The Mighty Colombia....Part Six....
In this area of Colombia we rode down as far as Mocoa, visiting the Tatacoa Desert, Nieva and San Agustin.
On the way down to our first stop we filled up at a garage that had 'Motorcycle Only' pumps. What a great idea. We should have some of these in the UK in areas where we have a lot of motorbike activity.
Nieva ended up being our first stop. This wasn't originally planned as we wanted to stay in Villavieja which was closer to our 'point of interest', The Tatacoa Desert. Unfortunately for us, it was booked up so we stayed in Nieva and did a 'ride out' to the desert instead. This turned out ok in the end. The hotel we'd managed to get booked into overlooked the main square and in the evening it was swamped with parrots coming home to roost for the night. Quite a spectacle and kept us amused in the evening. Nieva itself was also interesting being somewhat historical in Colombia. It was originally founded in the 1500's ,destroyed and rebuilt. It's location in the Valley of the River Magdalena in Southern Colombia put it in a strategic place for trade at the time with Peru and Venezuela. Today it's still a busy, thriving city with historical buildings dotted amongst more modern additions. And for those of you who like the odd 'fascinating fact', the film 'El Embajador de la India was filmed here. A once popular Colombian comedy where an Indian man travelling to Nieva on the bus was mistaken for the Indian Embassador. The hotel we stayed at, Hotel Nieva Plaza, was used in the film and there's lots of clips featuring the square and surrounding area.
The day we visited the Tatacoa Desert was not the best day to go.....a Saturday.....it was heaving.....we'd loaded up with water and swimming gear as we planned to go for a dip in the advertised swimming pool located in the desert......hmmmn….well we got there...but it was a bit busy for us.....you couldn't swim....only stand in the water and cool off.....needless to say we didn't bother, so my advice to you if you want to take a dip when here is to visit during the week or find another pool.....I think a few more are available nearby You can camp here as well.....it's got rather touristy, so if you wanted to get away from people you'd have to continue to drive further out into the desert on a road that starts as tarmac/asphalt but then gets quite sandy. Our intention had been to ride a circular loop round but we started to struggle two up on the Heritage a little further out as the sand got a little 'too much to handle'. Not to worry, it had been an interesting day out and having accomplished our sight seeing for the day we returned to Neiva and packed, ready for the ride down to Mocoa in the morning.
The ride down to Mocoa was great......the 45 is tarmac/asphalt all the way down there and passes through some lovely Colombian countryside. Along the way we got stopped by the Colombian Army.....they normally just give you the 'thumbs up'....but this time they pulled us over. We complied, a little apprehensive at first, wondering what they wanted....turns out they were just interested in the bikes. They were fab.....bought us a drink and laughed and joked with us, advising us on routes and the Captain gave me a quick lesson in Spanish pronunciation......so 'Muchas Gracias' Capitan Checho Juancho Arana Garcia for you and your men's hospitality.
Fully refreshed we continued on, past the road to San Agustin....we're calling there on the way back up. Some of you looking at maps may wonder why we're doing that. The reason is because at the bottom the road from Mocoa across the Andes and several other routes are all dirt/gravel roads.....I've kinda fallen out with those routes at the moment so we'll be returning up the 45 and crossing on asphalt. A shame really as we will miss out on the 'Trampoline of Death' road or 'Trampolin del Diablo'.....a road on the internet listed as 'dangerous' but prior to writing this blog, several friends have ridden/driven it with no problems. The other reason is because we simply have other places to visit on the other side of the mountains on our way out of Colombia.
Ha,ha…..I'm distracted.....to continue....as we reached the vicinity of Mocoa the weather deteriorated as did the roads in a couple of places due to landslides. Mocoa has a history of devastating landslides and is situated in a flood zone. The name,Putmayo, (the region that Mocoa is in) derives from the Quechua word mayu meaning river. Eventually we made it to our B & B, Posada Touristica Dantayaco just outside Mocoa, rather wet but happy to be there. What a fabulous litttle place and such lovely staff.Our cabina was overlooking the Mocoa River...…..best of all, besides the view...we discovered there was monkeys. The cheeky things would jump through the trees right in front of us and on the roof and on the balcony if you weren't sat there.....endless entertainment.
Our main reason for riding down to Mocoa was to walk to a waterfall.....the Waterfall at the end of the World or 'Cascada Fin Del Mundo'...….a 75 metre waterfall, named as so because it drops off the edge of a cliff. Well worth the hike to view it and a little off the beaten track, yet only about 100 metres from the B & B. Check out the video below for our time in Mocoa.
Fabulous staff at the Posada Touristica Dantayaco
From Mocoa we headed back up the 45 to San Agustin. This small town is highly worthy of a visit.....nestled in the mountains, it's surrounded by waterfalls, archeological sites and coffee farms. We stayed for several days here and booked onto a couple of tourist trips. The first taking 6 of us out in a 4 x 4 on roads we wouldn't have had a chance on with the Harleys. What a great day, taking in two waterfalls, two or was it three archeological sites, a visit to a sugar cane farm, lunch and then a short walk down to the mighty Magdalena River......spectacular after we'd had a lot of rainfall. The second one we booked onto was just half a day and took in some more sites and a visit to a small coffee farm , where we also discovered that in Colombia it's legal to grow Marijuana for medical purposes...….it's illegal to smoke it.....we'd asked the question as we'd spotted the plant growing at another farm we'd visited earlier in the day.
I highly recommend staying in San Agustin for at least two days, there's so much to see in this area.
Well that's the Eastern side of Colombia done. Tomorrow we'll ride back up the 45 and cross over the Andes to the Western side and continue our fantastic tour of Colombia.
Stay tuned....Part Seven coming soon.....subscribe here 💌
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