I drove from Medellin to Bogota early one morning to keep one last promise before starting the trip in earnest. The autopista from Medellin to Bogota is the road where Glen Heggstad claims to have been captured. My ride was less eventful although I passed a lot of solders on the road.

I was finally leaving Bogota and starting the trip again when I was pulled over by the police. As usual at first they asked for my documents but after a quick look at my passport we just talked abouit the motorcycle and my trip. I was just annoyed that they pulled me out of the middle of traffic for no reason. Then I noticed there was glass all over the area where they had pulled me over.

I was told the ride from Bogota to Salento would only take about five hours but then I hit this.





I guess if you have to be stuck in traffic this isn’t a bad spot.

I was baking in the mid-day heat, but eventually crawled to the front. They were clearing the earth from a landslide earlier in the day.



I was asking some truckers for water which they didn’t have but offered me a big piece of watermelon.

Once free it was clear sailing.

The loss of time from the police check and more so from the road closure meant I would not make Salento. To get to Salento from Bogota I would have to climb to 3,500 meters at La Linea before dropping down into the heart of Colombia’s coffee region.

The guidebook said there was good coffee in the town of Cajamarca, which sits at the beginning of the steep climb to La Linea. Real good coffee is hard to find because the good stuff is all exported so I opted to spend the night and get to Salento early the next day.

Later that evening I hear a lot of car honking and went out to see what could possibly be causing so much noise in this little town.

It turned out to be a demonstration against the kidnappings by the FARC. The FARC had just killed 11 political prisoners that had be hostage for 5 years. It is unclear exactly how it happened as the FARC claim they were killed in the crossfire during a confrontation with the Colombian Army. In any case, the issue of political kidnapping was a hot issue. I later was told that the father of a young boy who was kindnapped was walking across the country to Bogota in protest.



There is the father in white.









“Held hostage for 10 years.”

It was a fairly big protest especially given the size of the town. Cajamarca is an interesting town because it is located right on the principal road between Colombia’s main port of Buenaventura and Bogota. All the traffic must pass through the mountain pass at La Linea and cross the bridge at Cajamarce. Take out either of those and there would be a whole lot of trouble.

The next morning I got up early for my ride to Salento but it was not to be. I had a flat tire which I attribute to the police stop in Bogota. I had practiced fixing a flat in Medellin but I just took the tire off and brought it to a tire shop down, or rather up, the road.

This little guy was my supervisor.