Monday morning was meant to be an early start although we're advised of a new road that had been built to our next overnight stop in Aguachica. Due to this we decided to take a gamble and listen with a departure time of 9am. I ended up getting up 7 though ready for breakfast before relaxing in the room before we left. It was once very hot in the morning, and after loading the truck we set off, managing to avoid all the low lying cables.
The diversion was good at first, although we soon turned off the nice tarmac road and ended up on this dirt track with potholes. It was very bumpy and we followed this track for ages being jostled round everywhere in the truck! At one point we got to this point where was this massive hole in the road and couldn't pass. Luckily there were some locals on hand to help us build a 'bridge' by filling the hole with logs to get the truck over. Luckily the truck got through without falling in but it was very amusing to watch!
Prior to today's journey we all wrote down 5 songs we liked for the truck, and with 22 of us that's a lot of songs. We all tried to guess each others songs which was funny because there was such a mix. On the truck there is also this Japanese man who is really funny despite speaking only basic English. We have actually formed quite a bromance and both love Maya Yoshida of course and he is basically my wingman. Today he surprised the truck by doing a spontaneous origami competition, where he taught us how to make a swan, and then after learning we had to make another one as quickly as possible. I was awful, but it was a right laugh.
After a lengthy time moving very slowly and avoiding several potholes, we finally got to tarmac and could actually start moving! Later into the drive we stopped for lunch where I somehow found a Chinese and had this rice dice with 7 different meats inside. The locals were interested to see us here though and as with other places a lot of people asked for pictures with us because they obviously just don't see tourists. After leaving we continued straight onto Aguachica, arriving at about 3, which our guide estimates saved us over 2 hours of driving taking the shortcut.
The hotel we were staying at was very nice with super fast wifi, and a pool. Aguachica itself is completely off the tourist trail, so there wasn't much to see in the town other than a long road with shops and restaurants down it. I therefore decided to spend the afternoon in the pool and was probably in there for over 2 hours! It was nice to just a few beers and relax in warm weather. For dinner we met as a group at 8 and went to a local restaurant where I had this massive beef steak with fries and rice, accompanied by quite a few beers.
This morning we left about 8, with breakfast prior being scrambled egg again. There is not much variety in food in Colombia although I don't think they eat much because of the heat. I did have this lovely blackberry juice though. Soon after leaving our Japanese passenger had another surprise, teaching us how to make Japanese green tea which was interesting and surprisingly tasty. Our play list of songs continued too. They only guessed one of my songs so far.
It was a nice surprise part way into the ride as we stopped at this school by accident when going for a toilet break and the children were excited to see us. They wanted loads of pictures with us and despite not really speaking English they still spoke to us. I understood words like Lionel Messi and James Rodriguez. Later into the journey we stopped at Bucaramanga for lunch and also some drink for the evening. I went with a few others to this supermarket cafe. We also looked at outfits for halloween although the girls have decided they're going to make me an outfit so god knows what I'm going as!
After Bucaramanga the road started to get pretty stunning as we started doing some serious climbing into the foothills of the Andes. It was very windy the road and a little sketchy in places as cars were overtaking the round bends. There was also no barrier on the side of the road in places! As I was curious I got my gps out and we climbed to over 2000m with some stunning views of the hills shrouded in cloud. We eventually decdended to 1100m into San Gil.
Our accommodation for the night was not in San Gil, but actually just outside. It was here it started to rain, and it was pitch black at this point too. We ended up getting lost looking for our campsite, and when asking a local for directions we broke his wind mirror when turning around. He wasn't happy. When we did find our campsite it was a mission getting down the driveway in the truck which was a mud track. We eventually negotiated it despite nearly driving off a cliff as the mud was giving way! When we finally arrived the heavens just opened and we had this dramatic thunderstorm. The lightning was lighting the whole sky yellow!
Where we were staying had the option to either camp, or upgrade to a dorm or even a yurt for an additional fee. Naturally most people wanted to upgrade although I was one of the few people who decided to camp as there wasn't enough upgrades for everyone. We discussed this in a bus converted into a games room on site, before leaving to have a very wet and slippery guided tour of the site. There was running water everywhere. The owner said he'd never seen anything like it in his 10 years here!
After setting the tents up in the rain, we had dinner which was a very nice chilli con carne made by our driver. I haven't been nominated to cook yet luckily. After dinner we had to somehow get the bags out of the truck, which was difficult with water flowing downhill and all the mud! I kindly volunteered to bring all the bags up for everyone so they didn't get wet. After sorting the bags out we could finally relax, and luckily I brought some wine earlier so I didn't have to go outside and buy beers every 5 minutes. It was a fun evening, and there was even a dart board.
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