Salento

I had been staying places longer than I originally planned, and I felt like I really needed to start moving a little faster. With that in mind, I planned one night in Salento. As I was checking into the hostel, I heard the woman at the desk tell another guest who had only booked one night but who "might stay longer," that everyone says that, and everyone ends up staying longer. Turns out that would be me as well.

Guatape and Beyond Medellin

When I was approaching Medellin, I'd originally planned on stopping in Guatape for a night first, and then making my way to Medellin in a day or two. I'd been so exhausted from the hours of dirt roads and 40 hours of riding in the past week, that when I saw that it would be longer to arrive at Guatape due to road conditions than to continue on to Medellin, I decided to save it for later. Now it was time to check it out.

Wander

Having taken up an entire day for the museum and not made it to much else, I dedicated the next two days to wandering around town and seeing the rest of the sights. I didn't spend a lot of time at each one, but I made it around town to see quite a bit.

Dora the Explora

My motorcycle parts issues (mostly) taken care of, I finally had free reign of Medellin. Unlike the coastal towns I'd lazed around in, the activities in Medellin weren't overshadowed by the "go to the beach" mentality, so there was plenty to do.

Scavenger Hunt

I'd heard nothing but good things about Medellin from everyone who'd been there, and I was itching to spend some time there. While the week of riding was great, 40 hours on the bike in 6 days also left me a little tired and needing a break for a few days, not to mention needing a few parts (kickstand primary among them). My only concern was the lethargy that had taken over me in Cartagena, Santa Marta and Taganga - but Medellin had enough interesting things to do that it wasn't ever a problem.

Ride Week Pt. 2

A few days of riding already behind me, I had decided to keep riding instead of stopping in San Gil and taking part in the local activities. I'd made my decision: this week was for riding, and anything else was secondary. But riding has it's fair share of excitement too, and the week still had a few interesting things around the corner.

Ride Week Pt. 1

Twenty three days. Twenty three days since I had last ridden a motorcycle (at least an intact one). I'd ridden from Santiago to Panama City, and then had an aborted ride to Colon on January 6th. It was now January 29th.

So now, it was time to ride.