No update from us for some time - been busy eating miles and "chewing through" all the collected experienc in our minds, obviously.
Before we head on to Central-America, let us give some insight to Colombia's capital, Bogota's gettho and how children live there:
Bogota's poor suburbs themselves look like this (click to enlarge panorama):
In those pipes they have drinking water flowing...
The streets are abused by rain, rubbish, sun and winds.
That cross aside the big tree in the hilltop means lot of people have hung themselves up there, ending their life due to poverty, drugs or alcohol, or other problems.
This house is for sale. Interested?
Kitchen in the house. Poor, but clean.
A view to the street.
Men playing cards.
Some kids don't even have a table for doing their homework - she has to use a plastic chair as a substitute.
A boy from a slightly better education programme (see his clothing).
Children on the street.
Bogota's ghetto gave us a reality-check, not every child has equal chances to start a civilized life...
We took a chance to visit Bogota's gold museum that had a decent set of made-from-gold fine crafts from the times well before Colombus discovered America. It's the art of the native american indians:
For me the museum was superbly inspiring - the raw details in their art and their way of life. IMHO, to me it makes all the overhyped and over-refined European art look like a posers and show-offers art (at least to some level).
Meanwhile we were planning to leave for the Brazilian Amazon and Guyanas through Venezuela. For that reason I sent our Ohlins rear suspension to the Colombian official Ohlins dealer to be serviced - just in case, because it was supposed take a lot of abuse in Amazonian and Guyanan mud roads. So I sent them the shock and got it back, put it on, and off we go! We had a booking for attending a rocket launch in European Space Station in French Guyana, and the Amazon was waiting! Woohoo!
...yea right!?
...after less than 60 miles of smooth tarmac road riding - the freshly serviced Ohlins shock was leaking.
...arse.
That was it for the Amazonian loop - the only way to get a reliable shock was to send it to USA where there are REAL Ohlins specialists. To get it repaired we needed more than two weeks there-and-back time with post.
Thus our long planned Amazon plans went down the drain with wet season already starting - we were too late after we got the repaired shock back from the US (costed us crap loads of money to repair Colombian dealers errors indeed).
Had to mount it on:
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And Panama is our next step.
Before we head on to Central-America, let us give some insight to Colombia's capital, Bogota's gettho and how children live there:
Bogota's poor suburbs themselves look like this (click to enlarge panorama):
In those pipes they have drinking water flowing...
The streets are abused by rain, rubbish, sun and winds.
That cross aside the big tree in the hilltop means lot of people have hung themselves up there, ending their life due to poverty, drugs or alcohol, or other problems.
This house is for sale. Interested?
Kitchen in the house. Poor, but clean.
Men playing cards.
Some kids don't even have a table for doing their homework - she has to use a plastic chair as a substitute.
A boy from a slightly better education programme (see his clothing).
Children on the street.
Bogota's ghetto gave us a reality-check, not every child has equal chances to start a civilized life...
We took a chance to visit Bogota's gold museum that had a decent set of made-from-gold fine crafts from the times well before Colombus discovered America. It's the art of the native american indians:
For me the museum was superbly inspiring - the raw details in their art and their way of life. IMHO, to me it makes all the overhyped and over-refined European art look like a posers and show-offers art (at least to some level).
Meanwhile we were planning to leave for the Brazilian Amazon and Guyanas through Venezuela. For that reason I sent our Ohlins rear suspension to the Colombian official Ohlins dealer to be serviced - just in case, because it was supposed take a lot of abuse in Amazonian and Guyanan mud roads. So I sent them the shock and got it back, put it on, and off we go! We had a booking for attending a rocket launch in European Space Station in French Guyana, and the Amazon was waiting! Woohoo!
...yea right!?
...after less than 60 miles of smooth tarmac road riding - the freshly serviced Ohlins shock was leaking.
...arse.
That was it for the Amazonian loop - the only way to get a reliable shock was to send it to USA where there are REAL Ohlins specialists. To get it repaired we needed more than two weeks there-and-back time with post.
Thus our long planned Amazon plans went down the drain with wet season already starting - we were too late after we got the repaired shock back from the US (costed us crap loads of money to repair Colombian dealers errors indeed).
Had to mount it on:
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And Panama is our next step.