The border crossing at Cúcuta is madness. After going through that crossing, we decided we should have followed the advice from another moto traveler to cross at Arauca, but some violence in that area in the 4-5 days before we were to cross was enough to steer us into the main route. We luckily got checked out of VZ with some ease, all right there at the border. Trying to get into Colombia was another matter. While the customs office is right there at the border, they close at 5pm and require proof of SOAT insurance. So we didn't get the bike officially checked into Colombia until the next day, after spending almost an hour at the insurance office, only due to the office staff being super nice and wanting to talk so much about what Colombia has to offer.
(our hotel was across from this little outdoor movie theater/taxi stand)
(a small piece of the madness at the border. Luckily we had all the papers we needed, so once we cut into the DIAN parking lot, we had our permit within 40 minutes)
The riding outside of Cúcuta to Bucaramanga was beautiful and easy going:
We had a couch lined up in Bucaramanga, which was a sweet spot to stay, in the middle of suburban, super swanky Floridablanca. Sierra was a great host who knew the area well and led us on a nice hike above the city.
(us with Sierra and Jorge Luis above Bucaramanga)
(near the main market in town)
(the state of Santender is proud of the rebellious women that led them to freedom)
(Mike was sad that we missed the Demolition Derby - I mean what a great export from the states, right? (it even says "desde los estados unidos" as a selling point.) Jill didn't quite agree with his sentiments)
While we had a nice, chill time in Bucaramanga, we were excited to ride on towards El Cocuy National Park, based on strong recommendations from an ADVrider in Venezuela, seconded by John (aka Throttlemeister, story linked above).
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