This morning we went for a walk around Honda to learn more about the town's golden age as Colombia's main river port and Bogota's gateway to the Caribbean.
Ships used the Magdalena river (surprisingly fast moving) to get to the Caribbean (1,000 km away.) Commerce has now moved on (trucks mostly) and the town has seen a decline that started in 1910 ... but signs of those glory days can still be seen ... bridges, churches, warehouses, great colonial houses, cobblestone streets, plazas ... all in decay but interesting.
Honda is also the warmest place in Colombia nestled in a valley between two mountain ranges (600 ft altitude, 90+degrees and humid most of the time).
We left and rode along the Magdalena river on a dirt road for around 20 km through beautiful scenery. Still very hot. We finally turned onto a paved road and started climbing up the mountains to reach Bogota's valley at 9000 ft. As it seems to be the norm now, the road to Bogota was an endless sequence of tight turns and beautiful scenery ... again : )
Traffic into Bogota was interesting (Vietnam like at times) but not too bad ... there are lots of small motorcycles everywhere that flow like water through any traffic jam. A bit more challenging in our big bikes but we managed to also flow : )
Our hotel is a new and modern 10 story hotel in the Zona T of Bogota (the cool section) with a "living facade" (plants). We went out exploring and met a lot of motorcycle enthusiasts - KTM dealer, Cafe Racer (a Motopia-like coffee shop), the Royal Enfield and Harley dealers, etc.
Tomorrow is a rest day in Bogota to explore the city.
Looks awesome...any GoPro footage of the rides? would love to see some of that! have fun and be safe.
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