I've been in Colombia nearly 2 months. I've done nearly 5000 kilometers of riding in country the past several weeks, from Bucaramanga down through Bogota and Villavicencio in the Cordillera Oriental (eastern range), and Manizales north in the Cordillera Occidental (central range).

I've done lots of riding - almost every kilometer of paved road - within 150 kilometers or so of Medellin. No problems. There's military everywhere - they sometimes stop me and check my papers but mostly I just ride by and wave. There's also National Police out and about - the few times I've been stopped, they've looked at my papers as well but otherwise no problems there either. (Not a single time was there any attempt at extracting dinero).

I did get stopped by the traffic cops once using radar, doing 90+kph in a 80 kph stretch north of Villavicencio (south from Aguazul on the edge of the Amazon Plateau), which is a hoot because its the flatest, straightest, most lightly travelled road I've been on in Colombia. (no ticket - just a warning).

I'm leaving tomorrow or Wednesday for Ecuador, I'll spend several days riding the coffee area south of Manizales - again, the paved roads. There's some parks to check out, some hotsprings, some nice towns - and good eating.

Basically anywhere there's paved roads are ok - can't say the same about wandering off into the backcountry on unpaved roads although I've done some off-pavement riding as well up in the mountains around Medellin.

I've been told not to stray off the main highway between Cali and the border of Ecuador. Nothing really of interest, since I've already seen the best, and its a bit suspect.

Of course, I'm not endorsing anything, mind you. Its just the best riding I've done in South America (ok, I just got here, heading south, but way better than anything in Central America).

And the best thing - the people are great. The majority of the people want to move on from the troubles of the recent past, and are really excited to see foriegners travelling through there country. Make sure you stop in the small towns, sit down and have a coffee and chances are, some complete stranger will wind up paying for it (that's been my experience travelling solo).

Enjoy

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quastdog
Chiang Mai, Thailand