ODO: 326,291
Great news! Our insurance is ready a day earlier than planned, so after a half day of work we excitedly head back to Araucana Lodge to reunite with our house. We arrive in time for a delicious dinner with our friend’s father. He’s a character. And apple pie for dessert?! Yup, very delicious apple pie before a couple more hours of work and then bed.
It’s an early morning so we can catch up with Chris before heading back down to Cali to see a mechanic. We brought a 4WD actuator back with us, fingers crossed this will get us back in full trouble mode. But first, the truck battery is dead…and so is our back up jumper box…luckily the house battery is still going strong so nothing in the fridge has spoiled. About an hour later than planned we pull into EuroTaller, on the recommendation of ‘Off-Road Colombia’. Henry, the owner is fantastic. Very welcoming, and a super cool guy. We’re in and out in a couple of hours. Back up into the mountains again, we have time for a little relax before meeting Chris and some of his friends for drinks.
Our new friends are fun, so getting up early for breakfast is a little tough, but worth it. Today we say our farewells, which is always bittersweet. Recharged (minus the slight hangover), and full of local knowledge its time to resupply. On a recommendation from Henry, we head up a different mountain to a campground. The owner is fantastic, and has the neediest/sweetest German Sheppard, she won’t leave us alone until she gets her fill of pets. She also gets into the camper twice. Berne has to wrestle her out the second time. This is our first night back in our house, so we’re a little rusty trying to remember how this whole thing works.
What a sleep! We spent a lot of time getting our bed just right, and it is just as, if not more comfortable than the expensive mattress we had in our stationary house. Which makes sense, since sleep is important and this is now our house. We do a little morning unpacking and organizing before we hit the road. The fan in our fridge is failing, so Berne rigs up our portable fan to do the work of the fridge fan to buy us some time. On our way out, our campground host gives us some stickers and a keychain, very nice of him. Our first stop is a town known for its tamales. We stop to indulge, and they are….ok. It’s really hard to compete with Mexican gas station trunk tamales. Next its up and over mountains, which we LOVE. The road becomes dirt and takes us over 9500ft through what feels like a rain forest. Our camp spot has a dog that isn’t sure about us, but three dog treats later (yes, we carry dog treats. They come in VERY handy) she is our best friend.
The views when you are at 9500ft are pretty great. Our camp spot is also a paragliding spot, so extra good views on the edge of a very steep hill. We wake up to our host brining us fresh Colombian coffee, Berne is excited. Our day is spent transiting through gang territory. Says Berne as he turns off the main paved road to a dirt road, ” We’re taking a google shortcut”. These have not been great in the past, think turning off the main highway for a tiny, tiny surface road we do not fit through. To which KoKo responds, ” Why would you take a Google shortcut through the gang area we were specifically told not to stop in?!”. Good point. We turn around and head back to the main road.
We arrive at our planned stop for the night very early so we decide to keep going to tomorrows planned stop, which takes us over the Trampoline of Death road. It’s great. A windy mountainous dirt road that often drops down to a single lane. It runs through jungle, with random waterfalls, it’s very beautiful. Somewhere along the way we discover the terrible noise the truck has been making is coming from the roof rack. This is exciting because its a fast and easy fix. The bottom of the road is 3300ft and the summit is 9200ft. Our day ends in a small town at 6800ft, just before sunset. We asked the front desk guy to help us order a pizza from a local place, and for some reason he orders us a small, so we end up learning how to order pizza in Spanish so we can have dinner.
The morning is grey and wet. Todays road is the paved version of what we did yesterday, which would’ve been sporty as mud. We make it up and over 10,000ft today. Which makes sense, we have been driving though the Colombian Andes for a while now. Las Lajas is our goal today. There is a church built in a canyon and we are excited to see it. We are less excited about the number of stairs we have to walk down to see it though. It’s worth it, and we get an extra surprise waterfall, which is nice. We find a quiet place to camp in the parking lot for the gondola to the church. Hot tip, take the gondola to the church.
And just like that it’s time to cross into Ecuador. The process is very fast and easy. Maybe because it’s Christmas Eve. We have a campground dinner date at the Finca (estate) Sommerwind. The place is owned by a fun German guy who hosts a pot luck on Christmas Eve. We meet some of our internet friends for a lovely evening of dinner, drinks and white elephant games. It’s a fantastic way to celebrate the holiday.
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