Once into Bmanga we seen what the write-ups were talking about, lots of modern buildings, young people everywhere, nice cars and lots of traffic. We stopped at a gas station to get our bearing in hope of finding an area of town where the hotels would be. We took a guess, then another, then ended up just accidentally finding a hotel next door to a 3 storey shopping mall. Then we seen the whole street was lined with hotels, it was like a buffet, we chose the $50,oooCOP one with underground secure parking for the bikes. Then it was a routine evening, eating at the street vendors and people watching.
We walked through the shopping complex, it was similar to China, storage locker sized stores packed with everything from shoes to toasters and spices. The sales people try their hardest to lure you into their cubicle, but we are not looking for anything as we can’t carry more than we already have. One energetic young lady stopped me and started chattering like we were old friends, I told her I did not understand and she called over a couple of her girlfriends, then one left and came back with a fella, Oscar, that spoke English. Game on. They played 20 questions using Oscar as a translator, they were typical girls giggling and taking very fast all at the same time. We said our goodbyes and the girls gave both of us a customary peck on the cheek and a cheery “Chow”. We carried on looking at the stores then headed down to street level again to people watch a bit more then headed back to the room, the heat today was energy draining and we both felt a bit worn down.
Nov. 19
We woke early to the sound of construction in
the hotel, the crew was talking and laughing and jackhammering or something
similar. After talking with Jorgen yesterday we realized that we did not have any Colombian Motorcycle insurance,
which is mandatory in Colombia and referred to as SOAT. The insurance is not
expensive but as it turns out a bit lengthy to get, unless you are at the
border, mostly because the non-border offices are not used to dealing with
foreigners. Once we found the insurance office the nice lady said it would take
one day to write the policy. Okay, we were planning on leaving Bmanga
today. She also said she could not get
an answer on which company to underwrite the insurance with but she was hopeful
to have an answer in a few hours. We were communicating using Google translator
and we agreed that I should come back instead of waiting. Brenda and I took a
quick ride out to Giron, a neighboring town that we heard had an amazing
cobblestone district with great architecture. Giron was only about 15 minutes
away so it was a quick ride, once in the cobblestone district we parked the
bikes and were overwhelmed with old ladies asking for money, which turned us
off of so we spent a total of 5 minutes off the bikes then left. 
We did manage to see most of the town on the way out, weaving this way and that on the one way streets, the cobblestone added a nice rattle to everything on the bike. Back at the insurance office the lady was very helpful and eventually we got our insurance at 4pm, hmm I guess it is back to the hotel and we will head out in the morning. All things happen for a reason and we enjoyed a nice evening in the busy neighborhood of our hotel. We found a different park area that was circled by condos and commercial buildings. Families played with their kids renting remote control cars that the little ones can sit in while the parents walk behind with the remote. Others were playing Frisbee or exercising. Then as dusk settled in the park came to life with all kinds of Christmas lights.
|Unique hedge with Christmas lights.
Traffic scene, very typical to have bikes and cars sharing space.
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