South America and back on a 250 Super Sherpa Minimalist Adventure

Still in the Colombian mountains. Had a wonderful day yesterday. No internet since the owners went back to Bogota at noon on Sunday and I returned the USB modem they let me use.

Was watching the 2013 Dakar race movie on a sports channel in the morning getting pumped up for more mountain riding. The movie ended after a couple hours of super human riding by some of the motos. Those guys can fly. Then it started to rain hard and I thought to myself, "Self, do you really want to leave an idyllic mountain cabin in a quiet beautiful place with killer cable TV to go out in the rain where the Sherpa is surely going to cut out and die someplace interesting."

I decided as much as I enjoy the random places I coast into, it was an excellent day for hanging out . So I walked to town and got some groceries and cooked up some breakfast and made some coffee on the stove and settled in for a relaxing afternoon studying Spanish i.e. watching independent movies with Spanish subtitles. Suscaron is above 8000 feet so it was cozy. I got in my down bag under the covers last night and was snug as a bug.

It rained off and on all day yesterday with dramatic thunder and lightening as a couple of big cells moved through the valley and knocked out the power briefly. Really quiet in Suscaron. No loud music in town. Well okay, except when I cranked up the TV on the cable salsa radio channel and rocked out to Reuben Blades playing Pedro Navaja while I cooked breakfast. It's an idyllic little hamlet way up in the mountains far from anything.

Three little goats came up to the front door bleating maaaaaaaa this morning. Here's the one that wasn't too shy for a photo:



Packed up and left late morning and headed down the hill on a decent paved road. Almost alpine up at this elevation. Julie Andrews wouldn't look out of place down in the meadow twirling around singing "The hills are alive….":



The road turned to spotty pavement with mostly gravel as it ran along a ridge over a river valley:



No traffic so I stopped every once in a while just to sit on the ridge and watch the raptors catching thermals and soaring. Really peaceful up here:



And then the road turned to patched paved and dropped down into the river valley:



where it turned to gravel:



and rode along a roaring river for a while. Really twisted geologic strata on the cliff across the river:



and into a canyon:





before climbing up, up and up. Nice views out to little pueblos on distant ridges:



The road continued to climb up to 13,000 feet where it turned to mud and rock:





here is the top of the pass right near the Venezuelan border. Pretty chilly up this high. I tried to get a waypoint but the batteries died. I'll charge it up this evening. While I got out the GPS from the topbox I noticed that the bag of hardboiled eggs I put in had turned into a bag of yellow and white powdered eggs with tiny bits of shell mixed in. That's how rough this road is. My thinking was that the worst that could happen is that they would be pre-cracked for easy peeling. HAH! Once again, failed logic on the roads less traveled:



It got soupy for quite a ways:



Really tricky staying upright in this stuff. It was really slick. Came around a corner and there was a backup:



You know it's gnarly when 4wd jeeps are getting stuck:



I stopped to help push. But eventually it was the trackhoe and a rope that got that guy out of the muck. Continuing on around the corner the road turned into a 6 inch deep slurry of mud. I didn't want to put my feet down for a photo. Sorry. Just imagine a soupy mocha shake six inches deep and twelve feet wide for a mile. I couldn't see the bottom and there were no tracks since it was so soupy, so just let the Sherpa find it's way in the ruts under the surface. I was glad to get out alive without dumping the bike.

Here I am relaxing in the next pueblo at a little tienda after surviving the mocha shake boogy:



And then the soup abruptly stopped and the road turned into a racetrack for the next thirty miles or so:







with tantalizing roads zigzagging up the mountainside across the canyon:




I think this carretera 55 will be paved all the way before too long so better hurry up if you want some mocha action. The road climbed up and up. Here is looking back to the road in the distance:





into the clouds and fog until it finally dropped down into the town of Pamplona where I am now typing this up at Piero's Pizza:



Using their free wifi. A special tribute goes out to ClemKevin for tonight's evening meal of Piero's Especial Pequeño pizza with everything on it:



Muchas gracias amigo!

And thanks to Throttlemeister and SS in Vzla for directions to this fine pizzeria. Really tasty. Highly recommended.

I'm staying at the El Alamo hotel, also a recommendation from Throttlemeister. Decent room with wifi for 30,000 pesos ($17.00)

Not sure what I'm doing tomorrow. I think head to the coast. I spent 64,000 pesos (36.78) today on food, gas and lodging. Bank of Colombia let's you take out 400,000 pesos at a time at their ATMs. Some of the other banks only 300,000. My account is debited 230.00 with bank charges when I withdraw 400,000 pesos at the ATM, so I am getting about 1740 pesos to the dollar which is what I am using to figure these daily costs.

Hasta Mañana
Juan Piero
johnthomasdowns.blogspot.com

Man that looks damn good to me, I thought you would like that stop, SS put me on to it. Didn't remember what the hotel costs but it was a good location with parking and internet. Glad you like, I thought Pamplona had a nice vibe the first time I passed through, I stayed the next time.

Keep up the good work Juanito

Your going to miss our mini Dakar this weekend with the Tulsa crew Maybe next year, everyone gets to race in this one

Looking forward to what's next...

Hi TM,

Thanks for the great ideas! I was going to head up to El Cocuy today but it was socked in with dark gray clouds over there as I passed by, so kept heading north. My current thinking is to come back up to this area on my way over to Venezuela, so after checking the weather, I think instead of heading over to Cucuta and north, I will head over to Bucaramanga and jet north to Carnivale. Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday, and if I get an early start I might make it to Baranquilla by midnight when things get started. It lasts all week and I just want to go check it out for grins. Then head to Cartagena before coming back down to the Tres Cordilleras on my way over to Venezuela. This place is awesome! Get down here, would ya? And as far as being a hot area, I haven't got that vibe around here and I was 5 miles or so from Venezuela today.

Well okay, an Okie Dakar does sound like fun I have to admit. I would be so in if I were within a few hundred miles.

Muchas gracias por todo,
Juan de las Montañas

Awesome ride through the road less traveled. Since you skipped Carnaval (Joselito gets buried tomorrow), I'd consider entering Venezuela through Cucuta and San Antonio and enjoy what Venezuela has to offer. Or not. No matter what, we will await the next installment

Superb update señor Juan.

The Sherpa is looking good and if you have to do the mocha mud mix mad dash then you were on a good bike. Light, not bloated with gear and ridden with the right attitude. Thanks for the excellent commentary, pics, that pizza looks incredible, and minimalist wisdom you share.

Jay

Hi Ricardo,

Not a bad idea. I was watching Carnivale coverage on TV yesterday up in the mountains on the Colombian news channel and it looks like spring break in Cancun times ten. I just thought it would be interesting to see once. But if Joselito is getting buried tomorrow then Juanelito might give it a pass. Sometimes the Sherpa takes me places I wouldn't expect, so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Muchas gracias amigo,
Juanelito

Hi Jay,

Coming from you that is high praise. Glad you are following along. I have enjoyed reading your excellent ride reports in the past and am dedicated to keeping you entertained this winter amigo.

Saludos,
Juan Sherpa

We haven't seen you buying fuel Juanito. Are those day rides just one tank full? Are you finding fuel easily enough on the back roads? Do you plan ahead to see if there is gas where you are going? Like measure the miles to the next Peublo on a paper map? How many smiles per tankful does Sherpa get? Really earned the Sherpa name taking you over 13,000 feet. I always remember Sherpa Tensing with Sir Edmund Hillary scaling Mount Everest, Hillary said he couldn't possibly have done it without Sherpa.

My name is Diego now

Hi Tuckers,

You might go 100 kilometers or so without seeing a gas station around here on the back gravel roads, but there is gas around once you get back to a paved road in the small towns. I don't have an odometer so I just unscrew the gas cap and take a look. and if it's down a gallon I'll fill up just because. I haven't had a problem in Colombia. Rural Mexico is actually the only place I ended up buying gas out of jugs so far when there wasn't a gas station on the back roads for 200 miles or so out in the boonies.

The Sherpa got mid 60's mpg usually, sometimes over 70 back when I had an odometer and could measure such things. With a 4 gallon XR650 tank bolted on I haven't hit reserve in the last 14,000 miles or so that I've traveled on this trip.

Saludos,
Juan Tenzing Norgay

You could zero your GPS when you fill your tank and eyeball that once in a while.

This is awesome dude! Gotta say, this is my favorite ride report of all time!

Seeing those motos riders fly through polvo at mach 5, and having experienced it first hand, makes it all the more impressive. Have you seen much polvo in SA?

Enjoying your RR. Thanks for the time you are taking for this.

I was wondering if you went around the South side of the National Park and passed through Tame? The situation like most places is very fluid, last year when I was in the area there were a bunch of people gathered up and killed from what I understood and it was not the place to be, instead I went up and over the top of El Cocuy NP skirting the Venezuela border without trouble passing Saravena and also finding the cheap smuggled VZ gas all along the way heading down to Arauca, VZ crossing. That crossing would be a good way getting out of Venezuela if you are making to make a big loop in the country and wanting to exit farther South along the western border, one of the easiest crossings in VZ that I passed.

Trying to imagine. I guess your standing on pegs left/right balancing, lug the engine a bit and let the throttle hand do the rest. That part always seems easier described than done. I would have thoroughly tasted that mocha and caked myself in it for sure.
As always, reading the update was the highlight of my day.

Hi MikeS,

Glad to have you along. And yes, watching those riders flying through that deep dust/sand looked almost superhuman. Haven't seen any polvo up here in Colombia. Mostly just gravel, dirt and mud on the backroads through these mountains.

There will be lots more pictures of the Sherpa on its side in deep dust if I make it down to the Altiplano and Atacama desert where the Dakar riders were.

Saludos,
Juan Polvo Vaulter

Hi TM,

I'm not sure where I went yesterday. I looked up Arauca Venezuela. Looks like plenty of roads to get lost on once in Colombia if I head back in Venezuela further south. At this point I am following the good weather and it is pointing to Venezuela or the northern beaches of Colombia this morning.

Might have to flip a coin.

Gracias amigo,
Juan Señor

John this just came in on my Latin America news channel. I thought it might help you with your money change at the boarder when you cross. Things are obviously changing in Venezuela. Look as if you might get a better exchange rate if you push for it.

Venezuela has announced it is devaluing its currency in the hope of boosting economic growth.

Starting Wednesday, the fixed exchange rate will go from 4.30 bolivars to the dollar to 6.30.

Hope it works in your benefit.

!Ai, que Padre!
Wow! Some great back road Boon Dock explorations!
Sounds to me like you need a simple bicycle Odo computer thingy. I used one for years ... it finally broke after about 3 years.


Anyone have a spare Bicycle Odo computer to send down to John?

Just glue magnet onto brake disc, mount sensor to lower fork, run wire up to dash ... program in wheel size. Done. Dead nuts accurate, lots of features.

Most provide: MPH/KPH (to 120 mph), miles/kms, run time, clock, splits, separate re-setable trip meters and a few I've missed.

We just need to send it ahead of John ... somewhere along his route ...
(that last could be a problem! )

It would be way cheaper for him to just buy one down there. They'll be in any larger center in a bicycle store.

I'm not sure about S.A, but I noticed the wealthy people in larger centers in Mexico and Guatemala REALLY like their bicycles. Very popular. Their bikes stores had some pretty high end stuff.

Yep, you're right. Probably something good around locally.