Through Traffic and Thunder: The Road to Donkey Sunrise

Days 38 Pines 2 Patagonia log

Bogota, Colombia

To

“Donkey Sunrise” in Valle del Cauca, Colombia

After what felt like an eternity, we were finally back on our bikes and ready to explore Columbia.

P2P & Roberto departed, boutique, hotel Mendoza early with our sites set on an adventure motorcycle camp called Donkey Sunrise. This is a well-known spot in the adventure, motorcycle world for travelers to get repairs, hang out with like-minded riders, seek routing advice and relax in a beautiful setting.

The Tuesday morning rush-hour traffic in Bogota Columbia is an experience all in itself. We agreed it is called Full Combat Commuting, and that is putting it lightly. It is an every man for himself commute, where the laws of the road hold very little gravity and the most unexpected things happen at any given moment.

The reward came as we finally got out of Bogota and began climbing up the mountain ranges. The highways carved along the sides of mountains reached for the skies and were capped with beautiful white clouds. While traffic still played a role we made great time and ended up stopping at a quaint little roadside shed in Silvania, Colombia for breakfast.

Using the word breakfast may be a slight overstatement as the three options were cow hoof soup, beef rib soup or chicken feet soup. Red skipped breakfast that day while Adam and Matt enjoyed some rib soup. We has a beautiful Husky join us and be the recipient of a few bones for her good behavior.

Shortly after our intriguing breakfast, we were back on the road and loving every minute of it. The country sides of Columbia offered views only matched thus far by Guatemala. None of us could choose a favorite between the two.

As mentioned before, riding and driving in Central and South America is completely different than the United States. It’s a pass or be passed world down here that requires you to be on your game at all times. However, the riding style and pace generated makes it nearly impossible not to smile while you blaze down the highway carving the corners hard enough to drag your foot pegs and leaving nearly no portion of your rear tires edge untouched.

Following the recommendation of the director of the Mendoza hotel, our lunch stop was in a beautiful old town called Salento, Columbia. Salento is a small town of the less than 10,000 residents and sits at 6200 feet in elevation. It is nestled between rolling Hills and ragged Mountains. Salento remains relatively unchanged over the last 50 to 60 years due to the highway being diverted making the town relatively isolated. Although it is one of the major tourist attractions in Columbia Salento’s remote location reduces traffic and allows this beautiful architecturally pleasing city to still be a tranquil escape for those who visit.

We found a wonderful restaurant where we rode through the middle of to reach the parking area. We chose to sit on the deck facing the valley and we’re blessed by a view that will be hard to top.

We also tried yet another new food, Patacones. These crispy shells are made from twice-fried green plantains and sever as the vessel and spoon for the entree inside. Roberto has a shrimp and fish in cream sauce which made the P2P crews choices of Chicken and beef seem inferior. Overall the meal and view was delicious. We walked several blocks up the crazy steep hill we came down and explored the town square. It was undergoing a facelift but we still found it peaceful and inviting. We toured a few shops, drank a coffee or two and headed back to our bikes.

After successfully making a left out of the building with the sketchiest exit to a super steep decent we road back to the main road and headed to Donkey.

After a few more hours of some of the most spectacular riding any of us have experienced we landed on the doorstep of Donkey Sunrise. We did not have a reservation and had not called ahead. We knocked on the huge metal gate and when it opened we were greeted by the crew with open arms and offers of dinner.

After getting checked in the Donkey team departed for dinner and we had the compound to ourselves. That’s when Roberto showed us the bottle of Aguardiente Amarillo he purchased after lunch. He even bought 4 shot glasses. Love this guy! We tried this new spirit and were joined by another adventure rider from Amsterdam around an unlit campfire ring where plenty of exaggerated stories were told as the bottle neared its demise.

It was a perfect ending to a long but beautiful 244 mile day. Especially knowing we had a 325 mile day in front of us tomorrow.