Beginning of the rainy season

2am - we woke up from heavy rain and realized we had left our shoes outside. I tried to save them, but it was too late, already soaked completely. We thought about our options and decided to sleep in to give them some time to dry.
So instead of getting up at 5am, we slept til 6:30am and had breakfast. The shoes were still wet of course, so we had to find another solution. Herbert just used his new shoes that were actually meant for colder weather conditions further South and I just used plastic bags instead of socks.
Then we hit the road again. We had already heard that there were mudslides 2 weeks ago and the road was blocked for bigger cars and trucks. Perfect for us as we passed a long queue of trucks and cars who had to wait, but we could pass with our bicycles. Apart from some locals, the road was empty.
So we climbed for some 350m, before enjoying an epic downhill of 850m on a canyon road. So much fun!!
However, afterwards, we had to start climbing again on a curvy mountain road with no shoulder. And now, hundreds of trucks came from the opposite direction, speeding downhill with risky overtaking maneuvers. Obviously, they had just got the news that the road was open again, so after 14 days of waiting, they wanted to win back some minutes.
We stopped at a tourist restaurant at the entrance of Chicamocha National Park to get something to eat and a hot beverage. For the first time in Colombia, we got good coffee as it was not sugared. I also emptied my new socks from sweat and water that was inside 😏
Then we climbed the last 550m to Aratoca - with a short stop for fresh mandarin juice. We found a nice hotel room with a balcony in this mountain village and went out for dinner and exploring.Read more