So you want to go on an adventure

Brief summary

This post covers the adventures, mishaps and thoughts of an 8-month trip across Latin America. It covers (but is not limited to): falling in love, getting robbed, tacking endless hills, jungles, deserts, high elevations, every weather condition you can imagine, taking ayahuasca (probably the strongest psychedelic known to man) in the Amazon rain forest, paragliding, learning about Jesus, getting kicked out in the middle of the night, learning to surf, seeing the Milky Way with my own eyes, exploring ancient ruins and local Amazonian tribes.

Leaving the familiar world behind

Flying to Bogota, Colombia

The adventure began on day 1 (1st of Feb 2023), I had to get my massive bike box to the Leeds bus station, inside the bus and eventually the plane. Aside from the 2cm gap in the Heathrow airport elevators, having to throw out my helmet and first aid kit to meet the weight limit and sprinting through the airport, everything went relatively smoothly. I was pretty much unconscious for the ~10h flight thanks to my friend's sleeping tablets. The lady sitting next to me once my head propped up from a right angle looked like she just witnessed a resurrection.

My luggage and bicycle box got taken off the conveyor belt while I ran around the hall looking for an ATM that wouldn’t charge me $7,000 for taking money out. Took me a trip to 3 ATMs before realizing that the $ logo signifies pesos not dollars. The 7,000 pesos charge ended up equating 1.84 American dollars.

The oversized luggage was also a magnet for an overly enthusiastic security man who wanted to see the box go trough the scanner twice on it’s way out. He didn’t speak any English and with my months of Duolingo practice, all I could muster up was “No entiendo. Soy cansado.” (I don’t understand. I am tired.) It was 4 am after all.

I built my bike outside of the airport while security security teams took shifts overlooking my shoulder and laughing at me while I defended myself from eager taxi drivers willing to take me anywhere in the world. I cut up my bike box, crossed my heart and left to cycle across the busy streets of Bogota, Colombia.

“I miss my friends, family, job and a place to live. What the fuck am I doing with my life” went though my mind many times as I was dodging trough 4 lanes of traffic gasping for air. It turns out that 2,500m altitude will take some getting used to.