August 2010 Update Venezuela Colombia

A slow start today, that’s what retired folks do, as we set a rough plan to explore Isla de Margarita. Playa El Agua, a white sandy beach with crashing shore breaks was chosen as the first destination. Huge hotel/casino complexes provided contrast to the poverty which was very apparent in the smaller villages. Umbrellas and shade huts sheltered holiday makers from the sun. Other nearby bays supported fisherman with these beaches also being very popular with locals. Few international tourists were seen on the beaches so our guess was they were at the ‘Black Jack Tables’ or the ‘Roulette Wheels’ despite the perfect weather.

Large Casino Hotels

July 2010 Update Colombia Venezuela

Early morning, and grey clouds moved in quickly hiding the blue sky on the day we planned a boat ride to neighboring islands. The vessel ‘Alcatraz’ departed 45 minutes late, cruising across the calm bay waters passing the old fortified entrance of Cartagena. Islas Del Rosario and Playa Blanca on Baru was our destination today.

June 2010 Update Colombia

It was quite a relief to reach Colombia as some months earlier in Argentina we had arranged a rendezvous with Carol’s sister Rosemary and her husband Mark. Many laughed at our projected time frame due to our slow travel pace and detours believing we would need to park the bike and fly to Cartagena to achieve the rendezvous. Rose and Mark planned to spend about 10 days with us in Cartagena and the surrounding area. Fortunately our current pace had us well on schedule to the point we could detour away from the direct route to visit two bicycle travelers met in Paraguay the previous year.

May 2010 Update Ecuador Colombia

Departing Banos we filled with petrol and a strange vehicle that had caused a few highway problems on our way to Banos followed us into the garage. These brightly colored road trains are used in many tourist areas to show off the local sights.

Mini tourist trains travel the highways slowly

April 2010 Update Peru and Ecuador

Thomas and Astrid on the Triumph side-car joined us in our ride north to Huacachina. The road added some interest in the early stages with some ‘twisties’ but straightened out just before we reached Ica. Huacachina was only a few kilometres further on and is a very small oasis village attracting both Peruvians and international tourists. Surrounded by huge golden sand dunes thousands of people arrive here to play in the dunes and swim in the small lake which is surrounded by hotels and smaller forms of accommodation. The sun was warm as we chased a suitable bed arriving at an unmarked hostel advised by another hostel owner. The building fronted the small lake and we were able to park the bike inside. Thomas declared he was happy to lock up the sidecar and park on the street. It was with some relief we had found this place as it was Semana Santa (Easter weekend) and the volume of holiday makers was quite apparent with some places displaying the ‘no vacancy’ sign. V8 buggies rumbled through the narrow streets and bounced along the approach road behind the village leading up into the dunes. Roaring through the dunes in these rough hand-made vehicles was one of the main attractions of the area.

Thomas and Astrid on their Triumph sidecar