More about Motorcycles

I hate to devote so much space of my beginning entries to the topic of motorcycles (as there is much more to cover about Colombia), but motorcycles have provided me with the greatest adventures and insights thus far. =)

Yesterday, I discovered an interesting form of law enforcement found here in Colombia. As we were zipping along on Federico´s "moto," we were summoned to a little station marked with orange traffic cones on the side of the road, where motorcyclists were forced to pull over and were searched by police officers. They went through all of our pockets, padded Federico down, and scoured through my backpack-- looking for drugs, guns, or other illegal items. When they weren't able to find anything, we were back on the road again-- buzzing off to continue our crazy journey.

Speaking of crazy journeys, today provided me with a new form of motorcyle riding-- one that takes place on mountain roads, instead of the city streets where I'd first experienced the thrill of this motor vehicle. I was actually pretty terrified and very cold as we turned round and round, up and up to reach our destination of Tutucán-- a mountain village that has been restored to its original condition. I think it might have been the "macho" factor, but Federico felt the need to pass every car, motorcycle, truck, or bus that was on the road. I felt relieved when I saw signs that clearly showed a car passing another one with a big red slash through them, but he paid no attention to these warnings. He also seemed to gain speed each time we passed a "curvas muy peligrosas" (very dangerous curves) sign. We came pretty close to hitting cars heading in the opposite direction head-on, but (luckily) we always were able to pull back to the other side of the road in time. The scenery was actually very beautiful (very lush and green), and I tried my hardest to take it all in... although I had to close my eyes sometimes. ¡Ay, ay, ay! Needless to say, we survived, and the experiences of Tutucán were definitely worth the anxiety caused by the transportation used to reach them!!

Our mountain motorcycle shenanigans ended temporarily for a short break for hot chocolate and "arepas de chócolo" (a Colombian specialty-- like fat maíz tortillas, usually stuffed with cheese) at this man´s shop.