to Medellin: a bus ride up a big hill and through a tunnel

April 28, 2017

"Well we've made it out of the bus station, wondering how often it stops to pick up more people?" Patrick says as we leave the Santa Fe de Antioquia bus station, we are the only passengers. We stop just around the corner and more people hop on the bus. Patrick gets out to check how more cargo is loaded so nothing is placed on our bikes in the back of the bus. We changed our route plans after meeting a local a couple of days ago. We originally were not going to Medellin.

It is about 60 kilometers to Medellin on the new road. First a 1500 meter climb, then a 5 kilometer long tunnel, then downhill to Medellin. Cyclists are not allowed in the tunnel, but there is an old road (quite a bit higher) to go around it. We chose to take a bus today, a big climb like this in the heat was not what we wanted to tackle.

The hard part for us is the 10 kilometer ride from the Medellin North bus terminal to the Hostel on the South side of the city where we reserved a room. We had booked it before we understood that all buses from Santa Fe go to the Northern terminal. It is an interesting ride in busy city traffic, but cars are use to cyclists here and treat us, mostly, with respect. Twice we are approached by motorbike riders who wonder if we need help. With the GPS we don't need directions though, we zigzag our way to El Poblado and find the "Black Sheep Hostel". The rooms are very nice with an attached bathroom, hot water, excellent WiFi and many English movie channels on TV. With all that we don't do much the rest of the day, except to find some food at a shopping center around the corner. Tacos!

There is a ghost bike on the roof of our hostel. We are not sure why.

At the bus station there is a lady walking around selling tickets. She leads us to the right bus and checks with the driver on the bicycle fee. Today we pay 10,000 each for ourselves and another 5,000 per bike. About $6 each.

Our bikes in the luggage compartment of the bus.

A "ranchero" at the bus station. We think these open truck-buses with hard wooden benches mostly go to rural destinations.

It is another 10 kilometers cycling across Medellin from the North bus terminal to the hostel where we made reservations.

Bronze relief of conquistadors in El Poblado Central Plaza.

Bronze relief of the native Indians in El Poblado Central Plaza.

Today's ride: 11 km (7 miles)
Total: 31,075 km (19,298 miles)

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