Day 367 – 387: Colombia/Ecuador & a “pause”

May 21 – June 10, 2024

In this segment we complete our tour of Colombia and cross the border into our 11th country, Ecuador. We were mesmerized as we climbed through the Andes Mountains in southern Colombia while the state of Cauca presented us with safety concerns as recent violence from para-militaries (FARC) are challenging the peace building effort. After crossing the border into Ecuador we *finally* arrived at the equator – a monumental accomplishment of our journey. Now, in Quito, Ecuador we have made the decision to pause our bicycle journey for several months. Read more below…

• Day 367 – Layover @ Cali, Colombia
• Day 368 – Cali to Tunia – 99k cycling/1407m climbing
• Day 369 – Tunia to Popayan – 36k/623m
• Day 370 – Popayan to El Bordo – 81k/1433m
• Day 371 – El Bordo to Remolino – 80k/940m
• Day 372 – Remolino to Chachugui – 51k/1791m (5,900 ft!)
• Day 373 – Chachugui to Pasto – 31k/1185m
• Day 374 – Layover @ Pasto
• Day 375 – Pasto to San Juan – 65k/1432m
• Day 376 – San Juan to Ipiales – 15k/531m
• Day 377 – Ipiales to Ambuqui (Ecuador) – 96k/1210m
• Day 378 – Ambuqui to Otavalo – 63k/1295m
• Day 379 – Layover @ Otavalo
• Day 380 – Otavalo to Guayllabama – 66k/972m
• Day 381 – Guayllabama to Quito – 39m/1036m
• Day 382 to 387 – Layover @ Quito
• Flight to USA – pressing “pause” on the bicycle adventure for a bit

Total trip distance: 10,096 miles (16,254 km)
Total trip climbing: 489,135 feet (149,088 meters) 
11 Countries: USA, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador
Major breakdowns: two broken shifters on Dustin’s bike both in the USA (Washington & Nevada); broken rear wheel on Dustin’s bike Arizona, USA
Rides (not counting required construction pilot cars & backwards hitchhikes): 3
#1 – through construction zone on Day 1 approx 10 miles
#2 – Queen Creek to Yuma, Arizona U-haul jump (for mental health) approx 190 miles
#3 – high wind avoidance Juchitan to Tuxtla, Mexico approx 158 miles

Cali, Colombia

We spent three days exploring Colombia’s third largest city, Cali. Known for it’s salsa dancing scene, that started way past our bedtime, and as the “Sports Capital of (South) America” because Cali has the infrastructure to host various international sporting events. We enjoyed staying in the San Antonio neighborhood with quaint streets and easy access to shopping.

We left Cali and headed into the Andes with many tough riding days ahead. Usually when we are planning our bike routing app gives us a mixture of “expert” and “intermediate” rides – not for this section…everyday was an “expert” ride because of the tough climbing sections!

Popayan – cuidad de blanca (White City)

We have become so used to the many vibrant colors of Latin American cities when we arrived in Popayan, Colombia we definitely noticed a difference in the buildings – they’re (almost) all white! Popayan is known as Cuidad de Blanca (White City) because of its predominately white colonial buildings near the city center.

Cauca, Colombia (US State Department “Do Not Travel”)

To bike through the rest of Colombia it required us to ride through, ride around, or bus through the state of Cauca which is listed as a Level 4 Security Risk (i.e. Do Not Travel) by the US State Department. So when presented with our options we researched like crazy and spoke with many locals about the actual risk. The Australian State Department posted Cauca as a “Do Not Travel” but listed the PanAmerican Highway during daylight hours as Level 3 travel advisory (ie. reconsider travel). Most locals said as long as you stay on the highway, only travel during the day and stay in a secure hotel at night it was OK. We went back and forth on this segment of travel over several days and in the end decided to ride through Cauca with a heightened sense of awareness.

In the end, we had no issues and met the kindest people, living their lives, along the way. Once we were past Cauca without any problems for some unknown reason we decided to look at the most recent news and found out we were only two days ahead of a FARC (paramilitaries) setting up illegal road blocks along the PanAmerican Highway. Whew! Thankfully we missed that by the skin of our teeth 🙂

At the time of posting this blog it seems as if the situation in Colombia is changing – recently one of the presidential candidates was shot in the head during a rally 🙁

Pasto, Colombia

Once we made it to Pasto we knew we were safely beyond Cauca and were able to relax a little more. After several days of climbing we took a much needed rest day in Pasto know as the “theological city” for its many fine churches.

Ipiales – our final stop in Colombia

It was some tough climbing to get to Ipiales, our final stop in Colombia before heading to Ecuador but alas one pedal stroke at a time we made it. Twice we climbed above 10,000 feet only to quickly descend – on one of these climbs it was raining and 50F so we had to don complete raingear including booties & mitts!

Santuario de Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Las Lajas

Las Lajas Sanctuary is a minor basilica of the Catholic Church where many families make a pilgrimage to see the Madonna & Child image displayed on the rock face (back wall of the alter) that pious believers claim was created through divine intervention. We observed families carrying the cremated remains of loved ones, collecting jugs of holy water from the site, and placing plaques of their pilgrimage. Las Lajas is situated in a steep canyon of the Guaitara River making it difficult to access. One can not drive all the way to Las Lajas, so pilgrims must walk the very steep pathways and descend (and then climb) several staircases.

Ecuador! (Country #11)

We’d heard the border crossing from Colombia to Ecuador can be brutal (like 5-6 hour wait times) so we set our alarm for 4:30 am and were riding right at sunrise to try and avoid the lines. It worked – we were through Colombian Immigration to get our exit stamps and Ecuadorian Immigration for our entrance stamp/visa all within one hour including changing a flat tire! Our only holdup was Patricia not understanding that the immigration officer was asking for our Yellow Fever Vaccination cards (she didn’t know the Spanish for vaccine but finally recognized “amarillo” yellow – whew!). Ecuador recently made a change that requires proof of this immunization. To Patricia’s defense she always goes into the immigration office first, figures out (bumbles through) the process, and then tells Dustin what to do when we swap places.

Ecuador means Equator

Getting to the equator is a major milestone of this trip – we started at almost 65 degrees north latitude and will journey to almost 55 degrees south. So once we hit the equator we are certainly more than halfway! While riding along the road in Ecuador there were a few monuments designating the equator. Crossing the equator was another confirmation of how far we have ridden our bicycles! It was amazing to change seasons from spring to fall with just one step over an invisible line 🙂

Quito – highest national capital* at 9,350 feet

*Quito, Ecuador (pop 3 million) is the highest elevation capital city in the world depending on which city is selected for Bolivia’s capital. Bolivia divides its capital functions into two cities, Sucre & LaPaz – Sucre is at a lower elevation than Quito but LaPaz is at a higher elevation. Either way we’re at high elevation!

We’re spending one week in Quito mostly preparing our gear for the upcoming “pause” in our trip but we were still able to tour around a bit and enjoy the sights, sounds, & smells of Quito.

Visiting the Metropolitan Cathedral of Quito was treated more as a museum and required an entry fee – understandable as these buildings require significant financial resources to maintain them. We decided to pay the extra $2 to visit “the domes” – so worth it! It’s amazing what we are allowed to do in Latin America that we’d never be able to do in the US. We were able to climb through a very narrow passageway to the roof of the church and even onto the top of the largest dome for a fantastic view of the city.

Deciding to “pause” the bicycle adventure for a bit

DREAM.PLAN.JUMP! is not just a bicycle journey it is an ever growing list of life dreams we’d like to pursue. Will we get to them all? Absolutely not! As long as our health, time and money allow we’d like to aim for as many as possible. With that being said, the opportunity to start another “dream” in the midst of a multi-year bicycle trip presented itself and we “jumped”!

On the dream list is “to build our own home” – by this we mean to learn all the systems and do (most of) the work ourselves. So for several years now we’ve been looking for property in the mountains of North Carolina near Dustin’s brother’s family (henceforth referred to as “the farmers”) who have started a family farm. While we were transiting between Panama & Colombia via sailboat Dustin’s brother wrote to let us know a piece of land near the farmers had come up for sale and it might be a good fit for us.

We researched this property extensively with all of the resources available online and determined it had many of the characteristics we were looking for. Was it *exactly* what we were looking for? No. Nothing ever would be, but this is likely the closest we’d ever come to our perfect property.

So, when we traveled back to North Carolina, USA about a month ago (from Medellin, Colombia) we enjoyed getting snuggles from our dog, Katy, who currently lives with the farmers but there was an ulterior motive for the trip. We went to look at this particular piece of property for sale – we had to see it for ourselves and walk the property lines to get a feel for the lay of the land. Over the years we had looked at several pieces of land before but nothing seemed just right – this particular piece had many of the attributes we wanted and the location, Katy stick throwing distance from the farmers, was especially appealing. Additionally, this property comes with an unfinished cabin that was started 40 years ago and seemed to be just the right size for us. Purchasing this property would mean finishing a dwelling that had already been started. Was it *exactly* our dream of building a home from scratch? No, but pretty darn close!

After sleeping on it for a couple nights, we made an offer to the owners and it was accepted. At first, we thought we’d delay the closing until we finished the Alaska to Argentina bicycle trip but several logistical hurdles made it more logical to close sooner rather than later (at the time of writing we’ve just closed and the deed was recorded – we’re no longer homeless!). So here we are, with a newly acquired needs-lots-of-work cabin, on a multi-year bicycle trip currently in Ecuador. Essentially, there were two options – we could finish the bicycle trip and then start working on the property or pause the bicycle trip, work on the property some and then return to the bicycle trip. In true Patricia & Dustin fashion, we thought on it for several days (weeks?), sat down to discuss the pros & cons of each choice, and eventually decided to “pause” the bicycle trip on Day 387 in Quito, Ecuador and travel to Western North Carolina for several months to begin the work on our cabin.

Don’t worry dear followers, we’ve already booked flights back to Ecuador for October to continue the journey south and we will pick up with Day 388 when we get back to Quito 🙂

For now, without owning a hammer, tape measure, or screwdriver, (although we do have a Leatherman that could be employed for all of these needs) we will begin the process of making this cabin “inhabitable”, then “livable”, then “enjoyable”. Likely this work will take several years but we are ecstatic to be near family, explore the Blue Ridge mountains, and to learn new skills while finishing our cabin. We joke that many people buy “fixer-upper” houses well we bought a “finisher-upper” cabin 🙂

Before we left Fairbanks and while on the road, many people have asked us “so what’s after the bicycle trip?” and honestly we did not know until the opportunity for this property presented itself. Now we seem to have a general direction with many of the specifics still yet to be determined. And, of course, this general direction is always subject to change. For now, the decision to pause the bicycle trip for a while and begin working on our cabin project just seems right.

We’ll update the blog less frequently while we’re not bicycling so if you want to be notified when we have a new post you can subscribe to email updates with the form at the very bottom of any page on our website (we respect your privacy and will only use your email for update notifications). If you’re already receiving an email notification from the blog no action is required. Once we return to Quito, Ecuador to resume the bicycle trip we plan to update the blog as we have been for the past year – approximately every 2-4 weeks.

The adventure continues!
Patricia & Dustin
Dream. Plan. Jump!

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