I can’t say I recommend the border or bust approach but after my unsuccessful Venezuela visa wrangling I find myself with only ten days to get to the Ecuadorean border from Bogota before my Colombian visa expires. It’s only around 800 kilometres, which seems doable, but there are some serious mountain ranges to cross and [...]
Also tagged bike, colombia, things breakI arrive back in Bogota at the central transport terminal at 5AM after a 7 hour bus ride. Stopping only for a restorative cup of coffee, I head straight to the Venezuelan Embassy where I am redirected to the Consulate a further 5 kilometres away. It is like any Consulate anywhere – queues, security, stony [...]
Also tagged city life, colombia, visa bureacracyPuerto Obaldia and immigration. Shower, washing, and a bed for the night. Ah, clean clothes. A lancha in the morning to Colombia.
Capurgana, Colombia. South America. It’s been a long time coming. Still a prisoner of the ocean and dependent on water transport. First boat to Turbo not until the morning.
I want to be on the [...]
The return journey of an overnight trip to Costa Rica on the bus in order to get my rear hub repaired proves quite entertaining.
Back on the bus, road blocks and riot police create a blockage about fifty kilometres from the border that has to be circumnavigated through jungle and banana plantations.
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Also tagged costa rica, friends, leavingAfter days of eating and resting in Ahuas, I decide the time has come to tackle the next section of La Moskitia wilderness. Leaving the settlement, as I ride alongside the official Ahuas airstrip, young men on motor-bikes pass me on their way to work on a clandestine narco airstrip somewhere not far away.
I manage [...]
Xela quickly starts to feel like home. I am lucky enough to score a room in Posada San Andres, a ramshackle set of buildings that surround a sunny cobbled courtyard inhabited by an eclectic bunch of expats doing their thing in Xela. The place is cheap and chilled out.
I while away some days attending yoga [...]
Belize hasn’t entered my plans at all until now and the only thing I really know about the place is that it is nominally an English-speaking country and that Belize City has something of a nasty reputation. Casting my eyes over my map, I see about three major roads marked in the whole country and [...]
Also tagged belize, dirt roads, wildlifeThe road between Dos Lagunas and Rio Azul is considerably less demanding than the first leg of my jungle adventure and so it’s early afternoon when Rio Azul comes into view. Rio Azul is a much larger work camp than Dos Lagunas, with numerous cabins and buildings surrounding a large cleared area, but it is [...]
Also tagged dirt roads, guatemala, jungle, ruins, wild places, wildlifeSince the extreme temperatures in the middle of the day make an early start imperative, I decide to try to get my papers sorted when I return from Yaxchamil so that I can get on my bike and leave first thing in the morning. I locate the immigration office opposite the museum and approach the [...]
Also tagged guatemala, leaving, mexico