Salentro Sunday in Colombia

Salentro, a small town in Colombia...Saturday night in the town square

 Where to eat?  Lots of choices for good food..

A Pool Hall!!!

 We settled on the downtown restaurant of the hostel owner... there is a chicken under that piece of bread, and the soup was piping hot and very good...

 Can't seem to get enough lemonade...

After the fast moving ride from Manizales and the very welcoming reception in Salentro, all riders agreed that a Sunday in Salentro was in order.  For me, laundry was overdue, and I also needed to download some open source maps to fill in some of the gaps that Mr. Garmin doesn't recognize.

After our late arrival and meetup with the TransAlp team and Mr. KLR, we decided on a a bit of a walkabut on Saturday night in downtown Salentro.  The town square is the center of activity, and from the square a number of streets are filled with artisans' shops and the like.  The owner of our hostel also has a restaurant downtown, and we found ourselves wandering in there for an excellent dinner.

A game of pool, which I have not played since my misspent youth..the Colombians were having a great time, shooting pool, drinking beer, playing cards and socializing...

 Uli is showing the other riders his pics of our overland adventure, including his crash.  He had to take pictures before he got his bike up and going again...

A great hotel, restaurant, and host.  The people were great and very helpful.  It was an excellent experience with small town Colombia.

I took a Sunday walkabout, and the town square was full of life and activities.  People were out and enjoying themselves and socializing.  A great community feeling, and a distinctly positive atmosphere...

While I was wandering about the town square, two different riding groups came in to town, parked their bikes and hung around for awhile.  I chatted them up, and discovered some good contacts for tires in Cali, the next destination on the journey.  There were some great bikes and the riders were very eager to talk machines....

 

 

 

 

Our host would not let us leave without detailed instructions about what not to miss in Ecuador, as well as his sisters' address in Quito...

 Our host, and Diego, who gave us the advice about Ecuador... great people..

 Arrived in Cali, and found a hostel.  This 3D map of Colombia illustrates the makeup of the country.  In the past week, we have ridden from the top to the bottom, crisscrossing the mountain chains, and now we are towards the bottom (southwestern) side of Colombia, nearer to Ecuador, the next adventure...

 After the conversations in the town square in Salentro, it was easy to find the bike shops, and the afternoon was spend negotiating new tires and parts for bikes.  This one, a new KTM, looks like it is ready to do the Dakkar..

 I have never seen a Tenierre before.  Awesome machine...albeit expensive..

 Chatted with a Frenchman who just got back from Argentina.  He has been here for 17 years...

 A few decked out Harleys are showing up...

Arrangements have been made for three new tires for tomorrow...