Market Day

Tuesday is known in the small town of Silvia as market day and lest you under estimate it the market in this town of 34,000 is known across the country.

We first arrived at La Bonanza in mid April so Layne has Visited the Tuesday market four times I think, in between our various sorties around Central Colombia but we always end up back here. Besides Rusty loves La Bonanza, wandering the garden and sunbathing in the thick grass. Layne and I though recovered are still coughing and spluttering and having difficulty sleeping as a consequence so a few days of rest will do us good. 

Thus we have fixed our departure day for Sunday with our planned arrival at the border with Ecuador Tuesday morning. Monday we hope to be in Pasto getting Rusty’s health certificate even though rumor has it the Ecuadoreans don’t care about dog papers. I like to face borders prepared for every eventuality and I don’t want to put Rusty at risk by not having the legally required papers. 

So when the market opens next Tuesday in the nearby town of Silvia we hope to be doing the immigration dance on the bridge into Ecuador. 

The market draws people in from all around the city and offers them everything they could need or want, fruit, flowers, meat, bread, hardware, clothing and shoes as well as agricultural products like seeds and fertilizers. The place is vast as you can see. Layne and I got separated when I put Rusty in the van and we had to meet up by coordinating over the phone. Rusty took one look down the street when I was walking him and turned right back to the privacy and comfort of his bed aboard GANNET2. He was having none of the crowds. 

Men and women wear the same outfit which I find confusing because I’m simple minded.  I’d hate to be asking someone in a skirt out on a date and get it wrong. 

Outside the market they sell stuff as well and though it was overcast the rain held off. 

Apparently even wooden hand carts need licence plates in this bureaucratically obsessed country. 

I retreated to the main square where a chorus was giving some kind of concert so I stood for the rather jaunty Colombian national anthem. I listen to the anthems on YouTube before we arrive in a new country  in an effort to avoid making an ass of myself at public gatherings, so I recognized the tune and stood respectfully, then I sat down as they played a bunch of hymns and choruses to the tune of freedom for all and so forth. 

I wasn’t the only one burnt out by mass commercialization either. On the other hand I got a potato ball fried with meat inside and Layne got us some locally made rum “Black Soul” for her and “Jaguar” for panther-like me. 

When the Guandiamo women deem conditions appropriate they swap out their trim bowlers for natty folding straw hats which they carry around on their backs hanging on chin straps, like pancakes when not in use. 

Here is a woman with her straw hat in carry mode: 

And when your shopping is done you hire a mototaxi to take you home, sidesaddle of course, dignity intact. 

And back at La Bonanza the French German and Dutch travelers got ready to leave as they only stayed this long to see the market. 

By Wednesday lunch we would be alone in the lot. For how long? Who knows…

Colombia Still

Thank you for the best wishes and recovery has taken place rather faster than I expected.

The good news is that our test run to Medellin and back went well and oil leaks appear vanquished, the new oil cooler is doing its job and the brakes are better than they have been since El Salvador. They are trouble free and responsive as they were when they came from the factory so I feel ready to go south. 

And that’s where the wheels come off the wagon once again.

We arrived back at La Bonanza campground Sunday night at five and as we pulled up our neighbors from California asked if we had heard about the hassles at the border with Ecuador. My heart sank. 

The four vehicles in the picture had come north from Peru through Ecuador with no problems but the border with Colombia is now not completely open. They say it’s a computer glitch but I wonder if the Ecuadoreans don’t have some concerns about the Colombian drug traffickers. Supposedly the Ecuadorean border police have computers that aren’t up to date and linked to Interpol so they don’t know who they are letting in. 

All four vehicles have children and last night they showed a movie for them on the white screen hanging from Jan’s green Iveco truck. The world outside may be chaos but in here it’s all normal; we now hang about and wait for things to get better.

Our neighbors from California left this morning before I got their picture, and they plan to test the border in a couple of days to see what it might take to get through. A young Dutch couple with an appointment in Chile in a couple of months is also waiting to see if southbound travel is possible. 

They bought their Mercedes Vito van in Chile for their South American trip and have arranged to meet buyers back in Chile where they can sell it and fly home. Ecuador is not their friend. Incidentally the Vito was sold in the US as the Metris except ours got a gasoline engine and the rest of the world uses a diesel. It makes a nice camper but it’s been discontinued in the US which is a shame.

Layne and I are coughing a bit still but we are much better now. We spent a couple of days in the heat of Cali at 3,000 feet, did a last shop at PriceSmart which is just Costco under another name and came back up the mountain to prepare to drive south. 

Apparently tourism operators in Ecuador are working to sort out the border glitch and the consensus is that things should be worked out by the end of the week. Unfortunately not many people visit by car from Colombia so I’m not sure what the motivation is to act quickly, but I still hope this weekend will see us in Ecuador.

And as if that weren’t enough Bolivian truck drivers are closing the country’s borders demanding better pay. I get the feeling they are warming up for our arrival in a few months. Sigh. 

Under The Weather

My apologies to anyone expecting a post but I have caught Layne’s cold/sore throat/coughing episode just as she gets better. 

We had a long slow drive back to Cali in what ended up as a sunny day. Laundry and a final visit to PriceSmart on Saturday will wrap up our week and then we will drive three hours to La Bonanza campground near Popayan for what  I hope is our last week in Colombia. However I need to rest a bit and get well for the drive south to the Ecuador. 

Cheers and I expect to be back soon. 

Medellin

I don’t  like Medellin. There; I’ve said it. 

I snagged the photo above of a guy huffing something unsavory at Plaza Botero. His buddies down the sidewalk were hustling something and though I won’t show you unless you ask nicely the flowerbeds were full of human faeces and sawdust in an effort to dry the place up. The stench was foul as you might imagine.

This guy taps tires at traffic lights to ask for a donation if he thinks your tires are low. If they aren’t he can help them get that way. 

This is the center of tourism in Medellin a city of two and a half million people at 5,000 feet above sea level. Traffic is what you would expect it to be but you’ll notice there are no cops and there is no attempt to welcome visitors with any effort to make it pretty. 

Most overlanders stay at a campground an hour of town but we chose not to go there as the place is notorious for the number of dogs that live there. Rusty would be overwhelmed. 

So our plan was to go downtown and street camp but that was not going to happen. You know how you’re supposed to pay attention to your intuition when traveling? Our intuition was screaming at us to lock the doors and not stop. 

We made our way to the Museum of Antioquia and found a parking lot protected by an armed security guard with a German Shepherd on a tight leash. That’s how secure downtown is where tourists go.

After a short ramble in the lot we left Rusty aboard with fans going as it wasn’t very hot and we walked across the street to the museum. 

Those photos I’ll put together for a post later. I will say it was lovely and packed with Colombian artists no one has heard of outside this extraordinary country. 

We loved the two hours we spent in the museum but then I went to get Rusty for a walk among the statues in Plaza Botero where the internationally know Colombian sculptor’s bronzes are displayed.

Layne went for a walk and described the atmosphere as not scary but scuzzy with not a cop in sight. Rusty refused to get out of the van so that’s how much he liked downtown Medellin. 

I got some pictures on our way out of town and the scenery didn’t get better. 

It’s unfortunate but we really didn’t want to give the city a second chance. I know Medellin is going through a renaissance and is hailed as urban success story after decades of neglect but I have to say we aren’t impressed. Check it out: 

















And traffic sucked but we just kept nudging forward slowly and made our way out. 

So far in 2024 115 people have in city road traffic accidents. The sign goes on to say no one died yesterday. Well, that’s something but I’m not holding my breath for today. 

Let’s back up a minute because Medellin set us up. The drive from Jericó was fabulous, in part because they have only built part of the freeway, which was scenic enough with the clouds draping the Andes. 

The Cauca River winding through the mountains. In real life the views were breathtaking. 

A modern freeway was a joy to drive with no potholes and modern tunnels through these incredible mountains. It was a great drive. 

Then the freeway ran out which was annoying but turned into a wonderful back country drive on the highway which is soon to be pushed into the background by the freeway. 

Of course we were low on gas at this point. We saw no gas station in Jericó but no problem, we thought, as the fuel gauge  went down. But in fact there wasn’t a gas station anywhere. Until at last there was. 

Oddly the idea of running out of gas, as stupid as that might be, didn’t freak us out. We knew we’d get help and if we got a bit slowed down that was no big deal. It’s really nice traveling with your home. And a gas stop allows Himself to stretch his legs. The yellow box is the Colombian equivalent of an armored bank truck and they are everywhere. 

People with diesel vans hate the altitude and the poor fuel that messes up their anti pollution devices, and those issues were one reason we got a gasoline powered van. The reason modern diesels have anti pollution devices is shown below: 

And sometimes smoke comes from kitchen fires. 

Looks like he may have run out of gas: 

And do, after we left Medellin, the shortest visit ever, we wound up the mountains on Highway 25 up to the summit at 8,000 feet and then down the other side. 

There was some crazy passing and not by us.  We weren’t moving fast, between ten and thirty miles per hour but the brakes were good and the driving was easy enough. 

A little rain wasn’t enough to convince a truck driver not to pass. I watched from a distance wondering when a wreck might close the road. 

We stopped at a restaurant mentioned on the iOverlander app and sure enough they said we could spend the night. 

It was at 6,000 feet and the temperature was under 70 degrees so it would be good sleeping weather. 

The dogs acted as if they owned the place, they did, but Rusty wasn’t having any and growled back at them so after we got our food we retreated to our home. 

One beef plate and one sausage both delicious with cheese and a plantain disc but no green vegetables or sauce in the usual odd Colombian way. 

The view was glorious. 

And the restaurant had trash cans so we could dump ours. Excellent. And we have our own toilet do we were set for the night. Even after the rain set in. 

Luckily GANNET2 is well insulated do the noise from the traffic is very muted and there isn’t much overnight driving anyway. 

The sausage was excellent and happily we have plenty in a to go box in the fridge. 

Not every overland stop is breathtaking but the ability to stop when tired of wonderful.