikes..

Uli gets a new tire, but no luck for me.  The Heideneau is locked up with the key in Mexico....sigh

 Mr. Gomez, who was saving me a Heideneau tire, could not access it.  However,  Uli discovered that the tire mounted in Mexico was a tubeless tire, and BMW supplied him with a new tire..

They serviced the Triumph, but couldn't access the German tire for the BMW...sigh..

On the road and climbing away from Bogata..

 We rode into the mountains, west of Bogata..up and down: 4 hours of tight twisty riding..

Through the fog, up and down, and all around...

 Riding the Colombian cloud forest was interesting.  I think the government ran out of "twisty" signs..

 We were heading towards Manizales and decided to take a route through the dirt..

This couple from New Jersey were back home for the holidays, and helped with directions..

Is this the right road, Mr. Garmin??

Garmin calls it a road, so it must be a road....

Is this where I do something stupid???

Higher and higher...rockier and rockier...little mud, however.

Somehow we need to get down there before dark in one hour...

That is the edge over there....

Yikes...

I'll send a SPOT from here, just in case...

Where the hell is the road??

4,400 meters...hmn...what is that in feet??

These guys are not tourists...

End of the light.  We rode into the dark, and into the rain, and eventually found  Manizales and a hostel.  A great ride through Colombia's mountains..