Colombia flooded
 

Hi,

Has anyone got any detaiiled information about flooded areas in Colombia? All I've read is 28 out of 32 provinces are affected.

How bad is it? Lowlands as well as highlands?

I thought end of Nov/ beginning of December was supposed to be dry season up there? Doesn't look much like it :(

Bjorn

I'm Colombian, but I'm Ecuador right now. All that I know is we are having the worst raining season in many years.

Forget what you've hear about 'dry' season. The problem is we are experiencing the 'niña' phenomenon and it is going to rain a lot until january according to news.

That doesn't mean 28 provinces are completely flooded but if you ride righ now you are going to have many road closed in low-lands because of flooding and many highlands mountain roads closed because of collapses. You could ride but it is not going to be fun.

Roads state avalible at [url=http://www.invias.gov.co/]Portal INV

Rain until Jan?
I hope you're wrong!

Where abouts in Ecuador are you? I'm in Quito if you want to meet up for a beer, send me a PM.

The forecast says rain all of December, but we ride here every day no problem. As long as you stay on the main roads, don't worry about it, just bring your rain suit!:stormy::rain::scooter::palm::welcome:

I am currently in Santa Marta.
I started in Bogota.
The road from Bogota to Honda was OK 2 days ago, lot of trafic and construction, but you could drive it.
From Honda I took road 45 North, until Santa Marta.
This is a good asfalt road, no mountain passes to drive, so you can make a lot of km a day if you want. This road is completely open, only 40 km south from Bosconia there is a bridge collapsed. All traffic hast o make a long detour, but it is very easy to get over the collapsed bridge with a motorcycle. So, just keep on going, do not follow the detour if you are on a motorcycle. Lots of nice hotels on the road, the same for gasstations, but not many have the premium fuel if you need that.
I heard fom numerous people-truck,busdrivers, trafic police etc that the road between Bucamaranga and Cucuta is closed due to landslides.
The same seems to be true for the mountains in the west.
Tomorrow I will drive from Santa Marta to Maicao, to cross into Venezuela later.

That's great –�*Thanks for those details. At the moment, I'm looking into flying home over xmas. To sort out a US 6-month visa, visit friends... and hopefully bypass that rainy season.
Heard a lot of good things about Colombia, so would like to see it when it's less rainy....

Today I drove from Santa Marta to the Venezuelan border , the road was open, but there was a lot of water on/near it
But it was no problem to drive

I also found out that the customs on the Venezuelan side are closed saturday and sundays! Immigration is open....
So I am driving back south, direction of Cali

Hi Herbert,
Hi Bjorn (we meet in Viedma!),

We are in Bogota, driving north on Monday. Txs for the road advice. Let's be in touch - maybe we can cross paths. Where did you stop on the way? Many peajes? Easy to camp/cold/flooded?
Hows is Venezuela at the moment, heard about flooding too and more criminality... although always to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Txs

Here on the road 45 all is ok, some rain sometimes, but mostly dry.
I am in Aguachica now, driving towards Cali tomorrow, will be there this thursday I think.
I do not think that it is a good idea to camp, for safety and health reasons (many places flooded, so lots of insects)
You can find cheap accomodation everywhere.
I did not went far in Venezuela, as I got no paperwork for the bike at the border, bit the bordererea was flooded.
So I have no information about Venezuela.
Colombia has been great so far, no problems with everything.
Would be nice to meet up somewhere!
Look out for a red R1200GSADV 2-UP!

Update roads
 

Just to let you know that the road situation has changed somewhat in Colombia.

Had planned to drive up to the coast - three days late due to some land slides, flooding and a collapsed bridge.

- from Bucaramanga: closed at Rionegro - you need to deviate through Barrancabermeja (that took us three hours yesterday)

- Cannot reach Santa Marta straight, need to deviate to Valledupar from San Roque (this is extra 250km!)
Both these roads were packed with trucks. Very slow.

- Road to Mompos closed (flooding) from same main road 45

- Road to Venezueluan border through Pamplona-Cucuta closed

- heard alternative road to Venz border at Ocona also closed

Make sure you check before you leave. These situations are subject to daily change I believe.

We are sleeping in Valledupar tonight. Will keep updating.

Thanks for the detaiiled recommendation.
I've just entered Colombia and am in Cali right now. Weather here in the South has been pretty good. Popayan & Cali dry the past few days, no rain at all.

UPDATE: We just drove from Bogota North to Santa Marta without deviation. The road was closed North of Bucaramanga so we had to wait 2hrs until they opened it. I saw on the news 2 nights ago though that B/manga might we completely isolated now. So that may not be an option.

Going North to Santa Marta you don't need to detour through Valledupar if you are on a bike. There is enough room (though tight) to sneak by on the right hand side of the collapsed bridge. We made it on BMW F800GS.