Two challenging days riding and I am ready for rest day in Pasto. First day was challenging with a lot of climbing. Second day was tough with some more climbing and neither bicycle nor myself was 100%. However, happy to be in Pasto. My brother arrives Saturday afternoon so have not one, but two rest days here. I could have kept going and have him meet me further, but also decided this was good spot for a breather.
Day One
Up, down, up. A lot of climbing today, but weather cooperated so all went well.

Left the hotel and low point for the day was at 3km where I crossed the river. From here, 23km of climb up to ~5000ft. A little over half that climb was in the first 9km, so steeper starting out and easier after that.

Weather was turning to be a nice day with blue skies.

Not sure what these plants are, but looked like they had specifically been harvested here. Also saw a lot of squash and some watermelon as well.

It was a steady ride that took around 4 hours including my stops but nice views on the top. From here a brief level spot before descending for 13km back down to the river.

You could see the river down below.

Another view of road on descent with a waterfall below.

Colorful basic house.

First of two tunnels today. This one on the descent and with a curve. Got somewhat dark, but fortunately not too long.

Bridge down at the bottom. Wasn’t much at the bottom. One small place that looked like it might be hotel and a gas station mostly closed.

Climbing back out there also wasn’t much for the first 12km. The sign to Pasto made it seem tantalizing close, but a lot of climbing still to go.

These plants almost look like Joshua Trees but still somewhat different.

Also nice to see a cactus if this means drier general climate.

These road workers were sweeping up debris that fell onto the road.

Second tunnel, this one on the way up, so a bit slower to climb.

At 50km, first hotel or for that matter store. Not quite clear what the problem was, but I understood I couldn’t rent a room here.

Second hotel a little further had rooms but didn’t have a restaurant, so went a bit further.

Third hotel had restaurant and rooms. No wifi, but can’t be picky. Overall, a long day of climbing but except for light rain starting and some showers along the way, it was reasonable cycling as well as not too hot.
Day Two
Wasn’t feeling 100% today. Had some tuna and crackers since I knew I would need energy for another 1000 meter+ climbing day. Stopped 6km in for a bit more to eat.

Today was only 31km, though all the climbing was in the first 24km. I was quite slow. Also noticed that my rear shifter continued to stick. Eventually I could get into lowest gears, but disconcerting since I use those gears a lot.

Small shrine on the way up.

Up to the right, you can see the top!

Odometer height shot, pretty much at the top. From here a nice 6km descent down into Pasto.

First view looking down on Pasto.

I looked in Google Maps to find spot with bike shops and found three clustered not far apart. The first one was closed, so I found a hotel first. This seems to be the business district with nice hotels. This one was a little more expensive (but still cheaper than US), but I was also motivated to have a hotel with both hot and cold water.

Afterwards, I went to the bike shops. Discovered they all seemed to close for a lunch siesta. Thought the first one would open at 2pm, but was then told it was 3pm.

Found the specialized bike shop nearby. Had them replace my brake pads. Rear pad had been worn and the clip had actually just gotten bent, most likely on the final descent into Pasto. They looked at the shifters, but couldn’t do much for them. Suggested getting a new set. They didn’t have them at this shop, but instead in center.

I got the sense, repair isn’t much of the business – instead it is mostly sales and assembly. When I asked for the price to do the repairs, I was told free. That didn’t seem right and asked three more times, but eventually got changes done without charge. Wow and thanks.

Second bike shop didn’t have shifters but suggested a shop downtown. Third shop does seem to have a shimano eight speed shifter and brake combination. I’ll sleep on it overnight, but otherwise likely have it replaced tomorrow – hopefully some peace of mind that these gremlins I see now, don’t turn out more serious.

Otherwise, nice to be in Pasto, get some laundry done and otherwise get ready for restful rest day (Friday). Will likely move to downtown hotel for last night when Bert arrives via bus with his bicycle.

Another soggy day in paradise. My hands were prune-shriveled from the web when I finished. It was wet from mid-morning for entire day and only paused a little after I finished.

Left Popayan early with not much city traffic. With a few kilometers I was back on the main road to Pasto. It was busier and there was sharp lip between main road and shoulder so had to pick where to ride.

A lot of hills today, overall over 1000m of climb even though the net was a descent. I came through coffee growing regions and saw places where they had beans drying underneath covered awnings.

A number of these roadside places. By now it had started to rain more steadily.

At 40km was town of Rosas. I was still at same net elevation, but there was a 16km long downhill after this.

Was tempting to check into little hotel here, though also wanted to get some more distance.

Waterfall along the road on way down.

More restaurants, some mist coming on the camera lens.

Town of El Bordo was reasonable size and mostly strung along the highway. I had seen a hotel sign that I tried to follow from Google Maps. Went way back into town and there wasn’t a hotel there, so circled back to main road and found spot close to center of town. It was still raining a reasonable amount, but fortunately subsided not long after that.

Third day of flat riding through sugar cane. However, have reached end of flattest part of the valley and back to hills after that.

A nice small hotel yesterday. I ended up taking off my front wheel to fit it into the room. Last night I was sitting with my weight in middle part of double bed when board underneath broke. Oops. Not too crooked to sleep on overnight, but this morning I showed it to the owner.

Today was almost exclusively sugar cane and not corn, pineapple, cattle or other crops. These guys above were trimming a large hedge surrounding a sugar cane field.

An example of an oversized gas station that also includes a restaurant and small hotel. Not every gas station has this, but does appear along the main roads. I ate a late breakfast at another one of these.

Flat riding with more sugar cane.

Football practice. Not long after this was a small town.

As I got closer to Santander, I could start to see the slightest hills in the distance. Apparently road from here to Popayan has a fair amount of rolling hills, so figured Santander would be good place to stop.

A typical lunch plate. Somehow, find it just a bit more difficult to communicate with Colombian Spanish than Mexican Spanish. So, I’m not always 100% certain of what I’ve ordered. I’ll ask for a plate (plato) and if it comes with things like salad (ensalada), rice (arroz) and beans (fijoles) as well as some form of meat (carne). I’ll usually end up with some variation of the plate above. This one also came with lemonade.

Soup was also included. Price today was 7,000 pesos or $2.50. That is on the low end of a meal cost, but it isn’t often that the price goes more than 20,000 pesos.

Wet roads starting out. Wet roads finishing up. In between a flat day riding under sunny skies.

Had breakfast in the hotel before going back to the main highway. All day was riding on two lane divided highway. It wasn’t limited access, so lots of little places along the way. The road was still wet and occasionally some mud splatters to streak things.

It was an agricultural area with cows as well as corn and sugar cane. Interesting to find these white birds often with cattle.

This was soccer field in small village I passed. A good overview for the day: slightly soggy field. Lots of sugar cane and otherwise flat.

Love potion for sale. Seemed to be multiple places in this village all selling some variation.

By now the sun had come out and was turning out to be a nice day. Interestingly the signs have changed from citing specific genus and species of animals to a very generic sign warning of “native animals”.

In Colombia, motorcyclists have their license plate numbers on their helmets. With multiple passengers on a motorcycle, often more than one helmet has the license plate number.

I had lunch at this large cafeteria style restaurant. It was located in between the lanes of alternate traffic. No need for walls as there isn’t much seasonal variation in temperature. This area is around 1000m high so not quite as hot as the lowlands.

Sugar cane.

As I got close to 90km, I went into center of Tulua. It was a busy crowded little city. I had picked several hotels from the internet and second one looked reasonable. Otherwise, nice to be in middle of one of these Colombian towns.

Dodging the rain and climbing the hills. Today was only 44km, but still had over 1000m of climb as I was no longer following the river valley as closely.

Woke up to find a moderate rain. Hence, I took my time in hopes it might subside. First had to get my bike and gear down from third floor to outside. Next, reassemble everything on the bike. After that, went across the street to the bakery and got some breakfast items.

By then it was raining, though not as hard. The sign for the bridge, “solo un vehiculo pesado sobre el puente”, limits only one heavy vehicle at a time. There was a lot of construction today. Traffic would get stopped and then only one direction at a time would proceed.

It was Sunday and I saw multiple cyclists out riding. A woman on moped was riding along with (presumably) her husband and son. They passed me on the flats, but a while later on a long hill, I slowly inched past the mother and son stopped, i.e. tortise and the hare. However, the boy was now motivated to not get passed by a gringo with a loaded bike. About five minutes later they came past again. I gave him a thumbs up and got a big smile from the mother.

Here I was stopped for a rest and noticed above my bike a platform placed with several bananas. Presumably feeding birds or similar animals.

The signs did still warn about other animals.

Overall, it was slow going as net elevation gain for the day was +600 meters (2000ft). However, I also lost and gained some of that a few times as my cycle computer said 1030 meters for the day.

I wasn’t too far from Chinchina when it started raining harder again. Figured that was a good sign to make a not very long day and get dried out from the rain.

Cycled into downtown and the square with nice church.

Here was the inside with HDR mode to highlight dynamic range.

I had a target hotel picked out, but unfortunately they wouldn’t let me bring my bicycle into my room. So, I circled back and found a second hotel. Again, had to carry things up two flights of stairs, but otherwise a nice place.

After this walked around town and got lunch.

These guys were having fun.

I don’t know if Trash Clothing would do as well in a country where English is primary language.

Otherwise, a nice little town and glad I stopped close to center here rather than place out on the highway. I am now just slightly less than 5 degrees north of the equator.