July 27: Pasto to San Juan

July 27, 2022

We awoke at 7am to drizzly skies and the sound of passing traffic splashing through puddles. I've genuinely been surprised at the amount of rain that we've gotten on this trip. I guess I rather naively assumed that things would be drier since July is technically within the start of Colombia's dry season. Guess you can't generalize whole weather systems that easily!

We left Pasto by 10am after Brian hunted down a new rain poncho. He would be continuing on in Ecuador and wanted to make sure he was more adequately prepared for any rainstorms, as he would be traversing more remote areas. On our way out of town we met up with Thomas and Lou, the French Canadian duo cycling from Alaska to Argentina. We figured we'd ride together for the day and split a hotel room at day's end.

The climb out of Pasto was damp, but contrary to previous experience it cleared as we ascended. We were then greeted with one of the most glorious sustained descents in all of Colombia. For literally 30 minutes I did not touch my pedals and my quads took a much-needed break. I rocketed around lumbering semi trucks and motos, hurtling down the Panamerican Highway at speeds I hadn't seen since going in to Medellín. It was exhilarating, freezing, and simply divine. I had a grin on my face the whole time as I descended into the picturesque river valley.

We reconvened at the base of the descent and rode to a small roadside town for lunch. After filling up, we mounted our bikes and began the process of regaining much of the elevation we had just lost. The Panamerican Highway climbed through a narrow river valley on its final trajectory to the Ecuadorian border. We took our time to take in the views, and to be thankful for all of the positive experiences we have had in Colombia.

The Panamerican was truly special today.

Couldn't have asked for better people to ride with.

Because we are closing in on the border, I've kept all of my valuables deep in my bags under dirty clothing, including my camera. We'd rather be overly-vigilant as border regions are often slightly more chaotic and insecure. My cheap phone still does a good job though!

Rather than push on to Ipiales, we stopped in San Juan so that some of the other cyclists from Pasto could meet up with us. We would still have an extremely short day tomorrow, which is good as we've heard the border crossing can get quite busy.

Along our entire route today, we also passed by many migrants and refugees, many of which appeared to be families. They were also presumably on their way to the border, but under very different circumstances. It was yet another reminder of the privilege we have as cyclists touring in South America. Here we are doing this ride for pleasure, while for others they are doing a comparable journey on foot out of necessity.

Today's ride: 66 km (41 miles)
Total: 2,154 km (1,338 miles)

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