Saturday Night
Josh and I checked in to the Kokiri Hostel around 9pm. I was just glad that they had empty beds for us to use, but the guy checking us in asked if we were interested in staying in an apartment. It was $40 for a night, which is outrageously expensive for Colombia. If Josh and I split the cost, though, it would only be $20 for a night. One thing I don’t like about hostels is the lack of privacy, so I was more than willing to spend $20 to get some for an evening.
One of the first things I did after we got checked in was to send Elizabeth a message. I had no idea where she was, but in case she was still riding around on her own, having our address would give her a destination.
The second thing I did was to order a pizza. I was fortunate that it didn’t come with french fries.
Josh and I were both soaked from the rain, so we took turns showering and changing into fresh clothes.
After I had eaten and showered, he and I took a few minutes to debrief about the trip.
We talked about the miscommunication from that morning about when we needed to leave. I found out that no one had communicated to him that E and I wanted to leave early. There had been an attempt…Elizabeth told him she wanted to leave early, but she wasn’t specific about a time and Josh didn’t agree to what she was saying. If he had known that we wanted to leave early, he would have set his alarm.
We talked about getting lost. We’re using our cell phones to navigate because it’s proven impossible to find a hard copy of a road atlas. Josh started the trip from Medellin that morning with a partially-charged phone, and for some reason Elizabeth’s phone didn’t charge properly overnight either. These cell phones are going to be our lifeline as we travel, so we agreed that before setting out on a trip, we need to make sure our phones are all charged to full power.
My sister gave me a cell phone battery charger for Christmas, and I’ve brought it on my trip. I decided to get another backup battery or two, cover them in velcro, and attach them to my bike so my cell phone can charge while I’m driving.
We discussed his accident, why it happened, and the physical effect it was having on him. Since taking his motorcycle gear off he had developed a pretty pronounced limp. I asked if his leg was okay, and he said that it hurt but he could walk on it. His motorcycle boot was essentially acting as a splint, so he was able to walk with his gear on. We decided to reassess his ankle in the morning, and if it was still in bad shape we should seek out a doctor for him.
Before we went to sleep, Elizabeth got in touch via cell phone. She said that she was okay, and that she had made it to our original destination in Salento. It had been really stressful and upsetting for her to be on her own, and she wanted space. She would meet us in Cali in a day or two. Josh and I responded that we were glad she was okay, and went to our beds.
Sunday Morning
I woke up to my phone alarm going off at 6am in the living room. I had apparently forgotten to turn the alarm off the previous night.
Grumbling, I got up and turned the phone off. I got back in bed and promptly stayed wide awake.
Ugh.
After about an hour, I gave up on trying to sleep and started packing my things. By the time Josh got up at 9:30 I was mostly ready to go. We both pulled up our hostel in Cali on our cell phones, and I shut mine off in order to save the battery for later if it was needed.
We went to a nearby restaurant for breakfast and hit the road for Cali.
The trip to Cali was fun! We got up to some of the highest speeds so far…90/100 km/h. (55 – 62mph)
The only not-so-fun aspect was the fact that there was so much rain. There were intermittent showers the whole way, so I wasn’t able to really dry out until we got to the hostel that afternoon. I have a mesh jacket, and little rain droplets hitting your skin at 90km/h is not fun at all. It stings.
Sunday Afternoon – Tuesday Morning
Josh and I got settled into the hostel and walked around Cali a bit. It’s a pretty chill city. We’ve both been staying fairly close to the hostel, not going out to explore or anything.
Elizabeth arrived in the city on Monday. She had made some friends in Salento in a band, and they invited her to play (and record) with them. She let us know that she was upset about getting separated and that she was considering striking out on her own.
On Tuesday, the three of us sat down and started to hash out everything that had happened. We didn’t completely resolve everything, but we decided that Elizabeth and I would travel to Quito as of Thursday morning, and Josh would join us over the weekend.
The reason we’re separating is that we have been told that Colombia has this policy that you can drive a vehicle for 30 days without a license. If you’re in the country for more than 30 days, they can confiscate your vehicle. Elizabeth arrived in the country first, so she has to leave first. I’m going with her because it’s probably a bit more safe to have two people traveling together than for a woman to be traveling alone. Josh will leave Cali this weekend and join us in Ecuador.
I’m hopeful that the remaining issues that haven’t been sorted out will get sorted over the next few days. I would hate for us to have to travel separately. There have been some trying times, but overall this is a good group.
More as it develops!