I'm a pretty confident driver and thoroughly enjoy driving up and down the mountains in Colombia but this has mainly been between Bogota (2,600 meters closer to the stars) and Medellin (1,500m) via Honda (250m) / Mariquita (690m) the latter 2 rarely go much below 30c in the rain after dark.
These roads are, I've now discovered, are well cared for. Ok there's the odd pot hole big enough to swallow a smart car, the risk of falling rocks and land slides. And there's this crazy bit between Bogota and Villeta where the tarmac gives way to cobble stones on the "equivalent" of a motorway.
I wrote the other day about visiting my mother in law's place, which in reflection was like riding an old roller coaster, you before the days they banked or went upside down. Charlie Mannings' "Wild Mouse", but x 100 in terms of length of slopes and a bit steeper. Luckily most had twin concrete tracks, or at worst broken up hard core. I thought the journey and down to be two of the most frightening drives I've ever down.
I've now experienced worse!
We had to drive from Barbosa, Antioquia to Rio Negro airport to collect 3 relatives. This could be done via Bello and Medellin, or there was a short cut thru a place called Copacabana. I've driven the other route many times, so Copacabana it was.
Copacabana itself was a challenge, very narrow streets interfering with sat nav instructions, steep inclines (think Devonshire Road in Ipswich) but longer, steeper and with hair pin turns.. The roads eventually straightened out a bit and got wider, but then the tarmac ended, followed by the broken hard core type of road, which games way to... mud, for almost a kilometre. Winding, slippery mud with 2 way traffic and some very slow and heavy trucks. And still steeper than Devonshire Road.
At the top there were multiple car graveyards, with cars in various states of "mangled", glad they weren't at the bottom, may have lost my nerve!
Anyway survived so I could bore you all.
COYB!
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