This road has taken it´s toll on me

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Trip Start Oct 20, 2008 Previous
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  Cali, Colombia
Friday, November 21, 2008

November 19th

It is much cooler this morning, we cleaned the guest house up at our wonderful stop in the mountains.We made our way down the mountainside, loving the twists and turns. Our first item on the agenda is to find a hotel immediately so we could unload our personal belongings before we drop off the bikes. We then head too Copa Airlines too drop them off and fill the required paperwork to ship them to Columbia. The company was very helpful and professional. In less than 2 hours and almost $700.00 later we were done. We called a cab and headed back to the hotel. I still have not received confirmation for my flight to Cali Columbia from Avianca. I call them trying to confirm my flight reservation and after 25 minutes on hold I hang up in frustration. I call them back immediately and ask for the supervisor. Ticket and reservation done in less than 5 minutes. I am in desperate need of a haircut so off I go to find a barberia. I find one close by and walk in. The haze in the room was horrific and the smell was so severe my nose hair singed instantly. There is absolutely no ventilation in this room.Woman were having their nails painted, hair dyed and men were having their hair cut all in a 20´ x 10´ room. I took my position on the bench.. customers sliding down to the end as the line get´s shorter and shorter. Every time a hairdryer is turned on, I white knuckle the bench waiting for the joint to spontaneously combust due to all the hair spray and nail polish fumes. It´s mine turn for a cut... the barber speaks no English and I very little Spanish. I give him instructions as per my stylist... # 2 on sides #4 on top.. okay hair is cut.......... but wait he pulls out the straight razor and cleans up my hairline. I cringe waiting for him to slip. Phew... safe $4.00 later I literally run out the door. That´s enough excitement for one day.

November 20th
After a restless night sleep.. (Mike snores a lot and I have contracted a cold) I get up early again. We find a coffee shop open early and have some breakfast we then hail a cab to the airport. We check in and I step out for a breath of fresh air. A large SUV pulls up and a couple of guys get out of the vehicle. Mike says ´´they look like rock stars´´ A couple of girls run over to them to get their photo taken. I comment ´´ probably some Spanish band´´ we head off too our boarding gate not giving the rock stars another thought. As we wait in the boarding area the rock stars sit behind us. All sorts of people approaching them asking for pictures and autographs. They look familiar but I can´t place them. Mike asks somebody who they are.
That´s Maroon 5.
oh...
After the frantic activity around them ends I walk over and sit next to them and introduce myself.
I learn they are playing their last world tour gig tonight in Bogota. They asked why we were heading to Columbia. I told them about the trip.... they were fascinated.
After the flight three of the band members come over to us wishing us well on our Aventura.
We get on our connecting flight and arrive in Cali around 4:15 this afternoon. We have prearranged for a fellow named Mike to pick us up at the airport. Mike is a Danish fellow who completed the same trip we have embarked on eight months ago. He opened the CASABLANCA hostel, married a Columbian girl and knew there was an opportunity for his business with motorcycle adventurers. His wife is going to help us release the bikes from customs tomorrow.

November 21st.
A solid night of sleep last night. I have a separate room from Mike so I am not required to listen to his snoring most of the night. We found a great spot for breakfast and had a hearty meal. We also stopped at the local Kawasaki dealer trying to buy a couple of oil filters. We then headed too Copa Airlines to confirm the bikes have arrived. We had to wait for a fax confirming the bikes are here. Fax in hand we then had to go down town Cali. The cab ride was very interesting. The drivers here adhere to no rules, weaving in and out of traffic, horns blaring and no seat belts available for it's passengers use. We find the Government office and of course go to another office to get all of our copies stamped. Then back to the first office. The girl tells us come back at 2.00 and the paperwork will be ready. It's 11.30 so we start exploring the downtown core. We ended up hunting for an orange fluorescent vest required to be worn by all motorcyclist in Columbia.
The license plate # must glued with huge numbers on the back of the vest ..see photo. After walking several city blocks success we find a store selling these vests. We kill some time checking out Central Park. It's apx 1.30 so we head back to the gov't office.
Our paper work is complete. Now we have to drive apx 25 kms back to the airport and meet the inspector to release the motorcycles who is supposed to meet us there at 3.00. It's 2.55 and the taxi driver drops us off in the wrong location. We walk about a kilometer to the Copa Freight company and arrive a half hour late.
The inspector is not there Copa calls him and we have to pay a fee and fill out more paperwork. 2 hours later the inspector finally shows us up. All he does is confirm the vin # with the paperwork. He signs the paperwork. Back upstairs to get more photocopies and finally at 5.45 the bikes are released.
We unload them out of the loading dock which consists of 6 steep stairs. We reload the bikes with our gear and fire them up. Whoa hoaa .... freedom ..........we did it !
Look out Columbia.
We have to stop for gas immediately because we allowed the bikes to run on reserve. A requirement demanded by the air freight company so they are shipping as little gas as possible.
Then we are on the road. We make our way back into the city at rush hour. Cars are 5 wide in a 3 lane highway. Scooters and small 125 cc motorcycles dashing around cars and splitting lanes. Cars cutting us off..... we keep our wits about us and we had a few stare downs with some cagers but all in all it was a blast. We make it back to the Hostel at apx 6.45. We are pumped !

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Casa Blanca Hostel Owners Bike from Europe	Bikes at Copa Airlines	Butterfly from my walk	my vest with licence #

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