On the journey we met a second Fabian, a very friendly Columbian who could speak English fluently and who chatted to us about our plans for travelling in Columbia...this took my mind off the vast drops on this mountainous road! Fabian and his girlfriend were going to the beach past Buenaventura. At our first army checkpoint, he helpfully explained to the officer why we didn't have our passports, then advised us to carry them at all times, whoops. He also kindly asked the driver to stop for us and made sure we got off at the right stretch of roadside, but not before giving us his card and offering his assistance, should we need it whilst in Columbia. We really enjoyed chatting with him, and thanked him for his useful advice. It would have been great to have been able to meet up with him in Bogota, where he lives.
When we got off the minibus, it seemed in the middle of nowhere. Giant American juggernauts hurtled past giving us a diesel breeze in the sweltering heat. We were immediately accosted by some lads who wanted to secure our business. This was done with a lot of shouting and gesturing, before they calmed down and let us talk. It was quite funny. They walked us down a lane to the small village called Cordoba, where we got our first glimpse of what we had come for...the railbikes!
We had to query the asking price for some time. This involved some comedy posturing and some sulky faces, on their part, which reminded me of being at Tamarside negotiating with some 'in your face teenagers', but it was all good fun! The bargaining was quite arbitary, and as we were the only ones there and it wasn't the weekend (when Caliños decend for a jaunt), they weren't going to budge. So we shook on a price and it was all smiles again...they even promised to point out the best place to take piccies! Oh thanks lads!
Here I am sat on the trolley, in the village. They are quite roughly made. I am sat on the small wooded bench (not fixed down). The motorbike is attached to the trolley on runners. You can see some other trolleys in the distance.
Wiji got on and so did most of the lads in the group who met us, and off we went! Lol, it was hilarious and went at quite a speed! This is Wiji's view leaving the village, sat on the front of the bench.
We set off on a spectacular journey through the rainforest.
After I shook on the price with Alberto (stood behind me), he supervised the whole proceedings with cool nonchalance. 'Is that your Tamarside face?'
As we hurtled along the breeze really cooled us down. It was really hot here!
A newly built house.
The mountains in the distance with cloud covering the forests, looked so dark against the lush rainforest flora.
Oh yeah..? What does happen if someone is coming the other way? We found out soon enough! Some scary moped-wheel-on-rail-line braking, then it's a stand off, just like Britain, to see who will back down! They did, after Alberto removed some of their goods from the trolley without asking. He also pointed out to them that we had paid top whack. Hey, really Alberto! I'm sure you said this was the usual price, ha ha! The other guys got off and lifted their trolley off the lines for us to get by.
It was brilliant passing over his bridge, if a little dodgy.
Yeah and here we are at our destination San Cipriani. Alberto, cracks a smile, because we tell him 'that was fantastic!!!' God, we were so uncool about it. LOL. They seem well chuffed though and agree to take this pic.
Funny, Alberto seems to know just the place for us to eat, oh really? We were really looking forward to some more creole style cooking and weren't disappointed. The lady doing the cooking had some incredibly shiny metal pans hung up in order of size, and I watched her prep the fish from the lake.
In a break with tradition, here I am with a beer after eating the curried coconut soup, ready to enjoy my fish, fried plantain, rice and pickles. It was super delicious!
For bringing us, Alberto had a meal too. It was all good! Helpfully the lads agreed a time for us to neet them for the return journey. They then pointed us in the direction of the other attraction that we had come to see, the crystal clear river that is ideal for swimming...rude not to!
Water confidence accredited, he confidently swam on a full tum! LOL.x
It was a totally stunning setting and perfect for the heat. The whole place had the vibe of Tortuguero. In the distance, a group of locals were chilling by the river. Some food was brought down and swimming stopped temporarily to eat it. A group of girls came over and introduced themselves to us, as we lazed about in the water. They practiced some English on us, and thought our lack spanish was hilarious. They were very proud of the beauty of their village.
Following the local's example, Wiji scrambled up the sheer mud bank to jump in!
We are having such a great day out! It was brilliant to hear the laughing and screaming of the locals enjoying themselves, and the pumping sound system in the background, Capel would have loved it!
After swimming we met the lads back at the restaurant, they seemed to have blagged a meal too. 'Hey tranquillo, no rush, we can have another beer and watch the world go by'. The man of the house here seemed to do a lot of shouting at people who went by. This caused much hilarity, and even though we couldn't understand what he was saying, it made us laugh because he did it in such a comedy way.
Trailing behind the lads in the distance, oh how sad to leave.
After a bit of necessary milling about another bike-trolley turned up with some petrol and we got on. Some more locals got on another trolley that was being pulled behind ours.
And sure enough we met several other on-coming trolleys, so we had to get off. Here are some of the lads lifting the trolley and bike off the railway line.
Fantastic scenery. We passed over a different river to the one that we swam in.
We caught a glimpse of some people below doing their washing in the river.
And back to the first village, Cordoba. Alberto shook hands with us and we all said our goodbyes.
Here's a video Wiji put together of the whole day.
We made our way back up the hill, passing this beautifully derelict building with some clean washing. It was very quiet and a few locals waved and said hello from their rocking chairs.
Once we had reached the main road, we realised how hot the sun was, but had to hang about by the side of the road to flag down a minibus heading for Cali. There wasn't any shade at all. After a while we were joined by some small children, happy to watch us, watching the road. Still no sign of a minibus.
After some time an old man approached us and motioned us to sit with him under his porch. He even pulled up some chairs for us. All the children came as well and we waited some more. The old man flagged a couple of minibuses down, that indicated by hand gestures that they were full. Then after some more time watching the juggernauts fly past, the old man flagged down a passing car. The driver offered to take us to Cali for a price we weren't happy with. We said we would wait for a bus, this lowered the price, so we got in. To our surprise so did the old man, who apparently also wanted to go to Cali. By securing our lift he had got himself a free one too! LOL.
Our driver seemed quite well off with his new car, all mod cons and designer gear. The only problem was his mentally fast driving...like everyone else it seems in Central and South America. We were pleased though that we had a seat to ourselves, and not having to share it with three other people.
We continued to hurtle along the road for some time before we got flagged down at another army checkpoint, where our hearts sank knowing the paper passport copies weren't really up to it. A thorough search of the car ensued, and the old man and our driver immediately spread their legs and put their hands on the car for a frisk down. They seemed to know the routine. When it came to us, they were quite confused, and wanted to check how much money we had on us and our bag, looking quite excited when they came across our stereo bag, that only had our stereo in it. After much faux frowning and huffing the officer shook our hands and wished us a pleasant time in Columbia...bye then!
We flew along the highway again for some time before coming to a massive traffic jam on both sides. This showed no sign of budgeing and our very impatient driver queue jumped several times much to the annoyance of other drivers, and our embarassment.
Here we are checking out the view from the road side on one of the many occasions that our driver stopped and marched off down the road to moan at people.
Ironically this sign asks you not to do exactly what everyone was doing!
We waited for several hours in a queue of traffic before we crawled along and found that the cause of the massive hold up was a small landslide. The Bombedero's were clearing up the remains of it as we passed. Then we were off again, and our driver was doing what we thought he couldn't possibly...overtaking inside a mountain tunnel! We've seen it all, or so we thought.
When we stopped for petrol and the driver hopped out, the old man asked us for a small amount of cash for helping us find a ride, we cheerfully obliged. When he was dropped off much later in the journey the old man asked and recieved some more money from the driver for securing him some passengers. Overall he managed to get a free ride and some money from both of us for his trouble...the clever old soul!
As for the driver he drove like a maniac through some fog and rain before getting us safely to our hostel door 4 hours after we'd first got in the car. He seemed like a real idiot and we were very thankful to be back in one piece. It was quite an adventure!
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