April 8, 2017
to Pedegral: longest ever border crossing
"We've turned a corner" Rachel says as the line for immigration moves inches forward after 30 minutes and we can see the entrance to the office. Another 30 minutes and we are inside, looking at still another long line. But as soon as we enter the building, we are motioned to go right where there are a couple of service counters and no line..... What's with that! If we were supposed to go there from the beginning why did we have to stand in line?
This is one of the longest most inefficient border crossings we've ever had, didn't expect that of Ecuador. Patrick hands his passport to the man behind the counter. He flips through it then points to first page with the picture and the entrance stamp to Ecuador and holds up 3 fingers "copias" he says. Then he looks at Rachel's passport and says the same. Patrick takes the passports across the road to a little shop to have the copies made. Cost $1.50, good thing we kept $2 of coins.
Finally after an hour and 15 minutes we have the exit stamp. Then we ride a hundred meters to the Colombian immigration. This side was much more efficient. We go in one at a time so the other can watch the bikes. No forms to fill out, they only want to know where we are going in Colombia and we get 90 days.
Traffic is pretty hectic around the border and there is road construction. We push our bikes for a bit to get to the top of the first hill, then ride into Ipiales. There is a by-pass road but we want to go into the city center to find an ATM and get Colombian Pesos. More road construction, then the very hilly center of Ipiales. Rachel watches the bikes while Patrick goes on a foot expedition to find an ATM. That takes a while, but finally he finds one that accepts our card and spits out 600,000 Pesos. There are almost 3,000 Pesos to the dollar. Getting out of town takes some more pushing our bikes, this city has some steep roads, if you don't need to be here we recommend sticking to the by-pass road.
We re-join the Pan American highway and start a gradual climb to a high-point then a pretty steep downhill into a green valley full of farms. There is a river way below us, the valley narrows to a canyon and there are waterfalls dropping down. Very pretty.
We knew Colombia is very bicycle-minded, today is a Saturday and we see many riders on racing and mountain bikes working their way up the hill. The road is fairly narrow with hardly a shoulder and traffic is heavy, but most vehicles respect us being there and give us space or wait behind us until it is safe to pass.
We reach Pedegral at about two and find the recommended Hotel Moro's. The rooms are set around a covered courtyard and about on-par with the rooms we've been getting in Ecuador for three times the price. There is no hot water though. We are lower and it is warmer, but not nearly hot enough to enjoy a cold shower. Maybe tomorrow. There is WiFi. When we go out for dinner, it's getting dark and raining. We see two Belgian cyclists trying to hitch a ride up to Ipiales. They cycled over the hill from Pasto today. They must have been unsuccessful because their bikes are parked in our hotel when we return from dinner.
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Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 30,167 km (18,734 miles)
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