Hi Peter, I’m doing something a bit similar starting next month: Santiago to Ushuaia and then back to Medellin either via Brazil and Venezuela via Manaus or back to Medellin via Porto Vehlo to Peru and Ecuador.
Signed up as a follower to your 2023 blog on your blogger website but it only goes as far a July. Is this where it stops or is there more?

Hi BunburyAndrew,

Sorry, my blog is woefully out of date. I was traveling long distances for 5 months. The priority became posting to Facebook and Instagram. Since returning to the U.S. just before Christmas 2023, I've been playing catch-up in a lot of areas. Hopefully, the blog and my 'Travelers Stories' space will get the attention they need.

I know what you mean about the diesel trucks shooting out the black billowing clouds of smoke every 5 seconds here. The buses and motorcycles are also terrible here.

I'm sure that the pollution in the big cities has a serious effect on people's lifespans. It is not fun watching my pregnant wife have to deal with the pollution every day.

I don't think most of these Latin American countries will ever fix the pollution. In Colombia "the family" is all important, it is too bad that they can not get a handle on the pollution.

The other problem with no enforcement of emissions is the noise from motorcycles. Can't stand the idiots running around here on motorcycles with no exhausts and revving the hell out of their motorcycles at 2 am in the morning, waking everyone up.

Colombia what happened
 

T T I have in Colombia since 2016. and the economy has grown to the fastest growing one in SA. there are literally thousands of trucks waiting at the Caribbean and Pacific ports to take the goods to the Metropolitan centers
The Highway infrastructure is poor but being worked on constantly.
The problem is that in Colombia the work done is never finished it takes decades to accomplish anything, for example the tunnel de Oso.
Ibague - Armenia , The Lina 11 years for 11 km of tunnels and viaducts and it is only for west bound traffic. The Department Tolima has a very modern Highway system and it is impressive in what they have done since I have been in Colombia but still has a long way to go
I cant say this for Santander it literally sucks going thru Chicamocha the second largest canyon in the world and probably the longest crawling parking lot also .
It is weird how Colombia tackles there problems with infrastructure and I hear Corruption is a major problem when it comes to funding there projects.
Cutting corners is the norm and nothing ever gets done properly or fixed properly, I have seen a lot in my. 85000 km of travel
Colombian officials dont Fix anything.

Minor point - we've driven the La Linea tunnel eastbound. Excellent improvement in the tunnel, however at some times of day the old jams are still there, just not in the tunnel.

General point, it's not easy to provide and maintain the same level of infrastructure as in wealthy countries, exacerbated by being the most mountainous country in the Western Hemisphere. On one trip I counted 323 landslides in 41 km!