Monday Mar. 26, 2007
Along the highway to Cali I continued to see the now typical, military and police presence every few kilometers. It's sad to see so many young men (some look pre-pubescent) standing along the highway holding automatic weapons all day and night, but I've learned this is why the highways are now being used safely by so many people to travel to parts of their own country they never could only five years ago.
Randy lives with his mom Ester in a nice acreage type home just ourtside Cali. Ester is an incredible artist and her studio contains many beautiful paintings. In between searching for my new GPS, I talked with Randy about his trip. He was a fresh source of information regarding locations I was yet to visit in my travels further south. Aside from feeding me and providing me a place to stay, he also helped me locate a new Brazilian made Pirelli MT60 bias-ply front tire (we couldn't find a rear) for an amazing $48 US in one of the moto-zones. This tire is one size smaller than OEM, but still works fine. And it has a slightly more agressive pattern for the dirt and mud I expect to find ahead in Peru and Bolivia. I've since learned that all Metzler and Pirelli tires made in Brazil are bias-ply, and all radials come from Europe, which means they cost allot more.
A few days later Mike joined me at Randy's place and we returned to the Suzuki Super Store to talk to owner Juan Carlos about his recently acquired GPS - it happened to be the same model I was looking for. While there we were invited to their store's first year celebration ride and luncheon where we were given more Suzuki apparel. Even though we never bought anything from them, they extended their hospitality to us without hesitation. Thanks to them I enjoyed a great lunch and met even more impressive Colombian riders.
One of the riders I met was a rather short and unassuming looking guy with a completely deck-out new BMW GS1200. Luis was an talented rider who also owned a new Honda 450 four-stroke motocross bike outfitted with every posssible accessory for off-road rallies. He owned a Honda dealership and also represented several moto products in Colombia including Starcom (my communication system). He offered to help me import a GPS from the US and invited me over for dinner the next day to his families property where he was in the finishing stages of building an incredibly modern house that he designed himself on the same lot as his parent's and brother's houses.
When I arrived, it was as if I had walked into a theme park: Everything was clean, and ultra-modern, and......perfect! It was like no other property I'd even seen. The three houses encircled a beautiful little lake and pool, and a small river ran through the lush green yard with jungle type folliage everywhere. A tour of Luis' new house revealed exotic hardwood floors, solid glass walls from floor to ceiling, automated light switches, built in 72" plasma TVs in every bedroom and a high-end, stainless steel kitchen. His parent's rounded, 30-year-old house still looked modern and new with it's glass walls and tasteful decorations from around the world. His brother's house overlooked the lake and had been featured in several 'Home and Garden' style magazines.
Luis' father is an industrious man with a mini machine shop in one of his garages. He loves working with his hands and everything on their property is in perfect condition, including the original 1957 Chevy Belaire. I was surprised to see how eagerly his father helped me relocate my Starcom communication system from my tankbag to under my seat. Within minutes of talking about it he had the soldering iron out and was making changes - without me! I continue to be surprised by Colombian hospitality.
While there I meet Ivan from Medellin. At this point I was still nervous about entering big cities alone and have been reluctant to go into them unless absolutely necessary (something I'm hoping my new GPS and maps will help with). Unfortunately, my search for GPSs has lead me to Medellin. Imagine how lucky I felt when I heard I could ride with Luis and Ivan to Medellin the next day and stay with Ivan in his apartment until I was ready to leave.
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As it turns out, I was glad I didn't buy a new front rim in Pereira. I bent it again in Cali on one of the many huge potholes that I've mostly been able to avoid. And I can now personally vouch for the increased strength/flexibility of spoked rims over cast rims - Mike hit the exact same pothole at the exact same speed right in front of me and nothing happened to his rim while mine inherited yet another dent. Sure wish there was a way to fit tubeless spoked rims on a V-Strom! Oh yeah, I also received my first puncture - a nail in my rear tire. I tried two of Randy's rubber type plugs that required liquid glue, but both failed so I used one of my treated rope type plugs which worked fine.
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