South America and back on a 250 Super Sherpa Minimalist Adventure

[ONandOFF]

Originally Posted by psycho klr

...As a 20+ year carpenter I think your background in the trades has helped you keep your unique outlook on things. You have to be flexible and you eventually realize that you cannot judge a book by it's cover if you work construction for a long time. Correct me if I am wrong. ...

I would like to second that notion.
And expand it with the premise that one who builds things has an insight the others lack.
Acknowledging the reverse is also potentially true.

[JDowns]

Looking straight down the driveway at Techo Azules to the caribbean swimming



the waypoint for this place is:

N 11º 15.880'
W 74º 11.469'

A last look at Taganga as headed out of town:



I headed out of town and stopped at this tienda and made friends with this Colombiana who was very interested to know where I was going:



Continued on to Tayrona National Parque. Here's the turnoff:



Where I ate some lunch with a Chileno:



But alas, the buses were many and the lineup at Tayrona was long. And the computers were down. After waiting a while, I said to myself, WTH? and decided to head down the road. The hell with Tayrona. I headed down and stopped to check out the Caribbean at this overlook:



Some people stopped and asked me how the hell I had ridden a 250 Kawasaki from the U.S. down to Colombia. Here are Johan and his wife and son Lucas. He owns a coffee shop in Taganga and told me he was going to Palomino to the Dreamer Hostel on the beach for the weekend. Wow! I never question serendipity. Locals know the good spots to hang out. Sounded good to me. Here are Johan and family:



Here is the road to the Dreamer Hostel. A little rough. But that's how I like it:



Parked next to the registration area:



and had to wait for these two to finish registering:





Got a bed in the dormitory for 29,000 pesos (16.67)

and went swimming in the pool:



It's an upscale Euro hostel kind of place with lots of cute 20 something women staying here. I'm old enough to be most of these people's grandpa, so once again, I am the oldest person here by a generation or two. Ah well. It's a nice place.

More later…..

[bESS]

John:

perfect time for another bathing suit photo, you know the "borrowed" ones

still following along and lurking . . .


bob

[Dracula]

Originally Posted by JDowns

I headed out of town and stopped at this tienda and made friends with this Colombiana who was very interested to know where I was going:

Hi John,

Nice paisa (not sure the classification level according to the experts) but I would have maybe stayed for a while

Cheers!
Vic

[JDowns]

Rode down to a restaurant and shared a pizza with my three new french Canadian friends. I like to think of them as my nieces et neveu ( nieces and nephew) de Monteal. Really sweet kids:



I spent 78,500 pesos (45.11) on gas, food and lodging today.

Hasta Manaña,
Juan Palomino

johnthomasdowns.blogspot.com

[Leminkainen]

Gonna take a bit to catch up to current happenings.

Hope things are going well...

Great Report. Great information. Great Pictures. All around GREAT STUFF!

Lem

[JDowns]

Originally Posted by bESS

John:

perfect time for another bathing suit photo, you know the "borrowed" ones

still following along and lurking . . .


bob

Hi Bob,

Hard to get a shot of me in those swim trunks that Alain gave me back in Mexico. Who'd take the picture? I go swimming in the pool here with my tee-shirt and trunks so the kids don't get blinded by the white.

Glad you are still following along.

Saludos,
Juan Gringo Blanco

[TUCKERS]

Such a shame the Hostel is full of 20 something young women, must be awful. Better take a lot of pictures to let folk know how bad it is.

[JDowns]

Left Palomino this morning early before any of the twentysomethings were up. The road wound down through the lush foothills of the Sierra Nevada which were towering off to the south. Lots of indigenous people. Some wearing white long shirts and white Fez like hats with long hair. They looked like Sufis. Not sure what tribe they're from.

The road flattened out and the jungle and rivers slowly transitioned to flat banana plantations with lots of black folks before turning into dry savanna with grass and scrub. Headed down the road. Here is one of those curious sights that leave you scratching your head:



Somebody's field of dreams I imagine. Ornate almost oriental entrance to nowhere. I guess they ran out of money sooner than Edward James. Probably for the best.

Continuing on I saw a sign to Sanctuario de los Flamingos. I have a weak spot for flamingoes, plastic or real. Headed down the road until it turned to gravel/sand:



Alas I saw no flamingoes in this wildlife refuge. I did see a wild pig:



and some goats:



And an egret flew right over me and made me duck before I rolled up to the beach past the salt marshes:



Stopped and had a refresca at the beach. They had another unique thatching technique in this hacienda. Fifteen rows of horizontal coconut thatching followed by a vertical layer.:



On close inspection I noticed that they were hanging the vertical sections on 3/8" rebar nailed to peeled poles:



I am always interested to see how people make a roof in the tropics for little money. I can't help myself.

Finally arrived at Riohacha where I was supposed to head north to go to Cabo de la Vela up 100 kilometers of dirt and sand roads. Hit the Malecon and said to myself, "this is a nice place".

Pretty malecon:



and nice beach:



So I found a cheap hotel run by a sweet lady with slow wifi for 25,000 pesos ($14.36) and settled in. It's a couple blocks from the town square where I went to people watch under the arbor:



and feed the pigeons. It turns out they LOVE cheesy doritos:



I have to look up the name of this founding father and see what his claim to fame is:





Here's the local Catholic iglesia:



and a nice mural dedicated to someone else I have to look up on wikipedia:



headed down to the beach and hung out under the coconut palms in the shade for a long while watching the world go by. I'm off the gringo trail here. Just locals having a nice Sunday afternoon at the beach. It was nice today to be charged regular prices for food and beverages since this area doesn't see a lot of rico gringos and the locals haven't started charging 50 porciento mas para las touristas.

I liked this patch job on the chair next to me down at the beach. 1/8" drill and some fishing line patch is something I have done to broken plexiglas windscreens in the past. It works well:



Last night I went for pizza again in Palomino and met a nice man from Seattle who had just come from Venezuela. He gave me some tips along with his nice waterproof map of the country and the Lonely Planet Venezuela book, so I'll be reading up. I know next to nothing about Venezuela other than it is supposedly dangerous and I'll likely die. Par for the course. He didn't know about the black market in Bolivianos and was paying full price for things, so cut his trip short. None of the gringos I met at the youth hostels were going to Venezuela. That's fine by me.

more later….

[TUCKERS]

JDowns is the sole surviving Mutant Ninja Turtle...he gets more miles per pizza than anyone I know

[JDowns]

Originally Posted by TUCKERS

JDowns is the sole surviving Mutant Ninja Turtle...he gets more miles per pizza than anyone I know

Hey, Maira in Palomino makes a mean pizza. Not that common south of the border. And yes, I have a weak spot for good pizza.

Saludos,
Juan de Cocina Italiana

[ExpeditionSouth]

Way to go thus far on your journey mate, keep it up and enjoy every second of it!

[Dracula]

Hi John,

You seem really off the beaten path, even my Colombian co worker hasn't been many places you have. Must feel really special and alive to be there.
I read a few RR's meanwhile and try to understand what separates a "successful" traveler from the struggling ones, alas it escapes me I think the secret is in the doing.

Thanks for keeping sharing.
Vic

[shadman]

I used the same technique on my old Nissan Titan, but used stainless steel safety wire. I pieced back together after a deer attack and my wife named it "Frankentitan". I've since used said technique to keep race plastics held together on many a race bike. I love that someone would take the time to patch a chair that, here in Uuuh-merica, we would have sent to the dump the first day it weathered a bit.


Saving you slow internet bandwidth....

José Prudencio Padilla (Riohacha, Colombia, March 19, 1784 - Bogotá, Colombia, October 2, 1828) hero of the independence of Gran Colombia (present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama). He was the foremost naval hero of the campaign for independence led by Simón Bolívar, the creator of the first Navy and Admiral of Great Colombia.

and

His full name is Francisco Antonio Moscote. Francisco El Hombre is rumored to have gone around town to town in Colombia spreading news through the art of song. Not only did he sing the news, but he did it to the rhythm of an accordion that he always played whilst singing. This is how the genre of Vallenato in Colombia came to be. The exact era of his appearances is not known but it is rumored to have started around the late 1870s and early 1880s.

[VooDooDaddy]

Originally Posted by JDowns

...And yes, I have a weak spot for good pizza.

How's the saying go? "Pizza is like sex,...When it's good, it's pretty damn good, when it's bad, it's still pretty darn good."