There are 467 blog posts for you to enjoy.
Ibarra,Ecuador - Pretty but a bit on the chilly side
November 13, 2022
First, in case you're curious, my wanderings around all the towns I am visiting are visible on my Strava profile. There's a link to it in the column to the right, or if you're on a phone or small tablet it's probably below these blog entries. So far, the towns are Buga, Popayán, Pitalito, and Mocoa. In each of those town I walked between 20 - 25 kilometers (12 - 15 miles) exploring them.
This morning I left Ipiales and headed for the border of Ecuador. I walked as it was only about 3 kilometers. On the way, there are people, mostly taxis, parked alongside the road wherever a bit of water flowed down from the hillside, and they used to wash their cars. I thought that was interesting, I've seen that before. But, apparently, it's something normal for them. I reached Rumichaka, the border crossing, and I must say it was with a little bit of trepadation—my entry stamp was long ago expired. At the immigration center I told the guy that I wanted to self-deport, we talked a bit, and he said we needed to meet again at 2 pm (it was a couple of minutes before 12) when he would be back from his lunch break. Yeah, lunch breaks here are 2 hours, that's the norm for Colombia (I don't yet know about the other South American countries). So, during his break he and I talked a lot about many things, he's a really nice guy and very helpful. He said the process for me to get a legal exit stamp would take 3 days, but with the weekend, that meant staying until next Wednesday. I suggested passing a little extra under the table to get the stamp today, and he agreed. He talked to another guy and the two of them got me a legal exit stamp with no deporting problems. I just had to pay the fine for the expired entry stamp plus a little extra for the two of them. And now, all is well.
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Visit to Ipiales, Colombia
November 11, 2022
First, in case you're curious, my wanderings around all the towns I am visiting are visible on my Strava profile. There's a link to it in the column to the right, or if you're on a phone or small tablet it's probably below these blog entries. So far, the towns are Buga, Popayán, Pitalito, and Mocoa. In each of those town I walked between 20 - 25 kilometers (12 - 15 miles) exploring them.
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The towns of Mocoa and Pasto, Colombia
November 8, 2022
I was in Mocoa for 2 nights and enjoyed the visit. It's a nice little pueblo in a small valley at about 600 meters (about 1968 feet). When I first arrived in town I also recieved a message from a friend in Barranquilla telling me to be careful because Mocoa is in a "Red Zone". Here in Colombia there are red zones - areas where any of the various narcotrafico groups/illegal armed groups/guerrilla groups are located. So, when I was out exploring the town I went by the police station and spoke to two officers and they told me the town is fine, the armed groups are all out in the mountain jungles and don't come into the towns. I also spoke to the hostess at the hotel and she told me basically the same thing. And again, I spoke to a man I met when out walking and he, too, said the same thing. So, nothing to worry about walking around in town.
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Pitalito, Huila, Colombia
November 5, 2022
My previous blog was about Popayán, this is the next town on my journey - Pitalito.
The distance to drive from Popayán to Pitalito is about 160 kilometers (100 miles). Not far, and if there were a freeway or open highway between the two towns the trip would be a couple of hours, tops. But no, there's no freeway (they don't exist in Colombia), and the 'highway' is, well, not much of a highway. Before the 'bus' (a 9-passenger van) left town I had been told the road was quite rough and the trip would take about 6 hours. Yeah, it was rough! And, yes, it took at least 6 hours.
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On the road again
November 2, 2022
Well, I'm on the road, again, this time I expect to see pretty much all of South American. If all goes according to plan I will spend 1-2 months in each of the following countries: Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia, Chile, (cross the northern half of Argentina) Paraguay, Uraguay. I expect to see a bit of Brazil crossing from Paraguay to Uraguay.
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