rider like myself, but it was worth the
time despite the rain.
Just before we exited Colombia, we
paid a visit to the last real sight of our
trip, the Gothic church at Las Lajas.
Being a weekend, it was teeming with
tourists. It was quite a striking piece
of architecture that had been devel-
oped over the years into what it was
today, and interesting to look at. The
only let down was their decision to
light it up with multi-coloured lights
as the darkness fell, so it felt more like
a scene from Disney World, which I
personally felt was a big shame and
detracted from the splendour of the
building.
So, our adventure in Colombia
had come to an end and it was time
to cross the border into Ecuador. Co-
lombia is a truly amazing place, and
one that I can highly recommend,
especially if you want to explore by
motorbike as there is so much to see
off the beaten track. Not once during
our time there did we feel threatened,
and even in small towns in the back
of beyond, we were warmly accepted,
and the village children (and adults I
have to say) loved my furry passen-
ger, Cyril the sloth.
We will truly miss Colombia and
its people, and one day we hope to re-
turn. SB
er, not due to protests. Apparently,
the road had disappeared! Luckily
for us, a local was from Tierradentro
and taking the route around, which
was more than just a slight detour
and included lots of mud and steep
slopes, but it was fun, and we made it
to our destination in the dark. Trying
to keep up with a speedy local in the
dark who was quite accustomed to
off-road riding was quite interesting,
but I managed.
Walking around the sites of Tier-
radentro was interesting, with lots of
tombs to go in, and we bumped into
another local that we met at the road-
block who worked there and snuck us
into a new tomb that wasn’t open to
the public yet, which was cool.
Venturing towards the border, the
death road named ‘Trampolin del
Diablo’, or Devil’s Trampoline lay be-
fore us. I would be lying if I said the
write-ups about this road hadn’t given
me some anxiety, however I wanted
to embrace the challenge, and I’m
glad I did. The views were spectacu-
lar, the road gravelly, and there were
a surprisingly large number of ‘nor-
mal’ cars and traffic on route. To say
it was challenging would be an over-
statement, even for a novice off-road
TRAVERSE 88
Suzie and Kelvin, a couple of 'pasty
poms' from the UK. Inspired by the
Adventure Travel Show they post-
poned work and set off exploring
South America.
AvVida ... Life is an adventure ...
www.AvVida.co.uk
Oh, and keep an eye out for Cyril ...
the sloth.