We are in Bogotá, a city of 11,000,000, counting the whole metropolitan area. The day before entering the town, we were informed by the owner of the hotel where we were staying that it was perilous to cycle into the city and that we should remove the bike rack and bike and put everything in the car. The plan we devised was to stop riding at a shopping mall on the city’s outskirts. Load all bikes in the van, and the three riders would take a cab to the Airbnb.

However, about 35 miles from our destination, we encountered a Colombian cyclist who had bike packed all over the country. He convinced us that cycling in the city would be fine. He pointed out where to cross the highway and pick up the bike path. We did this and rode the last 10k on an excellent bike path. This city has hundreds of kilometers of bike paths and thousands of cyclists.

Yesterday Johana’s friend took us on a car tour which finished at an outstanding mall, where we had a great lunch. Rachel and Mike had street food for dinner from a popular roadside stand.

We have covered over 1200k and climbed over 21,000m, and are about 1/2 way through the country of Colombia.