villeta Archive - Lococoupleonabike

Friday 27 December 2019

Yesterday night I went to sleep already at 21:30 ; I was so tired….

I fell asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow but at about half an hour later someone tried to get into my room and made me wake up. My door wasn’t locked, so I jumped out of bed yelling and shouting and whoever it was- he disappeared.

I know why I always take my security cautions: my bike was leaning against the door, so if someone would try and move the door it would make a lot of noise like it did right now.

Still I think someone was stupid enough to go to the wrong room….After that it took me some time of course to fall asleep again. I was pissed.

Finally at 6 o’clock I woke up and at 8 o’clock I got out of bed. I really wish that one day I’m able to sleep real long!

I went to have my first colombian breakfast here in my guest house. It was a soup with a piece of meat (that was consisting more of fat then of meat) and a potatoe. I ordered some scrambled eggs with „arepas“ – a kind of fusion between a tortilla and a pancake.

I decided to walk to the city and I visited the main square. Like everywhere in South America here is where life takes place.

Surprise! I met Fernando again. I was happy to see him. I was just looking around for a machete and he joined me. Nice to have company! I found and bought one and Fernando sharpened it. He really knew how to do it. Man I was happy with the new piece of my machete collection and we kept on walking around a little bit. We also went to see the river that is called like the town: Villeta.

Back at the main square another premiere: I drank my first „agua panela“ a very typical drink here. It is juice made from sugar cane and you can also drink it hot with milk. I also tried a beer that they ferment with sugar cane. It was very tasty, not sweet at all.

On the way back to my guesthouse I passed by a supermarket and bought some bananas for tomorrow.

At 7 pm I went for dinner at the same Italian restaurant like yesterday and also ate the same dish like yesterday: spagetthi a la bolognesa. Lovely.

I got back to my room finished to pack my panniers and at 21:30 – also like yesterday – I went to sleep.

The old man was happy some one take a picture — The old man was happy someone take a picture

Fernando picking some fruits — Fernando picking some fruit

Thursday 26, December 2019 113 km – Total so far: 113 km

Today at 5:30 I already was awake. I felt so ecxited – my first day on the roads of Colombia. I couldn’t sleep anymore. I was ready to start.

I loaded the panniers on my bike, had a coca tea and did the check out . When I started pedaling it was about 7:20am.

Getting out of Bogota was not too bad in the beginning. I was using google map – pedestrian mode – but then it always took me to wrong directions somehow. Finally I was fed up and I changed to Mapsme which was the better choice.

It took me about 24km to get out of town. Bogota really is big….. I passed through areas you don’t want to be when it’s dark…

I cycled a secondary road (Number 15) and then took the main road 50 to Medellin. From there on the road started to climb really hard. It was even more challenging as it was my first day of cycling and my body still had to adapt to the high altitude.

I took it very easy and did a lot of breaks.

It was amazing how many cyclists were there on the roads of Colombia. I never expected Colombia to be such a biking nation! Nice!

I kept on climbing and about 12 o’clock I reached the top called Alto dell Vino at 2840 m over see level.

An old man came up to me and I chatted a little bit with him. He told me he was keepig fit like this and that last year he even did the Pre-Tour the France. Incredible!

Then another guy called Fernando showed up and joined our conversation. Fernando made me change my plans….. Originally I had planned to do the downhill just for about 15kms where there is a small village called San Francisco. As Fernando was from Villeta he convinced me to go there instead of San Francisco. Still 53 kms to go but about 30kms just downhill. After that some few small hills and you are already there. Easy.

He was on his way back home and also going there. So we started to pedal together to Villeta.

The downhill was great, but the few small hills after were, too. I told Fernando to ride up in his own rhythm and wait for me at the top but he didn’t want to. He said „You don’t do that. You don’t leave nobody behind“. So he kept on pedaling my slow pace with his fast racing bike. Very nice.

The last 2 hills then really were killing me. I was just finished. Going real slow and Fernando still trying to motivate me. That was kind of⁷ cool, but I already got cramps in my legs and I needed to walk for some meters. Fernando got off his bike and walked with me. He impressed me.

At 4pm we arrived in Villeta and before he left he took me to a hotel from his family. Very nice experience to cycle with him.

I took a shower and washed my clothes. Later on I went downtown and found an Italian restaurant…I ate spagetthi bolognesa with 2 big beers! Wonderful.

When I came back to my room I did some work on the blog and I went to sleep at 21:30.