Day 41: Cartagena, Colombia to Chinú
126 miles
Today was perhaps the worst riding I’ve done on the entire trip. I thought that I had rounded a corner in regards to my sickness, but I relapsed today. I’m really disappointed in my mileage. But I am encouraged by how much I love Columbia. I can tell that as soon as I get my mojo back, there are going to be some awesome days ahead.
Pretty much the only thing I was able to do to put my together without my tools was hand tighten bolts and pump up the wheels and throw them on. Thankfully, Columbia is a huge cycling nation and there was a bike store just a couple blocks from my hotel. I walked there as soon as it opened at 8 o’clock, and was able to buy a multi tool. One of the mechanics offered to help me build up my bike, but it was really only a matter of tightening some bolts, so I was able to do it on my own just fine. I went to a store for some food, and then I was rolling a little bit after nine. I needed an ATM, but finding one was incredibly challenging. I went to six different machines before I found one that was functioning. I got the equivalent of about $100. Columbia uses the Colombian peso and one dollar is worth about 4200 pesos. I don’t even bother trying to do that conversion, I am just learning what to expect prices to be in pesos. So far Columbia has proven to be the cheapest country I have ever been in. Street food is almost unbelievably cheap.
Cartagena is a very big city. I wasn’t quite prepared for how big it was. As I worked my way out of the city I got a flat. Welcome to Columbia. I obviously wasn’t super stoked with RALI store now. This wouldn’t have been a problem if they had done their job. I still can’t believe they wouldn’t give me new tires. I stopped at another bike shop in hopes that they would have tubes and tires for me but they had no tires that were going to work with my bike. I’m either going to have to wait until the next big city I get to or just press on and hope I can make it to Lima where my next scheduled bike shop stop is. I have plenty of extra tubes and an extra tire.
I’d wasted quite a bit of time getting out of Cartagena between my search for an ATM and my flat. My late start didn’t help my progress either. To make matters worse, I was feeling awful once again. My stomach bug had returned. Although I wasn’t throwing up, I felt just as bad as I ever had. I felt weak and drained in my head was incredibly foggy. I wasn’t really surprised to find that I had a headwind. Central America was essentially windless, as expected, but winds will be a huge factor in South America, especially once I get out of the Andes. Although I wasn’t really primed to have a great day, I didn’t make the most out of what I was given to me either. I certainly could’ve ridden better today, that is undeniable.
I have a lot to say about Columbia. I really love this country and my first impression of the people here has been fantastic. But my time to journal feels limited so I will save my impressions for Columbia for a later entry. I’m still formulating my thoughts around this country anyways, of course. My insights will be more profound at a later time. Instead, I just want to recount one event that happened in the evening. I finally gave in and decided to get some medicine for my sickness. I also needed to pick up some multivitamins, since I am no longer eating red meat and my diet on the whole has been very poor and unbalanced. I stopped at a very small pharmacy store on the side of the highway in the town of Sincelejo. The sun had just set up and people were milling all about. In Central and South America or you can usually get pretty much any medication you want without a prescription. This pharmacy was a tiny little room and was brimming from floor to ceiling with medicine. A woman works behind the counter, and in front of her there are bars like a jail cell full of medicine. You tell the worker what you want and she turns around and finds it for you and passes it through the bars. I went up and got some Flagyl (an antibiotic)and some multivitamins. While I was paying a couple of the man sitting on the sidewalk came up to me and told me that I should leave. “It’s not safe for you here” they told me “get back on your bike and get out of the city.” I was right on the edge of the highway so it was easy for me to get back on my bike and make my escape. I hadn’t felt that unsafe. There’d been a lot of people around and I’m sure some of them would’ve robbed me if given the chance, but I was keeping my possessions right under my wings and in the context of my situation I thought it would be pretty unlikely for me to get jumped by several people. Anyways, I wasn’t going to argue with their advice, so I procured my medicine and hopped back on my bike. Sincelejo is a rather large town, several hundred thousand strong, so I wasn’t planning on lingering after dark anyways. I kept moving south for another hour and a half before stopping in a much smaller more peaceful town where I found a very cheap hotel and a small grocery store.
