At the start of the day it seemed like it would be an easy 200 miles or so today, so we did not rush to depart and sat with our hosts, Gloria, Martha, Miquel chatting until well after 10:00 am.

Once under way the Cota bypass of Bogota was easy enough to follow. It passed through heavy industrial zones with thick pollution and on the South West of Bogota climbed to almost 10,000 ft before starting a demanding descent into semi desert vegetation at 1400 ft in the town of Giradot a mere 120 kms from Bogota.

Giradot was hot with temps back into the high 90°F and we looked forward to climbing back into the mountains after Giradot. We may not have been so keen had we known what was ahead of us.

From Giradot the road climbed up to 9000 ft and then dropped back down to 5000 ft before entering a spectacular valley just after Ibague. We drove along the side of this valley for hours, mostly behind trucks traveling at 5 mph as we climbed and climbed and climbed eventually reaching the summit at 10,700 ft at 6:00 pm in thick mist and darkness. So much for don't drive at night. From that point the road descended to the town of Calarca just a few kilometers from Armenia. For most of the descent we trailed behind large trucks in first gear at 5 mph; which was a good thing since they at least knew where the road went.

By the time we finished the descent it was way too late to look for our destination so we stopped at the first truck parking area we found, had a quick chat to a few of the locals and then went to sleep, tired, amazed by the day and happy to be off the road.

That's the story of the day, but the experience is even more amazing. The road was packed with trucks going in both directions all day. The ratio of trucks to cars was at least 10 to 1. We saw two rollovers during the day, the second one in the photo below is a semi-trailer and all the axles have been ripped from the chassis. The level of cooperation between the truck drivers was simply amazing as they passed each other on blind curves and negotiated corners that were simply too tight for big trucks. At every turn the oncoming driver would get out of the way to let the turning or overtaking truck pass.

But the two most amazing sights or experiences of the day had to wait until the top of the last climb.

As we crested the 10,700 summit we came up behind a semi-trailer with a passenger lying on the rear of the trailer. This person had covered their face and head with a white cloth and was simply lying on the trailer. For a long time we could not tell whether they were alive or dead; but then the person moved slightly.

The second amazing tale also starts at the top of the climb. At the crest we saw two people, we assumed young boys with a load of fire wood on a billy-cart. They were beginning to ride the cart down the road and we over took them. They drove the cart down the road behind us for miles, and at about 7000 ft clearly decided that we and the truck in front of us were going too slowly so they over took us and two semi-trailers and then disappeared down the mountain into the mist.