2019 LCH Colombia trip report (1 Viewer)

[HelloKitty65]

It started simply enough. I saw Land Cruiser Heaven's (LCH) notice that they were returning to Columbia.
Asked the GF and some friends if they would like to go, renting vehicles as shipping ours wasn't an option for either of us. August arrived and here we are, the two rigs on the right, on the beach in Cartegena. Ahead of us, 2 weeks and 2,500 km of driving and off-roading through this beautiful country.

 

[HelloKitty65]

Day one our trip leader Frank's trailer lost a wheel while night driving. A farmer let us park the one wheeled trailer in his pasture, we divied up it's contents, and moved on. The farmer later found located the wayward wheel in another pasture, and LCH staff later retrieved the lot.

 

[HelloKitty65]

Day 2 A morning in Santa Cruz de Mompox. Team 2 (Nakota and Sonya) had some alternator problems, and with the down time we toured the town. Here my GF meets a baby ant eater. It was orphaned but being cared for by local vendors.

 

[HelloKitty65]

A little ways out of town, a rock hit pierced my right brake hard line. The mechanic we'd already met came out on a motorcyle and fabricated a new line on the spot from old copper tubing. We bought the extra tubing for just in case..

When you need to hurry up and wait, do it in style.

 

[HelloKitty65]

Day 3
Morning and breakfast in camp outside of Piedecuesta. Good grub, bbq'd on the spot.

We were joined by local four wheelers who would guide us across Chichamocha Canyon, the largest in South America.

 

[HelloKitty65]

How to cross a big river with 7 Land Cruisers and no bridge?

It took two trips with this rudder only powered ferry. LCH acquired permission to cross this private mining area, and booked this otherwise then un-staffed ferry.

Going up and over the other side of the canyon involved lots of exposure and many switchbacks. I don't have a single picture, being occupied with driving, and frankly, not wanting to look down!

 

[HelloKitty65]

Days 4 & 5
We say goodbye (for now) to our guides. Gave one an Oregon Bigfoot sticker for his collection.

We hoteled last night. In the morning we explored Barichara by three of these. It's a rich fossil district.

Then a long day of driving to San Gil and camping at this resort. We had a layover day while fuel issues were addressed in my rig. This is the "Staples in Tents" crew.

 

[HelloKitty65]

Day 6, Rally Day!
There is a popular rally which takes place across the country throughout the year. We got to enter as short term tourists and followed part of the route as locals lined the route and cheered us on. Our Canyon guides returned with their families.

A picture for @RAGINGMATT

This guy had a flat, and one stripped on the outside lug nut. It was broken free with the available tools.

 

[HelloKitty65]

Day 7
Leaving the rally behind we continued on up and over a 12,500' pass in the Andes mountains in the dark.

Morning found us in this man's fine resort outside of Villa de Leyva. His family served a wonderful breakfast and then we did some rare shopping in town.

A days driving got us to Puerto Triunfo,
but not without some excitement in the losing of another break line, this time the left front hard line. Chris had the idea to crimp off the hard line and also squeeze the soft line with vice grips zip tied to the truck. We limped the last 20 miles, and locals used the shrinking copper tube to repair the left side.

 

[HelloKitty65]

Day 8
We left Puerto Triunfo to drive on to be hosted to not one but two wonderful meals at Frank's Uncle's restaurant not far from this rock, El Peñón de Guatapé.

Then it was off to pitch camp in the dark outside of the town of El Retire.

 

[HelloKitty65]

Day 9
Morning found us hosted by Mudder @juanchogaviria 's wonderful family in the yard of a wonderful mountain cottage. His dogs are the friendliest in all of Colombia.

Juancho took some of us on a very special morning tour of a local creek canyon trail. A highlight for a trip with many highlights... A couple pics of that adventure are with his recent 'what did you do with your 80.." post.
As a fish biologist I don't recommend doing this in salmon bearing streams!

 

[HelloKitty65]

A few more pics. Juancho got stuck but we winched him out.

Philippe making an instream U turn.

Yours truely.

 

[HelloKitty65]

The end of Day 9 sadly saw us leaving Team 3 behind in Medellin to deal with some hydraulic issues.

They would catch up in a few days.

Day 10
After a night in a modest hotel with cold showers, we pushed on to remote coastal Rio Cedro, arriving just in time to beat heavy rain that would turn the muddy road to slush. A huge thunderstorm followed. We took shelter in elevated thatch huts owned by an Uncle of Juancho's, just down the road from Juancho's Land Cruiser Hut.

9" of water subsided by morning. Here is camp in the light of a lightning flash. It's a better video.

 

[HelloKitty65]

Day 11
A layover day. We enjoyed the huts, the beach, swam in a warm ocean, had freshwater showers, and took a boat ride up a little river. Big bird sighting: several tucans. Small bird sighting: tiny hummingbirds. Those pics to follow later.

 

[HelloKitty65]

Day 12 - Final day.
We left Cedro, a primative but utopic camp, and tried our hand at the still very muddy road out. One pitch was rather steep and deeply rutted. Frank got stuck, but was able to winch himself out with the only marginal tree stump around (banana trees don't work).

Chris (driving for Philippe who had a hand injury) followed, and with huge momentum and speed made it, nearly rolling over in the process.

Then they say 'Your turn Keith". I asked Frank "What if I roll it?" Frank said "No problem, we'll just tip it back over." I pondered begging out to preserve my $1000 deductible to what looked like very likely body damage. But folks started chanting "USA, USA". I threw caution and fear to the wind, ran back to my waiting truck. I told my GF she might want to get out because we very well might roll, and it would be onto her side of the truck. She elected to stay. What a gal. There is a video of my run. What it shows are the Cruiser Gods smiling on my run at the hill. I think it's true, we have nothing to fear but fear itself.

 

[HelloKitty65]

Completing the circle, our last night in Cartegena.
We arrived sunburned, muddy and sweaty at the same hotel we'd left two weeks earlier. Tipped housekeeping extra for the extra dirt. Hot showers at last! Or not. Seems their boiler was down.
Cleaned up and we met downtown in the old city for a grand goodbye dinner. Here's the gang.
Rafa our 'vacationing' mechanic, and Niletsy, our travel coordinator.

The Diaz clan, Frank and father Christabal on the left, Chris on the far right. The family behind LCH. In between them, Necota and Sonya, the Virginian 'Staples InTents' Team 2.

Left to right, the French contingent, Philippe and Martine, then the Pacific NW contingent (yours truely, and my GF), collectively all four are "Team Zissou".

One man Video Production team: Jorge Lopez. He's making an ~12 minute video of the advenure. He's a popular TV celebrity in Colombia.

The End.

 

[HelloKitty65]

Epilogue: Our approximate route:

 

[sdnative]

Fantastic trip! I really enjoyed the narrative and pictures. Thank you for spending the time telling the story.

 

[HelloKitty65]

Glad you liked it. I'm still editing it. I love such stories too, and just discovered this page searching for the place on MUD to put the story. Any questions, just holler.

 

[scoutingranch]

Holy Smokes, I'm tired from all that excitement and all I did was look at the pictures.