Today we walked to the famous crack in the rock stair with 740 steps, looking over the side was little daunting at times as the rock is undercut.

This was a swing bridge that crosses the road on the way.



The target for the day La Piedra Del Peñol





There was some money parked on the water, a mobile pub/bar/dance rig ... this was still while walking up to the rock



The whole stair is concrete pinned to the rock base, as an engineering type I was hoping the guys had done their job properly :eek1.... in some places there are reinforcing bars poking out into nothing!! DOH :eek1:eek1:eek1

The stats if you are interested



Well nothing fell down and the view from top is incredible to say the least
As usual no need to carry water etc up as there is 5-6 shops up at the top that will sell you as much sugar as you need





The town of Guatape in the distance





The old stair



The new stair



I wasn't feeling the greatest with gut cramps just enough to knock my energy down and at 2000 meters high air is already thinner so to be honest I struggled a bit and was not feeling very shiny at the top, a sit down down, some water and a sit in the sun and all was good ..... or at least not as bad as I still had my gut cramps.

Looking up the stair ..... conquered that one with a saw guts... even had time for an ADV salute for you fellas ... this just proves we are thinking of you!! :evil



If you look hard you can see Ellen



We made it back down no prob and carried on back into town.

Next morning I was still feeling second - hand so it was a lay down and rest day, ring in sick and bunk work....not much to say other than poo!!!

The following morning I was feeling better and we were packing to leave, the cleaner lady said were are you going?, we replied Medellin for moto servicing, no you’re not she said, the road is closed with riots and truck blockades ..... ouwh ... ok we will stay another day then.

Maya was bored so we took her for a ride to El Panol then back to Guatape for lunch and out to San Rafael and back for a look, nice wee ride.



Ellen liked this picture in a cafe....



We also stopped at the staircase to get some pics with Maya, we were here :clap

Mirock and GPStair art :rofl



Spokeart, nothing beats a dirty rim shot





That afternoon and early evening I took Maya to a small moto shop and did a headlight earth wiring job putting a switch in the earth wire to turn off the headlight and leave only the LEDs going, reason being more power gets to the fans and they spin up much faster emptying the heat out of the engine more efficiently and at 38 - 40 degrees any extra or better cooling is welcomed.

The town of Guatape is beautiful, great place to visit and a nice place to be stuck when there are riots, blockades, protests and other normal stuff, even if you wonna be sick there it is a cool hangout

Note the guys tok tok is on his wall too



Colours, no shortage here, I love this place is it so colourful, laidback and tidy :clap



The church with rain cloud looming



Next mission to try and get to Medellin....

__________________
Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

In the morning we talked to the local feds and asked about the riots and road closures, they said the road was open to motos but the stone throwers were still out in force and to be careful, we left and took the back road specifically avoiding the main roads where all the trouble was.

Turns out we rode right into a hot zone which was pretty much everywhere anyway ... literally with burning truck tyres and rubbish everywhere from the riots, we were literally riding through fire pits, some of which were still red hot with burning rubber embers so it was a little unnerving for a while.



Ellen managed to snipe a coupla pics but sticking a camera out in their face as we rode through the middle with Militars and Policia on one side and rioters on the other wasn’t a great idea.



This was common sight Policia everywhere in their own mobs



Km of trucks lined up on the other side of the war zone



Lots of military checkpoints and guards watching on, we were lucky we didn't encounter any stone throwers but the atmosphere was pretty stark in San Antonio.



We arrived safe and sound at Medellin and with a little help got our accommodation sorted only a block away from R2R.

__________________
Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Pronounced "Med a jean" for ingrish speakas :evil

We arrived in Medellin no problem and found R2R KTM, with welcoming arms and smiles we unloaded Maya, they looked after our riding gear and panniers then set to giving Maya the best bath she has ever had, seriously thorough.

The biggest worry then was looking like a mid life crisis rider on a shiny new KTM .... with dirty cases.:rofl

Sorting out our hostel we discovered that Medellin was a little more pricy than the smaller towns and Poblado is the nicer area of Medellin as well, we found an ok place so that was cool.

We also had three interesting neighbours, local tranys.

They were pretty cool, for boys they had great shapes, there was a mirror in the hallway right outside our room, one decided to practice her moves in front of the mirror checking all manoeuvres, dropping her top to nipple line and pulling her dress up too .. well anyway.:eek1

So Ellen and I sat there on our bed minding our own business with quite the side show going on, one decided I needed to see a booby peek so gave me a flash .... (insert red face here)....didn't know how to take that rofl:rofl

They were all smiles and good neighbours cos when we went to bed they hit the town so it was very quiet.

OK, Medellin,

Wandering on up around the place we walked around to the famous Shamrock pub owned by Al (theturtleshead on ADV) and bumped into Oliver and Heather again so we had chats with them, we met Al that night for a couple of drinks.

Al and I managed an ADV salute, again showing the luv here :evil



We met the following morning and got some great advice on places to go etc which was outstanding, Al giving instructions while I listen on



Olivers bike was still not running right from the debuild/rebuild in Costa Rica and several things were starting to need attention .... after well over 80000 miles of RTW travel it is to be expected.

With Maya in good hands and us not having a lot to do other than enjoy the place I offered to help Oliver with his bike so that following morning down at motoshop we set too, I removed the dead disc pads on the rear and pulled both front and rear caliper sets apart for a monster clean and piston de-seize job.

All pistons were pitted and corroded to some degree so out with the fine steel wool to clean them up, Oliver then took them home that night to polish them with cardboard.

We did the valve clearances in order to get them right and so we could check the compressions, checking the compressions netted bad news for Oliver with only 105 PSI in the pots, they are supposed to be up to 225 PSI or minimum 160 PSI or below is rebuild time so he got his moneys worth out of the rings.

An executive decision was made to pull the motor out and have Federico wave his magic wand over the motor and do rings and a valve cut job so out she came, maybe an hours work and we had the motor out on the floor ready for the top end job.

I could not do anything from there on so the following day was a relax and look around Medellin day.

With Maya it was a case of go back and see progress and see what she needed for good health while at the R2R gym, turns out the 4 inlet shims were all in spec and the 4 exhaust shim were out of spec with too bigger clearance so they ordered shims and got them on the way.

Our rear shock had been knocking too, I thought it was a bush so we had a spare on board, while riding on the trip I noticed it was noisier when cold and quieter when hot which pointed to gas and fluid being wrong, turns out I was right as the guys from R2R pulled the shock to find the bushes ok so they sent the shock away for a full service, clean, new oil and new nitrogen.

All good.

A look around Medellin saw us take the metro system which includes a cable car ride to the top of the hill.

You are literally going through peoples back yard and over subdivisions ... kinda pervy really



Looking straight down on the street from the cabel car, sorry for the scrappy pick but the windows are scratched to hell



The city view



On the way there is the famous square which is full of works donated by the famous artist Fernando Botero know for the "fat" works.







While in Medellin we caught up with Elelns ex class mate from the University days and had a lunch and catchup.



When I went back to R2R KTM I had a look around the gear section and spotted these, got an orange mate in NZ who needs these





All in all Medellin was a very nice place and has a KTM dealer worthy of international recommendation, more on that in the next installment of Two Dodgy Kiwis

__________________
Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

A plug for R2R KTM, so often you only hear of people who are unhappy about something and we have been in that boat too, so credit where it is due to R2R, KTM dealerships in New Zealand take note!!!

R2R welcomed us in which was very nice.

We were trying to organise ourselves and get shit together as far as a hotel that we can take our gear to then store the moto when Maya was done, this was proving difficult for moto storage.

Andres the shop manager helped us pointing us in the right direction and also said no problem with storing our panniers and riding gear, also when Maya was finished we could leave her in the shop at night and take her out during the day .... perfect we only needed to get us sorted which we did, we grabbed some shorts, tees and toilet gear and sorted.

R2R set to and gave Maya the wash of her life, when we returned she was so clean I looked straight past her to see where she was!! ... oooops :shog

Their tech then opened her up and measured all the clearances, the 4 inlets were in spec and the 4 exhausts were all out of spec with to bigger gap so we got 4 new shims.

While the open heart surgery was being done they fitted the flexijets which means we can adjust the primary mixture circuit to help compensate for altitude changes from sea level to 5600 metres or about 18000 ft.

The rear shock had been knocking as well so we had this re oiled and re gased so now it works better and does not knock anymore so that is one more thing off my mind.

They have gear and accessories and a good selection of it



Maya shiny and new at the edge of the workshop



A showroom full of bikes, many V twins including the new 1190 and 1190 R



On top of all of that Andres noted I was wearing a smelly shirt and we were discussing what to wash, he appeared shortly afterward with a R2R KTM tee shirt with a 950 Super Enduro on the front, gratis, my first official piece of KTM bling which I had to travel to South America to get :rofl ... it has now become my best going out shirt.

I also needed some new summer gloves having tortured my Klim gloves to near death, I have already repaired them in Nicaragua but the palm has split open, I looked and looked in town and through the other big moto shops to find the KTM gloves were the strongest through the palm of the hand and the pricing the same or less than other good name brands so I bought the KTM gloves from them too .... second official piece of KTM bling for when the Klims get too stuffed to wear.

To sum up, R2R (Ready 2 Race) KTM in Medellin did a superb job and looked after us very well and certainly going the extra mile service wise looking after our gear etc cos lets face it the local punter doesn’t rock in with a bike covered in Colombia and needing to store house and contents so we can appreciate we are a bigger pain in the arse to start with, also Andres and David both speak English so discussing moto stuff was as simple as it could get with a lack of communication being a non event.

A huge thanks to Andres and David and their team who made us feel very welcomed and sorted Maya out for everything we needed to get done.

When you need to get something done in Medellin, here are the details.



No excuse not to find them :rofl



Maya finished and ready to ride, down the access ramp and out :clap



The R2R Team with us



The two guys who made the the whole R2R experience great, from left to right Andres, me (but ya knew that) and David, all in all the service was simply outstanding, Andres is the top dog shop manager and David is the service manager, I can only dream of service like this for New Zealand.



Thanks guys you rock :clap

Finally the drongo that causes all the trouble with his flash as new shirt and gloves ...flash as Michael Jackson (was) rofl

__________________
Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Saying goodbyes to R2R team Andres with local knowledge personally escorted us out of town to avoid traffic and no go way north only to come back to where we wanted to be, yet again he made the offer just to be of help ... Andres when are you moving to New Zealand to start a KTM dealership???

Andres on the tastie 1190



The final look, wave goodbye, Andres cracked it open and was gone in a flash :eek1 they have more grunt than a paddock full of pigs



Waving goodbye after being kicked out formally we gased up and headed for Rio Claro, a park based on water sports.

The trip was uneventful, no protests or trouble and San Antonio was mostly cleaned up of truck tyres etc.

Arriving at the park we looked for some alternate accommodation as the park was expensive, in the end we stayed at the park, their price included tea that night, breakfast and lunch the following day, still more than what we would normally spend but we were there and the setting is very nice indeed, our room with the towel.



The room only has three and half walls, not a window to be found in the entire place, we thought we were going to get hammered by mozzies but there are none to our surprise ..... saweet.



That evening we were talking to some people who live in Medellin, I had gone to the bike to get some stuff when a fella came up and started talking with me interested in the orange alien so we chatted about the trip etc....as ya do. :clap

He asked what we thought of the Rio Claro, so I said well it is beautiful and the next day we were going to go swimming and walk to the top.

The conversation progressed to are we doing any of the Zip line, rafting or caving so I openly said we wouldn’t as we had already creamed the next days budget before the next day so we would settle on the walk and swim which is included in our park entry fees.

The conversation took a very unexpected turn, this man was the son of the owner (which I didn’t know till then) and he said, ok in the morning you can do the Canopy tour zip line or rafting, gratis on the house but please tell your friends.

So with that offer we said yes please and wanted to do the zip line .... WOH HOH, love Colombia :clap

Next morning we woke to a stunning day after a night of very big lighting, deafening thunder and very heavy rain which bought the river up 0.5 meter or more.

On with the gear .... hmmmm what have we let ourselves in for





Teaming up with our fello zipliners we walked up to the top and promptly swung and zipped our way down, the longest line being 300 meters long along the river.

Pack of scared muppets



Ellen mostly ready ... I am sorry what did you say ..no intendo senor .... vwumpf off she goes





The second line was the longest



Coulda put her hat on straight for the pic instead of hanging on for dear life ... sorry fellas :rofl



Incoming Kiwi



The last line before home and terra ferma



I am actually saying where is the toilet here :rofl



Ellen mid flight



Arriving back to base in one piece (which was cool) and smiles a mile wide we were very happy campers.

So now we have told our friends .... ouwh and you guys

After that we went for our walk and swim, talk about life of luxury on the footpath to freedom



There is a nature flow out of a rock wall so we swam over to investigate, the water flow was strong





The rope ladder



The water was coldish too



She wasn't climbing this very well



From there we continued to the top on the walking track through rock formations and massive limestone overhangs



Safety first rofl ... what handrail



Cool rock formations, stalactites, stalagmites and a stellawife



Massive spider webs everywhere, really cool coloured spiders in them too



Awesome colours in the limestone rock



All in all we really loved the place and it was worth the expense as the food was outstanding and included in complementary coffee, even though we had a gratis zip line it was still very well worth it.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

We packed up waved goodbyes and set off for another park only 20 minutes away which is the Parque Tematico Hacienda Napoles which was the home of the biggest baddest drug lord in Colombia and he tried to build the biggest collection of African animals outside of Africa, he was killed in the 80s and now his place is a resort.



The driveway



We rocked up to the gate, the admission fees were a lot, the hotel was alottamoreagain so way over and the extras for parking the moto and extra cost for meals was out there, all in all it was shaping up to be a budget basher of epic proportions so we both agreed that the level of interest compared to the level of cost wasn’t our gig so we carried on.

We decided to google it, it looks like a great place but one thing about RTW travel on a budget is some things do have to go amiss if they are not top of your chart, it becomes a cost/value exercise.

Continuing on we hooked a right and headed to Honda then towards Manizales, well I wanted a photo in Honda just because but with trucks and traffic and keeping my mind on the job we rode straight through and I didn’t even know if ... oh dear.

Rocking into a small town of Mariquita it was later afternoon so we decided to stop there, we found a great hotel with a big courtyard to park Maya in, once settled in we walked into town to find the big footy game on between Colombia and Ecuador and virtually the whole town was wearing yellow tee shirts..they are into it.

We couldn’t believe how many moto shops there are in a small place including the availability of tyre for big bikes.

We had been talking about reshaping our seat so Ellen doesn’t keep sliding forward so I drew some pictures and wrote what we wanted to do, we took Maya in to the shop and had the job done, it cost $20 mil which is about $11 US dollars and works a treat, the only thing that worried me was the seat cushion was very wet so I think the rain is coming in through the stitching.

This is the only pic I have but you get the idea

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Leaving Mariquita, after the wee rain shower finished





We opted to take a back road through to Salamina, there was mix of shingle road, mud and very nice tar seal, by one way or another we managed to pick our way through the backroads with the help from locals, our map and mrs.garmin.



Spiffing views coupled with a nice day



A little moto ridden by a future GP rider



The little motos can out corner us but when it comes to KTM country we whistle past, parts of the road got slimmy and wet



Everyone should have a rocket in their front yard , here we are in Colombia back yard with a rocket in the front yard



Three on a bike common around here



We got down to our supposed turn off beside the bridge but no road, not even a walking track, see me riding across.



At the abutment there is meat to be a road



Now our paper maps show a road, google maps show it, osm show it, mrs.garmin shows it so wtf whee is it hmmmm.

No biggy we just changed our plan a little, next turnoff was 30 km down the road so no biggy, tanking up and resting for 10 minutes we carried on to our turnoff ....which did not exist, again the road is shown on everything but the building in the middle of the "road" was gona be hard to ride through being concrete...yeah i know harden up and just do it.

Ok, plan m by this stage, this means Manizales which we were meant to be two days away from so thar didn't work very well.

Stopping at roadworks we talked to a dude in a C63 Mercedes out for a hoon, he was up it leaving darkies past us with the sound of a 6.3 liter v8 with lovely sound system and ripping through the twisties like a hot knife through butter, he told us of a nice place to stay out of town so we decided to head there.

Suddenly the stop go chickie turned her lollipop and he was off hussing it up off the line, nice to se a real car being used well,

Continuing on down the hill we turned off and headed up the valley per instructions, this when we met Max on a DR650, we had almost stopped while having a chat, Max stopped and turned around so we had a good kiwi/ozzie chst on the side of the road, he too was looking for acommodationgiven it was 4.45pm so we all headed back down the valley, Ellen had spotted a place not far away.





We discused the options and it worked out way cheaper for three of us in one room so we did that, with a small restaurant down the road we all scrubbed up and went for a local feed and had a chat about bikes and travel.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Max from Oz set off south and we headed for the volcan, this was a high point of our trip as we reached 4120 meters above stress level, unfortunately mum nature was not playing well with us this day and it was raining, misty and very cold, that is the way the cookie crumbles.

Stopping at the park entry it was closed anyway so double whammy no way to see anything today, we turned Maya around while I was sitting on her, suddenly the ground was far from my feet, suddenly Maya made friends with the ground throwing Ellen to the ground and me doing a freestyle version of river dance. :rofl

The top road while misty and raining still provided some cool backdrops and waterfalls





Pea soup





It would seem there are a few waterfalls along here, this is where the township of 25000 people (including the people) got wiped out from the volcano so we are going to explore that later.

We took another road down to Manizale which provided a bit of entertainment.



Next morning we had organised a couchsurf with a local rider, we thought he was on a DR250 and he thought we were on two DR650s, much to his surprise we found Maya and much to our surprise he turned up on a KTM 200 so orange was the flavour of the day, we went for a local ride ...those wee 2 hundys are great in the twisties :clap.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

To big

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

One more

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

OK I lied

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Try this time

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Ouwh crap :confused1:

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

nutha?

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Last I hope

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere