Riding into Peru

We get to the border late in the day and I check my watch while we work on paperwork and see its 4pm. Yikes. We were hoping to ride all the way to San Ignacio tonight just to get away… Read More ›

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The long last day in Ecuador

Vilcabamba is the last place we stay in Ecuador, and it has been gorgeous. We’ve heard from friends who have gone on ahead of us that the road ahead, which is largely dirt to the Peruvian border, is a nightmare… Read More ›

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Vilcabamba, Ecuador

We rode south from Cuenca on a weekday on one of the main highways, but not the PanAm. There’s virtually no traffic which is nice, and we spend most of a day getting from Cuenca to Loja and then on… Read More ›

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Brian and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Brian does some much needed work on the bikes while we are staying with Roberto and family in Cuenca – including changing tires, changing brake pads, changing spark plugs, etc. He spends parts of 3 days changing all the tires… Read More ›

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Friends in Cuenca and Cajas National Park

We spent a couple of nights in Cuenca in a hostel (well two actually…after moving from a flea bag we crashed in late one night just before dark, and then another nicer one we moved to the next morning after… Read More ›

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Galapagos Islands – Part 1 – Santa Cruz and Puerto Ayora

I’ve been doing my homework for a couple of months about how to do the Galapagos on as small a budget as possible…but without sacrificing a good variety of sites. Most of the blogs, travel guides and online information says… Read More ›

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Quito, Ecuador

Quito is many things – the highest official capital city in the world as Ecuador’s capital, one of two cities (along with Krakow) whose historic central districts were named as the first UNESCO World Heritage sites back in 1978, home… Read More ›

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Valle do Cocora

Just east of Salento on the edge of the Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados is the small village of Cocora. It sits in a green valley and there is a popular nature trail that leads from here up into the… Read More ›

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Salento, Colombia and the game of Tejo

Salento is a town that keeps popping up in blogs I’ve been reading and in suggested places to visit in Colombia. It’s located on a dead-end road off the Pan Am Highway and up a gorgeous valley in the Zona… Read More ›

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Riding across Central Colombia

We left the farm early one morning hoping to head west to the Zona Cafetera – coffee highlands – of Colombia. The two-lane roads are littered with road blocks for construction work areas so we have to stop every couple… Read More ›

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Working on a coffee farm in Colombia – Part 2

Each day the farmer and his wife offer us fresh and delicious fresh food from the local area and from their farm. The coffee plants are growing in the shade of banana and fruit trees so each day we harvest… Read More ›
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Guatape and El Penol

We ride out of Medellin and head east out of the city over the mountains toward the small town of Guatape. Not far away is the giant monolith of El Penol which rises out of the rolling land in way… Read More ›

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Medellin, Colombia

Medellin sprawls for miles along a valley and up the sides of both ridgelines of mountains surrounding it. Most buildings are sporting red-tiled roofs or bricks on the exterior, so it’s got a red hue going on everywhere you look…. Read More ›

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Giron to Medellin, Colombia

We ride from Bucaramanga to Medellin all in one day…and it’s a big day. We hadn’t planned to do that, but it’s how it worked out. We stayed in Giron in a small hotel on the cute town square. Had… Read More ›

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Route 66 – Pamplona to Berlin, all in Colombia

The day we rode in from Venezuela we made it to the small town of Pamplona before stopping for the night. It seemed like a nice place and that night we had dinner in a Mexican restaurant…I’ve been missing Mexican… Read More ›

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Returning to Colombia

We need to get some gas in La Grita before we head closer to the border. Because Venezuela is trying to discourage/prevent people from buying the nearly free gas and driving over the border to sell it for a profit,… Read More ›

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On the road to La Grita

We leave Merida bound for La Grita, which is only about 100 miles away, but Google Maps has said we should go up the mountainside out of Merida and then back down and join the main highway. So is it… Read More ›

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Merida, Venezuela

Merida is one of the few towns I’ve heard of in Venezuela that has a number of hotels and things for visitors to do. I don’t think Venezuela is tourism-oriented, so I really don’t know what to expect. At least… Read More ›

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The Andes of Venezuela

Rain fell off and on all night and we wake to a chilly morning in the cabana. Brian starts the stove to make a pot of coffee and boil water for tea for me. I have some oatmeal on the… Read More ›

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Lake Maracaibo to the mountains of Venezuela

After a couple of nights in the hotel compound in Maracaibo, it’s time to move on. Zulia, the state we entered when we crossed the border, and are riding in again today, is reportedly pretty dangerous. I’m filled with a… Read More ›

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