San Gil, Colombia

Monday May 26, 2008

Sadly I left Merida without seeing either point of interest that I came for, but it did allow me to start my day geographically from a location not far from one of the two main border crossing points with Colombia. I try to make it a rule to always cross a border early in the day if at all possible, allowing me enough time after I enter a country to get accustomed to it, get some money and find somewhere safe for the night. Unfortunately, this border was going to be very time-consuming.

So after waiting until they re-opened and getting my stamp, I visited the lone girl at the customs office where Buzz would get his stamp. But no, hold on now, nothing is that easy in Venezuela. She insisted that I needed to pay $14 US for Buzz to leave the country. I couldn't remember paying to leave any country on my trip (except maybe Honduras). She didn't have a manager that I could talk to and she couldn't even produce anything in writing that showed this price so I didn't believe her. I took her picture, which she really didn't like, so that hopefully if she was trying to scam me she would realize that I'd show it to her boss and cause her grief and just say go, but no. At this point I was getting tired of all this nonsense and I considered taking my chances and riding straight out of there, but then I remembered how trivial this would all seem later. All she would say is that I had to go back through the traffic into the last town and visit the customs office in the town center if I wanted clarification. So that's what I did, and to make a long story short, it ended up costing me $14 and another hour. See why I don't rank Venezuela among my favorite countries to visit?

But wait, it's not over yet. Now I had to enter Colombia. This would be my first time entering Colombia by land because I flew in last year and only know how much fun that was. Well, it turned out that I could only get my passport stamped at the border and I had to get Buzz's paperwork completed in the next town named Cucuta, supposedly because they didn't have facilities at border. Here I waited for the lone customs officer with the ink-soaked cotton swab to transfer Buzz's serial number onto a piece of paper. When asked why they just didn't write it on the paper I was told this was the only way the information could be trusted.

This concluded my longest border crossing so far at approximately 3 hours in 35 C (95 F) degree temperatures. But I must say that it really felt good to be back in Colombia again. From the minute I drove across the border the first official I met extended his hand and was friendly to me. This and the picturesque countryside is what I remember most about Colombia and why I like it.

In Colombia all motorcyclists are required to wear a vest with their license plate number on it and also to have the same numbers on the back of their helmets. I had long since given mine away and peeled the decals off the helmet when I left Colombia last year. So when the police stopped me on the highway I expected a little grief, but they weren't interested in documents, vests or decals (although I heard them mention it and laugh), they wanted to know about the bike and my gear.

Later that day I thought I was a gonner though. I was enjoying sweeping Buzz back and forth smoothly through a beautiful curvy highway when part-way through a corner I noticed what looked like oil on the road directly in front of me. I managed to get the speed down and bike uprighted a little before riding through it, but I was still mid-corner! Somehow, perhaps because it wasn't oil, I managed to stay upright and continue without a problem.

San Gil wasn't in my plans as a place to stay, but it was such a beautiful quaint little city with everything I needed, that I just couldn't leave fast. I felt so much more safe and relaxed here than I did in Venezuela or Brazil that I could almost feel the tension leave my body as I enjoyed the fresh fruit drinks, low prices, clean rooms, great cafe and friendly people.

I also had the good fortune of meeting an energetic, English-speaking young woman named Eliana who co-owned a nice little business called the Santander Tienda Cafe. After becoming a regular in her cafe I soon became friends with her pleasant staff, warm colleagues and friends and gracious cousin Genny. I ended up spending time doing things like mountain biking, waterfall hikes and day rides through the countryside to visit beautiful historical villages on quiet back highways. It was a nice place full of great people.

One of the most impressive things I did near San Gil was visit the Parque el Gallineral where long silver fronds of tillandsia (Spanish moss) hung from all kinds of trees and plants in this small riverside park that had a magical, mystical feel to it.