Today was the day to meet the rest of the group that will spend the next 2 months together. We had breakfast at the hotel as everybody began to arrive.
A true international group with a common love of adventure, motorcycles, nature and humanity.
Wouter from Belgium, Carl from the Midlands in the UK, Brett from Perth and Dubai, Rebecca from Brasil and USA, Roberto from Argentina, Guy from London, Mikkel from Denmark, Chuck from USA, Johner from Colombia, and, yours truly, from Guatemala, Mexico, and USA ... 11 countries represented.
A good first day to get to know everybody before hitting the road. A great group!
The day started with a nice breakfast at the hotel followed by a visit to one of Cali's biggest regional music festivals. A very afro-centric festival from the pacific region of Colombia full of music, food, dance, and costumes - the "Festival de Music del Pacifico Petronio Alvarez"
What a great welcoming gift to the happy nature of the Colombian people. I have often been asked what country is my favorite after all my travels and, even though every place is unique and special, Colombia always comes to mind because of its people, its warmth, and the uncontrollable need to smile at everybody and everything. This is a happy place.
We had Sancocho de Pescado (fish soup) and pure açaí juice in the gastronomy area of the fair, and talked to lots of people exhibiting crafts, medicinal concoctions, all kinds of prepared and dried fruits and vegetables I had never seen. Nothing like the feeling of meeting people with such diverse worldviews but always with the same core humanity we all share.
In the afternoon, we worked on getting all our motorcycles ready. I finally got to touch my brand new Honda 1100 Africa Twin. Bigger than I thought but apparently a very powerful and nimble machine. We will see.
We also did a trip debriefing with the entire group where we did a day-by-day walkthrough of the entire planned route (we may need to improvise and adjust as needed), the highlights, challenges, elevations (going to 18,000 ft high in the Andes before dropping to zero when we reach the Amazon basin), pontoon river crossings, dirt roads, border crossings, etc.
The excitement is now real! Ahh, nothing like the feeling of adrenaline building up : )
We had a group dinner at the Trattoria Italia Da Tommaso. An incredible Italian restaurant lead by an Italian chef that, like Mikkel, married a Colombian girl he met while traveling through here 15 years ago. Seems like a common occurrence around these parts.
Tomorrow, wheels up early. Heading to Popayan, Colombia, for the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment