We crossed the border into Columbia on Monday and as usual joined lots of queues to get the paperwork done. At least this time the papers for the trucks were in the same buildings which makes a change as we have often had to travel quite a distance from the border post to sort things out. Unlike Ecuador they did not ask for insurance at the border and so we got this in Ipiales the first big town. Here we spent the first night in a car park underneath the hotel ! we even have the pictures to prove it.
The roads have proved to be a nightmare and it took about 10 hours to travel 140 km. The scenery is lovely, mountainous and very green and lush, but it is the end of the rainy season and consequently there has been very heavy tropical rain interspersed with very hot sun. We have spent the last 3 days on a campsite in a very pretty area and we even went on a 4 hour horse ride with a guide who took us to see all the local sights. It was really enjoyable, the horses were very lively and we did about 15 km . We kept getting on and off to visit the sights and we did a fair amount of walking too.
This morning we crossed back across the mountains and it took us 6 hours to do 120 km. The road was dreadful and very muddy but we often saw big lorries doing the same route and trying to avoid the potholes like us.
Tomorrow we head up the Pan American highway to reach the coffee growing region and from there we will cross to Bogota. We have made contact with the Columbian Landrover club and we are hoping to meet some of them there. We are meeting Camillo next weekend and he is going to show us where we can leave the trucks safely when we fly home. It is his fathers farm apparently.
Will try to post a last blog before we leave , see you all soon