Alone and Lost in Colombia

I should preface real quickly that this section will not have many photos. Colombia turned out to be a tough country for me and my inspiration to take photos did not exist. It won’t be one of my favorite blog posts, but I still will share my experience.

After spending nearly 40 days living on a kayak, I was looking forward to getting back on the bike. Not only that, I would be biking for the first time in a new continent. Also not only that, I would finally be heading into the Andes Moutains. It had been my dream for years to bike in the Andes. I had seen countless photos and videos of other cyclists in South America and finally I was here too.

From Capurgana, I took a boat across to civilization in Necocli. Necocli is a town that has a lot of news about it related to the immigration route, as it is the town almost all migrants travel to to boat towards the Darien, where I had met the group of Chinese migrants. I didn’t spend much time here, as I almost immediately hopped on a bus towards Cartagena, but I could see hundreds and hundreds of migrants who were camping out on the beaches.

In Cartagena, I finally reunited with my bicycle. A wonderful local host Deimer held it at his house for me and allowed me to stay there until I was ready to leave. I spent a few days here catching up with my old buddy Mike. It was great seeing him again and we had some fun partying in the city.

My main goal was to sell the kayak before leaving, to try and get some of the money back. I got lucky and quickly found someone through a Facebook group of local sailors. Kacper also showed up and we got to spend some time together before splitting up. He was planning to ride towards Medellin, and I was heading towards Bogota.

Back on Two Wheels

I left Cartagena excited to see what was ahead of me. I knew it would be tough getting my legs back in shape, but thankfully the first couple hundred kilometers were all flat at sea level.

Very quickly I felt the extreme heat and humidity I’d be riding through. It would reach highs over 40deg C (100+deg F) and 80%+ humidity. I’d spend all day drenched in sweat on desperately awaiting the next fresh juice. Colombia thankfully had an abundance of fresh fruit and fresh natural juices everywhere. Also, Colombia had the cheapest hotels, usually around $5. They seemed to be trucker hotels as Colombia also had the most amount of large trucks on the road I’ve experienced. My favorite part of every day was finishing and getting to shower, eat, and rest in a bed.

I was originally planning to take this mostly off-road and windy route through Colombia, but after experiencing the heat I wanted to get through it as fast as possible, so I chose the most direct highway route. The highways here were very small and had loads of traffic, so it was a much less enjoyable route, but it would get me through quickly.

The scenery was nice, but it wasn’t very inspiring for me also. I had in my head these images of what I had been expecting of South America. These massive, rocky mountains with glaciers and remote wilderness, but Colombia turned out to me of a transitionary country from Central America to South America. It was still very humid and very jungle-like. My expectations had caused me to be disappointed, as I wanted to be much further south, and not here.

I also began to feel very alone. I had not realized it, but I had been traveling with people almost nonstop for over a year. I had come to really enjoy traveling and sharing these experiences with people, to the point where it was much harder to enjoy the experiences on my own.

To summarize all the above, I was not having a great time. Each day riding was just a grind to be done and to lay in bed. I was constantly thinking about being somewhere else and I wasn’t happy with where I was.

Unexpected Stay in Bogota

After about a month of being in Colombia, I arrived in Bogota, the capital city. The original plan was to spend a week here to rest and relax. I wanted to rent a cheap AirBnB so I could work and have my own space. Bike travel had been tiring and I wanted to be in the same place and play pretend as if I was living in a city.

One thing I like to do sometimes while staying in the same place for a while is to try and go on a date or two and form a connection. Just like everyone else, I crave affection and intimacy as well. Being the modern age, apps can make this much easier, and shortly after arriving in Bogota I connected and talked to a local girl named Paula.

We went on a date and connected extremely well. She was a beautiful girl, both in personality and appearance. We shared a mutual love of travel and animals, among other things. That then turned into hanging out every single day and talking whenever she was working. After a week together, I hadn’t finished any of the work I had planned, so I decided to stay another week. To work, of course, not just to spend more time with Paula.

I proceeded to do no work and spend all my time with her. We would explore the city together, cook together, and start to form a really strong connection. There was something special about this girl and we both felt it.

At the end of those two weeks, I had a tough decision to make. Kacper had been in Bogota when I first arrived and we talked and planned to ride the first week in Ecuador together with his Ecuadorian friend. I really wanted to do that and if I wanted to make it there on my bike, I had to leave now.

I realized I had two options. I could leave now, say goodbye to Paula, and then spend two weeks miserably biking alone to Ecuador. Or, I could spend another two weeks in Bogota (to work, of course), and then just take a bus to meet Kacper at the border and travel together. I obviously decided to go with the latter.

Another two weeks in Bogota went by fast with Paula. My looming departure is both on our minds. Would we just never see each other again? Would we never talk again? Did we just spend a whole amazing month together for nothing? It was tough, I was used to having short term situationships while traveling, but this one did feel different and the idea of leaving was hard.

Regardless, nothing could stop me from continuing. This trip is too important to me and at this point, it is almost all I know. The idea of stopping is almost scary to me and I would like to avoid it as long as possible.

Paula came with me to the bus station and it was a very sad goodbye when it was time to board my bus. After a very long hug, I boarded the bus and said goodbye. Was it a goodbye forever? I guess we will have to wait and see.

The bus takes nearly 20 hours and while looking out the window, I have no regret my choice to bus. The landscape is nice, but it’s practically the same and rainy the whole way. I arrive in Ipiales in the morning and reconnect with Kacper later that day. We catch up and get ready to cross to Ecuador the next morning.

Final Remarks

Colombia is a beautiful and diverse country. It has many, many beautiful areas that I wasn’t able to go to and see. My bad experience biking through doesn’t make it a bad country to visit. I wanted to get that clear and didn’t want to dissuade anyone from traveling there. I hope to go back one day and get to see more of the country.

Thank you for reading along :)