Really enjoying your report! Thanks much for making the effort!
Can you tell me a bit about what tablet/lab top you're carrying? Comments?

How do you re-fill Data and/or local SIM cards for phone and online use? ... or is it all Wifi? What are costs for local SIM cards or Data? (I'm an Apple user and not very computer literate... obviously!) Do some travelers just buy a local cell phone? Ta for any tips!

Chains!
I'm a chain nut and have spent way too much time and energy fiddling with them. Good to see Neda keeping up on chain maintenance! Daily cleaning/oiling will save lots of heartache down the road.

In wet weather chains can suffer ... and many so called "chain lubes" quickly wash off. I like cheap & cheerful solution: 90 wt. gear oil. commonly available everywhere, cheap. 90 wt. stays on well in rain. Wipe down daily to clean off crud, sand, grit ... then re-oil.

Also, if you have spare front sprockets, highly recommend changing your front sprockets EARLY. Like at around 8 to 10K miles. (12 to 15K kms) This will extend chain life by about 25%. Use quality, OEM sprockets if you can.

BMW are famous for using crap chains on their bikes. LOTS of documented chain failures on GS800 and GS650 forums. If you can, when you replace a chain, try to get a DID VX (or VM) X ring chain. Good for 20,000 miles + (over 30K kms+). (unlikely to find in Latin America)

Meantime, take care of chains-sprockets. A worn front sprocket (it won't look worn to you because you don't know what you're looking at!) will EAT UP your chain prematurely. Front sprocket is first to wear and once worn, its hard on your chain.
Good luck, safe travels!

Thanks for the advice on chains!

When we first started out, we were pretty fanatical about always staying connected. We have two iPhones. Since we have a Skype-to-landline subscription ($7/month), we never get a phone plan, just data.

We used our existing SIM chips across Canada. In the US, we bought AT&T chips for our iPhones (the chip was free, and it was $25 for 1G back then, prob alot cheaper now). When we crossed into Mexico, we paid $12 for a TelCel chip, $40 for 5GB), then Guatemala we used Tigo ($25 for 3GB). All of these plans lasted one month, then the data expired.

The mobile business is way larger and more competitive in Latin America than it is in North America. There are multiple stores on almost every street corner in the cities where you can pick up a SIM chip. Recharging can be done with a credit card over the Internet, or you can purchase fill-up cards at any convenience store and punch in the code via SMS from your phone directly.

However, we soon found that almost every place we went to had wi-fi, so we stopped buying the chips. We've been SIMless for almost a year now, and we don't really miss it.

As for computers, we use ASUS Eee PC Netbooks. I have a 1025CE and Neda has an older 1005HA. Netbooks are kind of going the way of the dodo because users like larger screens and more computing power, so the market is selling more Ultrabooks. But they are larger and more expensive, two things that are not compatible with motorcycle travel.

Our Netbooks costs $300 all in. If they were to get lost or stolen or crushed in an accident, it would suck but it wouldn't be a financial hardship to replace it. I am fairly religious about backing up all our data and pictures on two external terabyte hard drives, as well as syncing it between our two laptops. The data is the most important part of our trip.

Never really got into tablets because I do so much typing, photo and video editing, plus we need a lot of local storage for the movies, TV shows and books that we download.

Other travelers do everything with a single device like an iPad. It'll take pictures, you can blog on it, watch movies, read books, etc. but I wouldn't be happy because it wouldn't do it as well as a DSLR, laptop, Kindle, etc.

It's all personal preference based on what your wants and needs are, as well as your budget and what you are physically able to carry on your motorcycle...

Hope this helps!

__________________
Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Thanks so much for the detailed info on comms. Copied it into my comms page to help get me up to speed. (Soy medio caballo, la otra mitad es Burro)
Most times its travelers asking for help ... not fans who follow your report!
You're so lucky to have a native speaker in Neda. I see so many Gringos struggling ... stumbling ... and offending (unintentionally).
Have a safe ride!

"Es mejor viajar solo que con malas compañías"

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/137.html



Getting out of our warm bunk beds to the chill of the Bogota morning was very difficult. We spent the morning talking to the other backpackers in the hostel over breakfast while waiting for the weather to warm up to do some sightseeing.


NedaTV: All Neda, All the time. Security cam on our hostel.


Across the street from our hostel

We had heard a lot about Bogota, mainly warnings about how bad the crime is in the city. The traffic certainly lived up to its reputation, so we had certain expectations about the rest. Bogota surprised us. It was not the dirty, slummy place we had envisioned, but instead was quite modern - at least the touristy places that we went to, within walkng distance of our hostel.


La Candelaria


Morning ruminations

Our hostel is located in the heart of La Candelaria, the city's historic centre. It was very pretty with its charming colonial architecture. We walked by the Military Museum of Bogota and peered over the fence into the courtyard at some tanks and airplanes. A guard in a military uniform saw us taking pictures over the fence and strode over to us. We thought we were in trouble but instead he invited us into the museum, telling us it was free to the public.

Free is good. Not getting arrested is even better!


Close-up of the inscription on one of the old wartime cannons


The detail on one of the miniature ships was astounding


More cannons. Not phallic at all...


Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

The Metropolitan Cathedral also called the Primada Catedral, dominates the city plaza. It's been rebuilt several times since the 1500s due to earthquakes and the odd revolution. Nowadays, the only mobs that overrun the square are flocks of pigeons that greedily peck at the corn that vendors sell to tourists so they can get a picture with the birds.


I think this little guy wants his money back...


A different kind of mob hangs out in the city plaza, also waiting for tourist dollars


Walking the city streets



Further past the Catedral we walk into a more modern Bogota. Older buildings give way to storefronts and office buildings. Rolos, which is what the people from Bogota call themselves, stride purposefully through a pedestrian-only street. They've got the eyes-forward attitude that we're so familiar with from all our time living in a large city.


In addition to a pedestrian street, there's also a bicycle-only lane


There are some beggars on the street, but not as many as we have seen in other cities. This was a rare sight above.


I think this is called a Cherimoya, also called a custard apple in other countries


"We'll take four!" The custard apple has a very sweet creamy inside and tastes like... custard. Also very messy to eat.


Other side of the sign says, "The End of the World is Near! When?"

The guy above is selling cell-phone time. For 150 pesos (about 8 cents) a minute, you can use one of his cellphones to call another cellphone. This is a particular Colombian peculiarity that you see in every town and city, because of the fact that the landlines and cellphone networks in Colombia are not connected. You can't call a landline from a cellphone and vice versa. So strange. So people without cellphones just "rent" one for a couple of minutes to call their buddy to let them know they'll be running late.


Historic and Modern Bogota architecture meet in the city streets


Jazzy buskers entertain passerbys

La Candelaria was nice, but we're both getting a bit fatigued of sightseeing in large cities, especially after spending so much time in Medellin. I know there are many other things to see in Bogota, but we're craving a change of scenery.

__________________
Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/138.html



Zipaquira is about an hour's ride north of Bogota. It's a tiny town whose primary claim to fame is being close to a cathedral made of salt. Actually, it's a cathedral that's built inside of a defunct salt mine, and the hostel owner in Bogota warned us that it was a cheesy tourist trap. Since we're all about el queso, we decided to fight the big city traffic and make our way up there.


The entrance to the salt mine

The salt deposits in the area have been mined by indigenous people since the 5th century, all the way to pre-hispanic cultures and then to the Spanish in later times. In the 1930s, miners carved a small sanctuary where they could say their daily prayers for protection before starting work. This small altar would later be expanded as part of a huge construction project in 1995, creating a gigantic "Salt Cathedral" inside the mine itself, showcasing the country's prowess in modern architecture.


The Disco-fication of Salt

Everything inside the mine is illuminated with multi-coloured lights. They've really put a lot of effort into making salt look sexy! All it did was make me hella thirsty for grape soda...


We put on some Minion hardhats and explored the darkness of the salt mine

Inside, you can opt to take a guided tour of the salt mine itself. We were led through the darkness of some of the existing tunnels and learned how workers used tools like pickaxes, explosives and railway carts to extract and transport salt out of the mines.


Cool striations and banding on the walls of the mine. Needs a mirror ball hanging from the ceiling...


Neda hard at work mining salt deposits while we all sang, "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work we go" with a funky back beat


At the end of the tour, we all got paid in salt - just like the old miners did.
Since Neda did all the work, she got a huge chunk of rock salt. Because I just stood around and took pictures, this was my pay...

We walked around the tunnels leading up to the main hall of the Cathedral. When I say tunnels, they are actually huge hallways, perhaps 5m (16ft) tall and wide enough for two tractor trailers to drive past each other! The scale of the place was enormous!


This piece of art is carved right out of the rock and features intricately cut leaves

Every 50 meters or so there would be a tableau called a "Station of the Cross" abstractly representing a scene out of Jesus Christ's life (ie. Crucifixion, Ressurection, Meeting the Apostles, etc). Central to these tableaus would be a giant cross cut out of the rock salt and lit up with colourful lights. There are 14 "Stations of the Crosses" within the tunnels of the Salt Cathedral. These are just a few of them:


Praying at the S-altar...


Crucifix rises up out of the rock


One of the smaller "chapels" in the Cathedral


We walk past the main hall and it's now purple in colour


Just to give you an idea of scale, those are people gathered at the foot of the salt fountain in the distance...


The main hall of the Cathedral is stunning in its sheer immensity!
Guy in a hardhat at the bottom of the picture for scale.

Walking around all the large tableaus was quite remarkable. It seemed like the oversized tunnels stretched for a couple of kms inside the mountain that it was carved into. However, it was only when entering the main cathedral hall that we were bowled over by how large the inside of this place was. In the picture above, this section is 75m (246ft) long and 25m (82ft) high! The cross in the background is 16m (52ft) in height.

The whole cathedral is large enough to hold over 8,000 people. On Sundays, up to 3,000 people visit the Cathedral, despite the fact that it has no bishop and it's not officially recognized by the Catholic Church.


Balcony from where you can view the main hall from above

Like most of the crosses in the tableaus, it's actually not a solid piece of rock but a cutout to show the wall behind it, which is illuminated a different colour. Like one of them octopus illusions...


I'm positive this is what these kneeling blocks were made for...


Cross cut out of a curved wall


We walked past the main hall again and noticed it had changed colours! Groovy!

As we left the Salt Cathedral, we both remarked how it was one of the coolest things we've seen in Colombia. Especially since it seems that all we've been doing is hanging out in cities and towns lately... So glad we didn't heed the Bogota hostel owner's warnings about this place. I could see how it could be seen as cheesy to a local, but they did a really good job glamming up the whole experience.


Doing the Disco Rainsuit Dance

Spending all that time underground is like being inside a casino. You're completely cut off from what's happening outside with regards to time and weather, etc. We walked outside to see the late afternoon clouds working up to its daily showers. We rode for awhile out of Zipaquira before the inevitable rains forced us to do our side-of-the-road boogie besides our bikes.

We're probably not going to get very far this evening...

__________________
Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

News Flash! Neda attacked by rare, black S. American Condor!
(looks like some sort of Devil Bird! ... not a rain suit! )
Safe Travels!

LOL! Thanks!

__________________
Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com