pected colour to the scenery.
We spent several hours riding
through the dry landscape, and no-
ticed a large section filled with small
stacks of rocks, built by someone
with a clear surplus of time on their
hands. We then returned to the
small town of Villavieja at
the entrance to the desert
and found a small hotel
with an above ground pool, a perfect
way to end the hot day.
Waking to the sound of roosters
nearby, we packed up our gear and
headed out to the touristy town of
Salento. After riding through a differ-
ent section of the Tatacoa than we had
visited the previous day, Ricardo took
us down a road that was not marked
on google maps for about 20 kilome-
NEWS MAGAZINE
17
TRAVERSE 17
ters. We found ourselves crossing
some sketchy old bridges before com-
ing to a river bank that was occupied
by a single small boat. The local boat
operator was all smiles as he deftly
maneuvered all of our bikes on board
in a matter of minutes, and then sped
us across the aggressive little river.
Our bikes had been backed onto
the boat, so it was a simple matter to