Colombia

We crossed the border into Colombia to find no fuel because of a strike by lorry drivers - great! All the petrol stations were repainting their yellow and white lines with nothing else to do!

Luckily we had filled up in Ecuador (its only US$ 1.48 per gallon), however, we now had a problem as we didn't know if this was local or country wide. We stayed in the border town of Ipiales but would we have to return to Ecuador?

We rode to Las Lajas nearby, to see a cathedral built across a steep gorge.

We decided to ride a bit further north to Pasto and found a couple of petrol stations open with long queues. We were limited to about a gallon but were not sure if we had enough to make it to the next big town, where we hoped to buy more!

We decided to try, passed many armed military check points and overtook a 50 odd long lorry convoy with armed escorts. We had a hot ride (note Dee's new Honda tee shirt)! We even coasted down the hills to save fuel.

We luckily found a small petrol station open and made it to Popayan, a nice Colonial town, where there was plenty of fuel. It seems the petrol problem was localised but the dispute is country wide. This is why lorries are sent in convoys with armed guards to make sure they get through!

After a Salsa lesson at our hostel in Cali and a stop at Buga with its famous cathedral (and a tight squeeze into a hotel), we headed for the coffee region in the hills.