Sept 20, Tuesday

Sept 20, Tuesday

Only got about 5 hours sleep, and not restful, despite the fact that I had put in a wake-up call.   Hasn’t happened too often though.   Checked out of the hotel at 8:20 and got to the bus terminal by 9 am.  Unfortunately, the 10 am “Express” bus to Manizales was full, but there was a “Super Express” at 10:30.  After being misdirected 3 times to the correct gate, I finally found the one I needed.  Note to self,  10:30 is not the departure time, it is the time when you let you through the gate to get on the bus.  We did not leave the terminal until 11:50.    It took almost one hour to drive out of the city in the traffic.  Although the road on the map appears to be a “highway” it was only a  two lane road all the way, via Madrid, Facatativa, Alban, Villeta, Aqua Dulce, Guaduas, Honda, and a series of small villages and towns where no names were posted all the way to Manizales.   Just outside Bogota is an agricultural area with plenty of rich soil and huge fields.  Within another half hour we were in the mountains.   This is where the term “Super Express” becomes questionable.   The bus was not Super and the Express was as fast as the trucks on the mountainous roads.   The serpentine roads were treacherous, and our drivers (they always have two on long hauls) have nerves of steel.  They were passing these trucks even though they could not see oncoming traffic;  definitely a white knuckle adventure.   It reminded me of the mini bus ride in Costa Rica from San Juan to Jaco, where the driver took the back roads to avoid the traffic on the main roads.  Apart for a half hour stretch outside of Honda where we were in a valley, the entire ride felt like I was riding a roller coaster,  ON A BUS !

Observations along the route:  school kids all wear uniforms.  Flowers growing wild along the road where the same kind I had seen at the Botanical Gardens.  There are small gage railroad tracks at times, but are completely in disuse.   Just outside Guaduas, from the top of a mountain, we could see a huge brown river  at the bottom of the valley.   By the time we got to Honda, the river ran beside the road. (I have to check my map to see what its name is).  Some of the hills are terraced, but nothing like in Peru;  they look more like mogels on a ski run.  I realized later on during the trip that these were created by cows, horses and goats which are let out on the hills to graze.   No idea how many mountain ranges we crossed but each had it’s own type of growth:  ferns, bamboo (30 to 40 feet high), pines, brush, grass, rain forest type of growth.  It was quite amazing.

  This one foot butress is the only thing keeping cars from careening down the cliff.   This would do absolutely nothing to keep a bus from falling over ! ! !

We stopped for lunch….  at 4:30…. for about half an hour, but possibly less.  Just had a bowl of soup; I know it had potatoes and mashed corn, but the rest of the ingredients were unidentifiable, although quite good.

Back in the mountains, now quite high.  There are clouds below us and at times we are driving through clouds.   It is quite impressive.  The very last range seemed endlessly high, we could see some snow on the mountain tops.    At 5:45 it was starting to get dark and we were still in the mountains, still climbing.  The windows started fogging up.   The road conditions were good most of the time, but there were often places where the run off had eroded the road side.  They were working to repair these, there were no buttresses to stop cars from going over the edge of the cliffs.  The best they could do was put in that yellow police tape, to show that the edge of the road was bad.   Now, picture this driving in the dark, on steep serpentine roads, with tons of trucks coming and going.  

At one point from the top of the mountain, we could see the lights of Manizales at the bottom of the valley.   It took almost one hour to get down.   Arrived at the bus station sometime after 7:15,  hopped in a taxi and gave directions to a hotel I had found on line.    Well, I had written 3 different hotels and addresses on this paper, and ended up giving the driver the wrong one, so I’ve ended up in the most expensive one !   Hotel Estelar Las Colinas.   Too bad, I’m staying put !   I’ve taken a shower, I’m having a beer  (Club Colombia, quite good actually, and I’m not a beer drinker).   Early to bed tonight.