The logistical need for a good reliable address while on long term tour can’t be overstated. Getting stuff sent, sometimes seems like an overwhelmingly difficult task, since it requires the effort and goodwill of people both at the point of sending and, also, at the point of reception. While there is certainly a lot to [...]
Also tagged city life, hospitalitySantiago and his family in Tumbaco have been providing travelling cyclists with a place to stay at the Tumbaco Casa de Ciclista for the last twenty years. It must take that unique Latino generosity and the corresponding irrepressible urge to offer hospitality to provide an open house to travelling cyclists on one of busiest of [...]
Also tagged bike, casa de ciclista, ecuador, friendsThe morning is normally all mine when I wake up in a tent but this camp site is a little exposed and, in the light of day, visible from the road. I pack and organise my gear and lug my things up the hill, push the bike under the barbed wire and climb over the [...]
Also tagged colombia, village lifeI get spoiled in Medellin. A comfy bed and my own bath room. Stylish home cooked meals. Argentinian red wine. Interesting conversation. Can’t beat that. I don’t really feel any urge to leave the apartment.
And so I don’t.
Just once I venture out to buy some maps at the Instituto Geografico Agustin Codazzi. Oh, and I [...]
Colombia’s Caribbean coastal area and the wide upper reaches and swampy marshes of the mighty River Magdalena is a familiar world to anyone that has read the works of Garbriel Garcia Marquez, and as one of the most widely read of all South American writers that includes quite a few people. When asked why all [...]
Also tagged colombiaMiramar, a tiny ragged port town, is even smaller and more tawdry than Portobello. I make straight for the dock where I am immediately accosted by a man who hurries me to meet Angel, the captain of a cargo boat heading for Colombia. Angel names his price and the deal is done. We leave early [...]
Also tagged friends, leaving, panama, the seaThe hostel thing is done and dusted and this is where I work now.
Also tagged friends, pacific ocean, santa catalina, scuba coiba, the seaI haven’t really been intending to go to El Salvador but a dear friend of mine who usually lives in Prague is currently travelling in Central America and she manages to convince me to pedal in that direction to see her. We agree to meet in Santa Ana and spend a few days by the [...]
Also tagged el salvadorDirt roads over the mountains don’t get a lot of gringo traffic and so we seem to attract quite a lot of attention wherever we go.
As dusk approaches the daily task of searching out a place to sleep presents itself. Although, in general, I prefer to find a secret place to set up my tent [...]
After three weeks of living in San Jose and speaking only Spanish, Flores seems like a bustling cosmopolitan place.
As I cross the bridge on my way onto the island, I am hailed by Vinko and Collette, a young couple I met a few weeks ago leaving Flores on their cheap Mexican bikes. Their plans for [...]