Our first night camping in Colombia was without problems; though the local roosters got active about 5:00 and ended our nights sleep earlier than we might have liked.

We were on the road around 9:00 am. Today the road was generally in better condition, though still a toll road. The countryside was more lush and there was a lot more water in the form of overflowing creeks, small ponds, and wet lands. Also a new form of cattle appeared today. Yesterday we saw many cattle that looked like Brahmans. Today we saw what looked like water buffalo, though I am not sure that's what they were. Today was a lovely, interesting drive.

Police checks are everywhere. I did not mention them in yesterday's entry but we saw many and were stopped by two of them yesterday, today again we saw many and have been stopped by at least four. Some have asked for the vehicle papers, most have not. They have all been friendly, and have not asked for money. Colombia might convince me that the policeman is your friend.

We planned to stop at Taraza today, we had heard about a gas station in Taraza from the questconnect folks. But we got there quite early so drove further down the highway to an area where the locals have turned high pressure natural springs into truck and car washing tools. As we drove through this area water was spouting from the rocks and into the air from hoses. We stopped at one of the places and got the Tiger washed for US$7.50 by a middle aged man and wife team. We can never decide in these kinds of situations whether we are helping them or exploiting. Though in this case the smile on their faces suggested helping.

Back at the gas station we noticed that it does not really appear to be operating, the active business is actually the restaurant and hotel next door. We went in for a drink and asked the man there if we could park for the night. While we sat and sipped drinks trucks started pulling into the same area that we were parked in, we moved the Tiger a couple of times to be out of the way and are now boxed in by three semis; at least no one can steal the Tiger during the night unless they carry it out piece by piece. The driver of the truck that closed the final exit on us actually came over and pointed this out and told us he would be leaving seis manana, to which I answered perfecto, no problemo.

Postscript

After viewing the photos I realized that there were two other topics to comment on.

• Donkeys - they are everywhere, often just tied to a tree beside the road eating. Or else being ridden, or hitched to a wagon of some form.

• The truck that fell off the road. I don't know how they managed to get this truck into the ditch - but they did. How they would get it out was even more of a mystery. They had a single US ford pickup truck trying to haul it out.