Race Info

Day 269. Kilometre 29,150 (Mile 18,113). Latitude 03° 27′ N.

Two days ago was the last day of my stay in Colombia. During one and a half month, I could see very various places, meet a lot of people, experience Colombia in its diversity.

Distance betwwen Cartagena and Quito : 3,855 km (2,395 mi)

Here are the different places I visited:

• Cartagena de Indias, on the Caribbean coast, beautiful but very hot;
• Medellín, the city of the sculptor Botero and Formula One pilot Juan-Pablo Montoya, surrounded by mountains, the perfect climate;
• Bogotá, the capital city, the megapolis, still humanized thanks to the people I met there;
• Castilla la Nueva, few days in the vast flats of Eastern Colombia;
• back to Bogotá;
• San Agustín, Edimer and his family's coffee farm where I worked for two weeks, a region I discovered with Kati with whom I visited Panama early September and the first earthquake I ever experienced;
• Manizales, another farm experience with Cecilia, based on planting and harvesting (corn, bananas, beans, etc.);
• Salento, colorful little village in the heart of the central Cordillera;
• Cali, where I met Diego who I knew from Cartagena;
• Popayán, the “white city”, with its well-preserved historical center, where I met Dušan from Slovakia with whom I traveled to Quito;
• Ipiales, border town, where I saw an impressive church hang on the cliff of a gorge;

I am now in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, for my first step in the Southern hemisphere. I really liked my stay in Colombia: no security problem, really friendly people, yummy and diverse food, great natural features, including the Andes. With all that, I am already thinking of coming back after the end of my trip...