Colombia - Guatape & Bogota

We left Medellin and climbed back out of the basin to the small town of Guatape, an hour and a half away at 2000m above sea level.

Guatape is a hot spot for travellers on account of its stunning scenery - flooded by the Colombians long ago in order to provide water for the surrounding settlements, the area is made up of a sprawling lake that is now one of the most important electric production centres in the country. It is also home to Penol Rock - a formation 200m high and 70 million years old. You can walk up the 750 odd stairs to the top where you can really experience the beauty of the surrounding countryside. We did this and it was bloody knackering, but well worth it!

In the little town we experienced out first authentic Colombian dish for lunch - Bandeja Paisa. Not remotely healthy but very delicious, it is a large plate piled full of rice, beans, and various types of fried meat - chorizo, minced beef, pork belly and pork steak, as well as salad, avocado and fried egg. Delicious!

El Penol Rock

View from the top

After a quick 24 hours exploring Guatape we head off for our mammoth journey to the capital - Bogota. The first part was beautiful, weaving through the mountains, traversing valleys and crossing rivers. The middle section wasn't so fun - back in the lowlands the temperature rose once again to an uncomfortable height as we rode along a very large and very straight highway. About an hour from Bogota we began to climb again, and very quickly snaked our way back up to over 2000m above sea level. We climbed and climbed until we reached the plateau at 2800m where Bogota sits and crawled our way through the traffic into the city.

We were not originally intending to visit Bogota, however through Instagram we found a shop that miraculously collects and restores old bikes, primarily Lambrettas and BSAs! So after an eight hour ride we head straight there to meet the guys and make sure they could help us.

They were as excited to meet us as we were them, and lucky for us two of their guys spoke very good English. So we discussed the bike and what needed doing, and it being Friday evening, organised to return Monday morning to start the work.

Over the weekend we mainly relaxed - one of the guys at the moto shop told us about a hostel nearby that he had been the architect for - 12:12 Hostels in the Chapinero district. It's a fabulous place with all the home comforts a traveller craves, and we throughly enjoyed our Saturday night eating takeaway pizza in the movie room! (We're very rock 'n' roll these days).

We had a look around the city on Sunday, visiting the Candelaria area at the centre of town which is home to the city's oldest architecture and many museums. We also attempted to take the cable car up the Monserrat mountain to get a good view of the city, however unbeknownst to us the tickets are cheaper on Sunday and it would seem the entire population of Bogota comes here with their families to take a ride to the top. Having been lucky enough to see quite a few amazing city vistas, we decided to skip the two hour queue and just potter about the city instead.

Come Monday morning we headed to the bike shop, where we were shown the many old bikes and parts nestled in every nook and cranny - from Matchless engines to Bonneville frames and renovated BSAs, it's safe to say that Tom was in heaven!

We spent two days with the guys at Tienda L Trece, and we owe them a lot. We left Bogota with new fork seals, new shocks, new chain, new air filter, new fuel lines and an oil change. Plus they checked our ignition coils which, after looking for new ones for the last two months, apparently actually have nothing wrong with them!

We learnt a lot about Bogota and Colombia, plus went out for food with them on multiple occasions where we got great local food for amazing prices. Sharing experiences with local people really makes the biggest difference when visiting a place, and to combine this with a mutual love of old bikes made this new alliance a very enjoyable one for all involved.

After five days it was time to leave Bogota with our 'new' bike, and start heading south towards Ecuador!