Colombia Libre!Cartagena Nov 2009
 

Right Guys and Gals!!!
We,re in the process of organising an International Motorcycle travellers meeting in Cartagena in November of 2009!!!
We,ll be advertizing it in as many places as possible.I,m especially looking for people from France,Germany Italy etc.I know there are a lot of them travelling but it,s difficult to get a hold of them,if you know of any websites in these countries for folks like us please let me know!!!
The main reason for this idea coming together is to show the world that Colombia is not what it used to be and that the folks down here get an unfairly bad rap in the press and media in general.Too many people still fly straight from Panama to Quito and miss out on the stunning scenery and extra friendly people.(not to mention the hot chicks)
We recon November is the time to do it as it seem thats when the majority of Alaska-TdF types are passing by.
There are no fixed dates as yet and we,re just putting a team together to get things moving,but we already have interest from Ktm and Redbull as possible sponsors!!!
We shall see early days yet.
If you,re planning a trip try to fit this into your schedule,as I,m sure that if we can pull it off it,ll be a real hoot.
Al theturtleshead

Wow, this sounds pretty awesome Albert. I am sure that it will be a success. The safety in Colombia has improved so much over the last 10 years because of the president. If you skip Colombia, then you will be skipping the best country on the trip.r

A couple pics:

http://www.pix8.net/pro/pic/20955szlJ/1083171.jpg

http://www.pix8.net/pro/pic/20955szlJ/1082845.jpg

Colombia
 

Sssshhhhh....don´t tell everybody!

Of all the countries that I visited during my trip Colombia was one of my favorites and one of two where I could see myself living (Argentina was the other) and working a real job.

Albert! Wish I could make it! Maybe next year!

Colombia Libre!!! Cartagena October 30th-2ndNovember
 

We now have a team of Organisers Maurico Gallo from Ruta40 BMW Medellin and John Arcilla from TouringColombia - Touring Colombia - "Amigos por la Ruta".
We,ll have a logo,hotels,hostals,routes and bike transport in the planning.
They,ll be all kinds of runs organised to Santa Matha,Parque Tyrona etc.
So if you,re heading down in 2009 try to fit this into your schedule.
Al theturtleshead

Transport
 

We,re talking to a company in Miami called AmericanWings The owner has been very interested in what we are trying to do.The cost for one bike is around $1000 all in,but he says the price will drop considerbly are the number of bikes rises.
It,s a start!!!?c?
Al theeturtleshead

Colombians
 

Another Costa Rica in Colombia I very much doubt it! For me one of the great things about Colombia is it,s very strong cultural identity and thats something that won,t be changed by however many Gringos there are walking around.
After all Engand on it,s own has around 48 million inhabitants to Colombias 44 million and I don,t think they,ve developed American accents yet!
I,ve also been around Ecuador Colombia and Peru for 14 years so I,d like to think I have a broader perspective than someone who simply hangs out in the nicer parts of town.
Every Colombian I talked to says the country as a whole has moved foreward leaps and bounds in the last 10 years and none have any desire to fall back into the old ways and you certainly get the sensation that the only polititian they will ever vote for is the one who gives them the sense that the growing economy and security will continue.
Any way no more politicing,from now on this will just be covering the run up to the event and the details of the event.
PLEASE NO MORE POLITICS!!! take it to the bar if you have too
Al theturtleshead

Fair enough. There was more to my comment than the political, but it's your post, so I'll just wish you luck then.

Good stuff
 

I,d be more than happy to hear any suggestion you might have to get this thing moving over here at the HUBB.
I,ve already got news that we,ll have groups coming in from Venezuela and Ecuador as well as a few guys from the States.
Also there will be a big movement from Colombia with groups from Medellin already signed up!
Some guys are flying in and renting bikes in Cali and Rides and parties being arranged.
I don,t think the party will stop in Cartagena,I think it,ll keep on going as the foreign rider are escorted back to the other cities on their way south.
Stay tuned for developments:funmeteryes:
Al theturtleshead

Coumbia Meet
 

I'm leaving Canada in July for TDF by Xmas. The idea of a meet in Columbia is great, but I'd prefer a little more relaxed schedule for the remaining 8000 or so KMs left for me after the meet. Something in mid-October would be better. Even if I come through too early, I'll stop by and say hello...

JohnB
(currently in Otavalo)

Logo
 

So here's the official Colombia Libre 2009 logo. It will not be an event you will want to miss :palm:

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...bia_libre3.png

Hi John

From running my hostel here in Cali I know that November is absolutely peak period of overland bikers passing through. Some 60 bikers have passed by Casa Blanca since august last year when we opened.
Cheers
Mike

In Cartagena
 

Hi all, i'm a new hubber that lives in Cartagena, let me know how can i help from here and if you want to know whats happening here in Colombia, please watch YouTube - COLOMBIA: Would you take the risk?

Regards,

Fernando
Cell phone 57+3006574528

Damn straight
 

I couldn,t agree more!!! Looks like we,ll have at least 200 riders showing up from Colombia alone! and it,s still very early yet.
Al thedogsbollocks

Just check this!
 

I live in Cartagena too!
 

Hello Fernando:

Wow, what a coincidence. I live in Cartagena too!!! I am in Bogota picking up my bike today and will be back on Sunday. I live in Laguito, how about you?

Lets get together!!!

312 628-3311

Cartegena in November
 

Welcome Fernando! I have wanted to see Colombia for 6 years now and was planning to ride down this year as a retirement gift. However, the economy is keeping me working, so I'll just have to fly in to meet you all. I want to see what all the hoopala is about before the place changes any more than it did already. :palm:
Do you or anyone else know of a good place to rent something?

If the rally is in November, count me in.

Anyone else from NYC considering this?

Hi Digiamo

I run Colombia´s only adventure bike rental. I´m based in Cali in the south and are putting together a ride from Cali through Medellin to Cartagena. Some +20 Colombian bikers have said yes to ride along from here and we´ll hopefully join up with an other group in Medellin. But you can of cause do your own thing too.

As of now I have a 2008 Kawasaki KLR 650 and a Aprilia ETV1000 Rally Raid and will have minimum one more 650 Enduro (KLR, KTM, or BMW) by the time of the event.

A couple of other ADV riders have shown interest in renting for the event, so like I´ve told them: who ever confirm the rental and pay the booking deposit first will have the bikes waiting for them here!

Check my site: MOTOLOMBIA - extreme bike adventure

Video part 2

Hey thanks for the heads up on your bike rentals, but are you saying that you are the ONLY rental in Colombia and I can't get a bike right in Cartegena? Even a small off road bike.
If that's the case I may go with the KLR although I was hoping to fly right into Cartegena and grab a rental. Does any of your bikes come with panniers and/or a topbox.
Thanks again,
Dan

I wrote only ADVENTURE bike rental, but to the best of my knowledge also the only bike rental in general. I have not heard of any sort of bike rental in Cartagena, but would love to hear about it if someone knows anything I don't!

And yes my bikes comes with alu side panniers!

You can see more here: MOTOLOMBIA - extreme bike adventure

:clap:This sound great! Have moto in storage in Argentina and had planned on
heading north about the first of November. May be able to move that up
some and get to Columbia about mid Nov. Let us all know when a date is set.

Would be great if we could put together a group coming from the south.:thumbup1:
Road Hog :scooter:

Dude the date is set for the event: October 30 to November 2. The group ride from Cali heading north leaves October 28 EARLY. So be here no later than October 27, we're waiting for you:funmeteryes:

OK that's it then, get all the hay in and grain planted to be in BA by the first of October, then start wandering west and north to be in Cali by the 27th. We have a plan! Anyone else looking at the m/l same route and time?

Road Hog :scooter:

Great looking forward to meeting you. Keep me posted on the travels!:mchappy:

On a mission
 

After reading about Colombia Libre I am inspired...I now have a goal! I am madly renovating in Brisbane and will sell or refinance to get there!! I have been researching DR650's for a while and I will soon start getting all the parts together in prep to buy a DR throw the luggage/carby/suspension on, come to Colombia, hook up with some riders and head south...Yee Haa!!!

Can you give me any info on shipping? I was thinking Bogota by air but Im struggling to find much info about it. Qantas flies to Buenos Aries <sp?> so maybe I get it sent on from there..ok now Im a bit off topic but Im stoked on the idea....see you in October!! :D

Sounds super cool dude!
Concerning shipping by air might be quite expensive. I would maybe look into shipping the bike to Buenaventura on Colombias Pacific coast. Its a big port city 2 hours drive from where I'm based in Cali and coming from Australia that would be the shortest way if any boats do that route !!??

Flying the bike you should probably look into to flying it via Panama City I think !??

Rock on - looking forward to seeing you here for the rally :scooter:

The Road to Colombia Libre 2009! Part 3
 

Video Part 3

colombia meeting
 

Great Idea for the meeting in Colombia Albert... Brauntiful country, nice road, friendly people and safe...

Maby ... I shall make this trip in this periode


www.motossinfronteras.blogspot.com

Your blog link doen't work dude!!:oops2:

colombia meeting
 

Great Idea for the meeting in Colombia Albert... Brauntiful country, nice road, friendly people and safe...

Maby ... I shall make this trip in this periode


www.motossinfronteras.blogspot.com

ship to BA then north to Columbia
 

Nadz: :D
If you decide to ship into Buenos Aires check with Dakar Motos. My (still fuzzy) plan is to take a month to get from BA to Cali on the west coast. Not sure what your time frame is but it would be great to put together a group leaving BA m/l the first of Oct. Should be time to stop and see the sights, get lost a few times and still make it to Cali by the 27th.

Road Hog :scooter:

It sounds a little bit like a tight plan to me. Did Santiago to Cali October 2007 and reached Cali January 5.

Anyway save some ass skin, there's still another 1100 KM to ride in two day from Cali to the Event in Cartagena on the most curvy ass road you'll find in South America :wave:

What kinda bike?
 

Road Hog, Im keen but timing will be tight, still got a house to sell and a DR to buy!! HOWEVER there is a ST4 in the shed...kinda goes against my theory of travel light, blend in, ride on dirt etcetc What are you riding?

Is that as in Ducati ST4? If so, and you do not plan to go through Bolivia, but stay on the Pacific coast it would be an awesome bike to do the trip on.

I use to ride my ST4 all over Europe and have missed it many times here in Colombia. I think the roads here are perfect for that bike, only concern is getting parts and repairs as there are next to no Ducaties here!

Nadz
I am riding a Buell XB12X, it is great on the rougher roads and ok on most gravel but not much good on loose gravel. Hard to find something to do everything well. I am game for some gravel but like to stay to something that sort of looks like a road. I also run on the theory "if you don't know where your are going, you can't get lost" which often takes me to some really neat, out of the way places.
Keep in touch and maybe it will all fall into place.

Anyone know what kind of weather to expect on a run up the west coast of SA in October? I rode down to TDF in January, was pleasant weather there but just plain hot when I went north.
Blog at: horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/thode
Road Hog:scooter:

Go the Duc
 

Yea its a '00 Ducati ST4 chipped, airboxed, piped and suspended. One of the best for road touring for sure, when I load the panniers up it seems to handle even better! I need to bring two bikes and have a helicopter on stand by to bring me the right one for my mood and road!!! :eek3:

Oh well back to reality, I think Ill do the dirtbike thing and go a bit rough and cheap style, theres heaps of stuff I want to see in Bolivia and go mountain bashing in Chile, see the real countryside instead of just the cities and tarmac.If you see a guy on a DR in the twisties swearing about bike choice in his helmet that will be me!:scooter:

Ha ha whatever gets you there is cool :mchappy: Hope to see you make it all the way up here to Colombia!

Colombia Libre Blog
 

We now have a blog! Basic but material will be added soon.
Colombia Libre check it out.
Al thebarkingspider

Publicity
 

We now have three magazines from three counties who are going to do articles on our little shindig.:thumbup1:
Be there or be cuadrado.
Al thebarkingspider

advice
 

We will be close to Colombia around October - November, but now all travel advice tells us that all borders with other countries are dangerous. Assuming the official information is on the cautious side, what can you advice? Is it possible to get in one piece from Colombia to Venezuela and Ecuador?

Thanks ..
Auke

No Problem!
 

There are bikes moving through Colombia constantly these days and no reports of problems other than the usual falling off stunts.
Don,t belive the hype,Colombia is OK!!!
Al thebarkingspider

To Ecuador there's no problems at all, just went most of the way to the border Friday to recover a crashed bike from an American.

The border to Venezuela should be no problem either. Only concern are reports from travelers in Venezuela being spit on on the street and told to get the **** out of their country.

The Plan
 

Putting together a plan to make Cali by the 25th of Oct. :clap: and after the gathering heading to Panama. :mchappy: Ran across a contact for sea transport of me and my moto north. :detective:(metacometpassages@yahoo.com) They make regular runs back and forth so thought that some heading south:boat: to the gathering might want to look into coming by sea. :palm: Now if I just did not have to stay and work I could be ready to leave sooner. :funmeteryes:

Robert :scooter:

Great - join our group ride north from Cali if you want!

See ya!
Mike:scooter:

Important Change!!!!!!!!!!!!! Watch This!
 

OK medellin then!
 

Mike,

in Fortaleza now and with the pace that I'm going it may take me up to november till I get there. If not I'll drop by in Cali.

Take care till then.

Count me in!!
 

Sounds like a great idea I hope to be in columbia around that time Fantastic idea I am sick of everyone saying oooohhhhh don't go to colombia when they have not been there.

I went through the Ecuador/Colombia border yesterday (Tulcan) and it's the easiest South American border I've been through. Also Natalia (the Colombian aduana/customs woman is the most unbelievably beautiful human being on the planet. If you don't get her when you go through customs, refuse to continue until you do!

Colombia is absolutely no problem and the border crossing that most bikers do between Colombia and Ecuador (Ipiales) is the easiest and fastest border crossing in South America.

If there should be any problems it would maybe be inside Venezuela, where several travelers now report about being treated badly, two British girls where spit on on the street and told to get the held out of the country. Other similar stories have been told here at my hostel the last couple of month, but I would not worry to much and probably just go there to see for myself

Hey guys, my friend and I are buying ATK bikes when I arrive in Bogota on the 17th of July, when searching their website I found this page of PDF magazines for download:

Rutas AKT - AKT Motos - Poder a tu alcance

Each magazine has heaps of routes and stuff to do, I'm stoked & can't wait!

P.S. do houses / hostels in Colombia usually have gas heated or electric heater water?

Not to burst your bobble, but it is illegal to buy a vehicle new or used in Colombia on a tourist visa. Its not possible to register the bikes and thereby also impossible to sell them again later.

Just had two Danish guys in big trouble here in Cali. They bought two small bikes used in Santa Marta (at gringo price). Never where able to register them and when they tried to sell them they found out it was impossible. Luckily they where never stopped by the police, which would 99% sure have meant confiscation on the spot.

Me and my wife tried to help them get the original owners to sign a new sales contract leaving the buyer space blank, so we could sell them to a Colombian, but they then claimed they never received any money and that they would make a police report of theft if the guys didn't pay even more money.

I eventually managed to sell the bike without papers to 1/4 of the price they paid a month after the guys left the country. But that was not easy!:ninja:

I don't think it will be that hard from a dealer, last week I sent out an email to about 50 dealers in Bogota and the response was overwhelming, all of them trying to help me and giving me some fantastic offers even after I said we are two Australians only staying for a month.

I believe the very worst case scenario is that I'll have to put it in someone elses name and visit a Notoria to have an agreement stamped, afterall we don't plan on crossing any borders.

Anyway I'll give it my best go and if I'm successful I'll write up a guide for the HUBB so people know.

Hey guys,
I posted this in the other thread but believe I should post it here as well as I said I would make a guide so here it is.


I would like to confirm that my friend and I have successfully purchased two motorcycles from a dealer and have all of the paperwork in our names.

It was a little tricky however there is a box on the papers you fill out which says 'c.extranjero' make sure this one is crossed, it's for foreigners. They will tell you that you need a number from your identification, the number they ask for is only available to Colombians as they don't often sell to tourists however we used passport numbers but I think you can also use the number from your 'International Drivers License' which you should definitely have already if riding in Colombia.

Apart from this all we have to do now is take our licenses to the transito and obtain some stamped piece of paper which says we're licensed to ride in Colombia, we're doing this on Monday.

I would like to recommend this dealer because they helped me with the process immensely, it was AKT Motos on Avenida 1 de Mayo, one of the girls there was very kind but I don't remember her name. Their website is www.aktmotos.com. I do not believe this process to be easy if you do not speak Spanish, take a translator with you if this is the case as nobody at the dealer spoke English.

For $2.800.000 pesos each (approx $1350 usd I think) we purchased two brand new 125cc motorcycles with helmets, jacket for numberplate info, SOAT insurance all ready to go, overall took 5 days but it should take between 3-5 days depending on how busy the offices are.

Cancellation!!!
 

Cancellation!!!!

Guys!!! Due To Unfortunate Events We Are Forced To Postpone The Colombia Libre Event To A Later Date Next Year.

Albert Our Main Man In Medellin Has Crashed On His Ktm And Seriously Broken His Leg And Will Be Unable To Recover In Time To Take Care Of Organizing Things In Medellin Before The Event.

I'm In Cali If Anyone Still Want To Meet Up. There Are Several Bike Events Down Here During November. Among Others Motofestival De Alto Cilindraje November 13-14-15. The Organizers Expect Some 700 Colombian Bikers From All Over The Country.

And I'll Happily Lead Some Smaller Tours Around The South Of The Country If We Can Make A Group.

Hope You Recover Well Albert. And Sorry To The Rest, We'll Be Back With New Dates!!

How about back to Cartagena
 

Hello Kaiser:

I am so sorry to hear about Albert. It is a shame; I was really looking forward to the meeting. I live in Cartagena and if there is a group that still wants to come, I can arrange for something on a smaller scale here. I have some local contacts and can arrange for housing/apartments/secure parking, etc. Any one who is interested, let me know as soon as possible.

Just let me know as I will need to get right on this. It will be my pleasure. My email is martin@martinpublishing.com

Martin

I am in Cusco now but plan on being in Cali by the 25th. Keep me updated if something else gets put together. Would like very much to meet up with fellow riders.

Bob :scooter:

Yes, its too bad. I too was very excited about the whole thing.
But we'll try and put something together next year, you're welcome to join the ranks as an organizer. And sounds great if you can put something together for anyone coming your way. I do the same here in Cali. I'll pass on your email.

Hello Mike and Albert:

Is this the same leg injury I saw you with last month in Medellin? It looked pretty bad. I hope you heal and are good as new.

I guess the question for me is how many riders are already committed to coming. Do you have any kind of email list? I was talking to a friend of mine today. He is in the tourist apartment/housing business here. He can get as many apartments and or hotel rooms as we need. Additionally I live on the beach and have a semi private beach. (Vacaciones en Cartagena) I can use that and my patio for some Bar-B-ques, and get together. I have a large secured parking lot next to me.

I do not see a problem in hosting up to 50 or so bikes with riders. I was thinking of some rides/activities for the weekend however before I get to far ahead of myself, I need to see if there are enough people who still want to come. Let me know what you think.

Martin