Finally, our bikes have arrived in Panama from Ecuador. The normal tortuous bureacracy as every department the government has needs to affix their stamp before we can ride them out of the airport gates. And – lest we forget to mention – another $1,000 US to set them free! So that’s $1,200 US for each […]
We (Gareth , Dave and me) stood in the old town waiting for a bus that supposedly went passed the canal locks BUT ended up somewhere else after a hour ride. A lady on the bus told us we couldn’t get off as we were in the “wrong” area of town and it is “very danger” […]
It was a saga beyond anything we had previously experienced, but we thought we had the bikes into a freight plane and left for Panama to wait for their arrival. Dave met us at the airport, looking a bit glum as he had just discovered his bike was in Miami, we smiled and told him […]
Don’t get me wrong, the capital of Ecuador is not a bad city, in fact we’ve grown rather found of it. It’s just that we’ve been here too long – too long trying to line up air transport for the bikes to Panama. And it hasn’t been easy, things are not straightforward here in Ecuador […]
I’ve been spoilt. Not in the usual trust fund baby style however, a more Morgan-esque approach has found me on the back of Dad’s bike for the past week through Colombia. Riding pillion has its advantages and instead of pothole dodging I’m lucky to get a good look around, it’s with this spectator’s insight that […]
Usually we have been pretty lucky with our travels but I’ve been done for the second time this trip. Firstly my $1000 stash of US dollars was taken either from the hotel room in Houston when we were at breakfast or when the luggage was handled at the airports Houston / Quito. Hidden deep in […]
We started in Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, French Guiana, Suraname, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, and finally Ecuador. We had a couple of breaks home to cuddle grand-babies and mow the lawns. What a huge continent, and an epic adventure. We have been lucky to have our youngest off-spring, Ruby, along for the last […]
It has been nagging at me for 3 months now – the fact that we entered Colombia with our bikes illegally – no immigration stamp and no certification for temporary importation of the bikes. I wouldn’t normally be concerned but stupidly we forgot when we came in from Venezuela down a lonely back road and […]
Right of the south of Colombia a couple of kms north of the border with Equador sits an amazing cathedral built atop a viaduct that bridges a steep ravine. It’s orgin is thanks to a vision of the Virgin Mary seen on a rock in the mid 18th century, against which now the church is […]
Colombia remains embroiled in a struggle with the insurgents of Left and Right battling for control of its lucrative cocaine trade. As we ride south from Bogota – and we’re only a day or two from the Ecuadorian border now, things have become a bit more militaristic on the road. The army roadblocks, searches of […]
