Asia-Europe 2012

Bogota is a lively city with plenty of historical buildings, wide avenues and, of course, friendly people. Unfortunately, it lacks a rail transit system and it is therefore paralized and polluted by numerous buses. After visiting the old center and Museo del Oro we took the teleferico in order to get a better view of the city. For the sake of variation, we returned with the cable operated railway system. In the last pictures you can see an interesting form of art: hundreds of ants attached to the facade of the building of the Congress of Colombia! The visit was complete after a loop on the periferico, a freeway that goes through the mountains while circumventing the city.

The first time we had to cross the Andes was when we went from Medellin to Bogota. The road reached the altitude of almost 3600m. On any road there were plenty of Romanian built vehicles. During our stay at a hotel overnight, we managed to store the motorcycle inside, as there was no nearby parking.

Our next stop was in Medellin. Pablo Escobar was no longer there so things were quite smooth. The first day we used Palomina to sightsee various neighborhoods until after sunset. To be noted, some streets are way more inclined than those in San Francisco! The next day we used the public transportation. First the Metro and then the MetroCable, a gondola system servicing the areas where the train can’t go because of the high gradient. All public transport system is very clean and user friendly and all stops are accessible to disabled persons using various elevators. Having the opportunity to see the whole city from above is priceless!!!

Before I got to Colombia the only things I knew about this country were the Medellin Cartel, the FARC guerillas and football team. But when I arrived I was surprised to find out a country with a specatcular geography, good looking and clean cities and friendly people. Above all, I was very happy to see once again Romanian built cars like IMS, ARO, Daewoo Cielo, Dacia and Oltcit, very popular here. So popular that you can see more Dacia 1300 in Colombia than you can see in Romania!!! Roads are generally good but always enjoyable!

Since Sapzurro and Capurgana are not connected to any road, the next step was to get us and Palomina aboard a launch boat in order to get to Turbo, where the roads exist. The launch boat involved was powered by two 200HP engines and was capable of transporting up to 40 persons at 70km/h. Since the boat is open deck and it was raining, some of us got a plastic cover while the others got a trash bag for the same purpose. Even though there were some waves the guys maintained maximum speed so comfort was out of question. And this lasted for two hours!