Tuesday, April 28, 2009

country 28:Columbia


Entering Columbia was a relief but mind on high alert. The customs and immigrations were easy and straight forward. Don't get jealous on us having the true Columbia coffee. It pays to have it.

We decide not to go far on the first day of a new country. to get ourselves getting used to the culture and the numbers on the money.

S$1.00 = PESO$1500

Peru, Ecuodor and Columbia uses Gallon(US) for gasoline.

90minutes from the border, we are staying at Pasto. Nothing much special here but the expensive place that we had stayed after witnessing a robbery on the street.

i was with Hope Too and Sam just came out of a hostel checking out the price which we found it too expensive. She decided to walk 100 meters along the street to another hostel instead on climbing on and off Hope Too for a short distance. I started the engine and joined the 1 lane traffic.

Traffic light was red and i was behind a slow taxi. 3 teenagers, walking at their fast pace, with their eyes looking everywhere. one whisle to another accross the road and pointed something with his finger. then 2 of them walked behind Sam at a quick pace while Sam was holding her helmet on her hand, heads looking at the number of the shops without noticing who and what is happening around her. i was worried....

i could smell that danger is near her. Sam was their target.

One of them ran behind an old man, stretched his palms into the right front pocket of the old man from behind, got the wallet and ran away. the old man was behind Sam. Lucky Sam, had the old man as the victim instead of her.

we were riding at another latitude 0.


The old man fell down because of shock. the two teenagers had gun with them, shot at the air as a warning for anyone that tries to go after them. At this time the traffic light went green and i could see the two teenagers had ran across a policeman walking on the street. I stopped beside Sam and calm her down because she saw the 2 teenagers running away from the old man, which reminded her of the incident 2-3 nights ago when her mobile phone was snatched in Quito.

I decided to stop going around in this town and stay in the safest, but one of the most expensive lodging. Never a pain for the decision.

The hotel staff covered Hope Too from the rain.

we are at:

N 01deg 1.702'

W077deg 16.666'


Andrea and Saskia singing on the moment we left them.



8 comments:

andrea and thomas said...

Hi guys, nice singing, we don´t understand a single word but it sounds funny :-) what happened with your chasing? what happened to the guy? we are curious:-)... greets from the black forest, andrea and thomas

andreas said...

hej, hej you are making musicstars out of us. bling, bling!
hope you had a good trip in colombia so far and haven't met other burglars!
we take the bus to san agustin tomorrow and leave the bike in the hotel in popayan.
thanks for your compliments! we also hope, that you'll meet such nice guys like the swiss team again LOL.
big hug
andreas y saskia

singaporedream said...

Andrea, thomas, andreas and saskia: time really flies. one time we are drinking, laughing, talking about future and gossiping about someone, and one time (now) we are apart. it's hard for us to be friends with u all because its nice to be with u BUT when will we meet again?

Las montañas said...

Hi there, fantastic journey you are having! Remember, its once in a lifetime thing RTWT (for some people, they do it twice) and you should really be enjoying it as much as possible. If you need any info with regards to Panama, or even Costa Rica for visiting plant nurseries or other interesting places, do drop me a note on my blog.

Marisol said...

Sam and Goh, I hope the horrible moment you lived doesn't put you off this wonderful trip. Must be really hard, I know, but all over the world there are people keeping their fingers crossed (in Viedma you left a lot!!). Last weekend we were in Madryn with Miguel and were talking a lot about you and the great time you had together... we were all missing you and the rest of the crew (Andrea & Thomas; Saskia & Andreas; etc. etc. etc.). Take care!!
Big big big kiss for you two from Sebastian and I.

singaporedream said...

Marisol:small horrible things happened everyday during the trip but wat is more horrible is to be at home. hey, u visited Migual´s new house? jeolous..... we got the boat to panama, 11th may. $375+$375 for both of us, $300 for Hope Too. did sebastain got his argentina passport?

Anonymous said...

Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah

I think I know this guys...

Ciaooooo

Daniele
Long Way Dany

heartache said...

tremble with the close encounter that Sam had. Hope she's fine