From Roadblock to Rockstars: The Day We Stole the Show in Colombia
Days 40 Pines 2 Patagonia log
Wow. Day 40 was one beautiful, exciting and educational day. We were getting ready to leave our hotel and as we walked out the doors Adam and Red see a solo motorcycle rider headed down our street. It was Ian. Of all the streets in Pasto what are the chances of seeing our favorite Irish-Canadian rolling past our hotel.
We flagged him down and caught up. He was still working on getting his passport and trip permit sorted out and was headed to the border. We wished him Feliz Viaje and off he went.
We set our GPSs for Santuario de Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Las Lajas. A stunning church and monument built spanning over a river way down in the bottom of a canyon. It was going great. The weather was beautiful, the road was thrilling and the bikes were singing, until we came upon a group of roughly 50 protesters with sticks who were stopping traffic.
Now we have a rule that we don’t stop unless it is a verifiable police or national guard officers. With that in mind Red went left down through a ditch and over into the oncoming lane which was empty. The protesters yelled and swung their sticks but didn’t give chase. It was a little over 1/4 of a mile of solid traffic in the right lane that had not moved for hours.
Upon reaching the front of the line, the protesters forced all of us back across the ditch and into the correct lane of the highway. We worked our way to the very front just a few meters away from the human chain and lines of large rocks blocking the road. It was as if the circus had arrived and the protesters wanted to see the show. It didn’t take long for the leaders of the protest to notice 3 Gringos and a Bolivian had arrived and we worked to establish contact and asked if we could pass. We were denied. They said the road would reopen at 1:00pm, sadly that was in 3 hours.
The crowds grew quickly around each of the bikes. The protesters gathered wanting to see the Gringos and their huge motorcycles. As the numbers of onlookers increased so did the butterflies in our bellies. After about 15 minutes the Keebler said over our helmet coms, “it’s getting a little dodgy back here, maybe we should go back to that gas station a few miles back”. The tensions had grown and it was time for action. So we tried to make friends.
When traveling in Central and South America it is always good to have something to trade. We stocked up on cigarettes, gum and small bottles of liquor. So out they came. Red went first and started handing out cigarettes. This gesture was very well received and the crowds doubled in size immediately. Keeb said it looked like a Bob Marley concert around my bike, but the vibe had changed, we had made friends.
Keeb and Matt followed and began to pass out smokes and whatever else we could afford to donate, however Matt preferred to stand like an oak tree mean mugging everyone. Some of the protesters began to sneak Selfies with us and our bikes so we went with it. We invited them up for pictures and began letting them sit our our motorcycles. We were the starts of the show and the boss wasn’t happy about it. We had been there for about 40 minutes total when el Jefe came to Red and told him they were letting us pass and they had notified the next stoppage to let us through. We had created such a distraction that they weren’t protesting anymore and he wanted us gone. The next group of people and rocks were about 2 miles down the road and when we arrived they parted like the Red Sea. It was an unforgettable experience that we will be talking about for years.
About 20 minutes past the last protesters we arrived at Santuario de Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Las Lajas. After parking the sanctuary was about a 1/4 of a mile walk down some wild staircases. Once we arrived at the front doors we were breathless from the hike and the beautiful architecture and on que the bells rang out echoing through the canyon. Amazing!
We explored the outside taking in stunning views of the waterfall across the canyon and the river below. As we entered the Sanctuary the beautifully crafted stained glass windows allowed lots of vibrant colors to douse the white and gold walls. The floor shined like new and the midday mass began. It was truly a blessing to be there.
After observing mass for a while we headed downstairs to the museum and explored several other rooms. In the confessional room we accidentally spooked a priest who was on his phone in one of the open faced booths 😁
We headed back outside and explored the upper deck and made our way around to the waterfall. The view of Las Lajas from the waterfall was the perfect backdrop for a group selfie and then we started the trek back to our bikes.
We must have paid the “parking attendant” enough because all of our stuff was still there and he even brought us some Coffee before we departed for the border.
The road just before the border was blocked in both directions by shipping containers and tanker trucks but there were some gates. Roberto asked politely if we could pass and they said no. Then about 5 minutes later they let us pass and finally get to the border. Due to the roads being blocked and the protesters it was the quickest crossing we had experienced. Just over 1/2 an hour to get out of Colombia and about the same to get into Ecuador. After a long and very interesting day we stopped in Ibarra, Ecuador for the night and giggled and laughed at how the P2P crew disrupted a national protest.
