The End of the Journey around the New Continent

Cucuta is a border city in Colombian side. At last I came back to Colombia. I got up in San Antonio del Tachira, the town in Venezuelan side, at seven in the morning and headed toward the border several kilometers away. As there was a time difference of one hour, it would be still six o'clock in Colombia. As there is a rumor that guerrillas appear to rob tourists, I wanted to pass through the border early and to go to the city of Bucaramanga 200km away. I could easily pass the Venezuelan border. The Colombia border office was seen in a short distance. I prepared myself for the last immigration. In the immigration office I eagerly asked the officer for permission to stay in the country longer and got two months. The next procedure was for the motorcycle. I went to the customs office about 20m away. But, the door of the office was locked and there was no one. Although it was Sunday that day, I thought border offices should be open even on Sunday. I asked a nearby policeman. To my surprise, he said, "Today is Sunday. Tomorrow, tomorrow! Colombians don't work hard". I was stunned into silence, but I couldn't do anything for it. I decided to stay in Cucuta for a night and to visit the customs office DIAN in the downtown the next day. However, I got a piece of good news. I asked the policeman about the guerrillas and he answered me that it would be safe if I rode during the day. I had really worried about it, because a receptionist in the hotel of Tachira in Venezuera had said to me, "It's too dangerous for a motorcycle trip. You mustn't go". But I made myself easy. From Cucuta to Bucaramanga I rode through a series of curves up the mountain, after riding for a while from Cucuta. The pass was 3,800m high. The sky had been clear, but began to cloud over before the top of the mountain. The road ran into the thick cloud and I could hardly see ahead. I rode very slowly, relying on the yellow centerline. Unfortunately, it began to rain after the pass. It was a heavy rain. I rode in the rain. Luckily the rain was over in about ten minutes. The road kept going down the mountain. In the meantime, the sky cleared up again. I supposed that Bucaramanga would be in the mountain according to the map, but it was on the bottom of a deep valley.

When you leave Giron for Bogota, the road soon goes up the steep Andes again. From here to Bogota the road runs on the ridge of the mountain range and its pavement is good. So the riding is really enjoyable. There is another old town 100km ahead. The town is San Gil, which stands on the slope of the mountain and has uphill streets. The stone slabs for the pavement of the streets of this town are very large, as large as a "tatami" mat, and so it is easy to ride. The color of the doors and the windows of the houses in Giron were all black, but some of them are green in this town. There is a village Barichara, about 30km northwest of San Gil. This village is also on the slope of the mountain. It has less cars and pedestrians than San Gil and is quieter. The doors and the windows turned to all green. Their green on the white walls is also beautiful. I heard that there was an overlook at the end of the uphill road and I went there. Another mountain range lies across a white river on the deep valley. Two orange villages as large as Barichara are on the middle of the green mountain. Two policemen on an enduro-bike came and parked beside my BMW.

It looks like the Zocalo in Mexico City to some extent. They mustn't have planted trees to offer shade as it is not hot here. Nevertheless, this design turns the square to an open space and gives it unique beauty. The streets of the town are also paved with the same stones and add flavor to the artistic view of the town, although riding is not easy. The walls of the houses fringing the streets are all whitewashed. Beauty of deepness, which modern architecture has lost, can be found in the elaborate doors of thick wood on the white wall and the green balconies over the streets. This town is also beautiful. I will stay in this beautiful Colombia longer. After I entered Colombia from Venezuela, I noticed that women turned to be as friendly as in Brazil. In Colombia prices are relatively low among South American countries. It may be a good idea to live in this country. Let me think about the basics for life. Concerning clothes, some clothes will be enough, because I don't overgrow clothes anymore and the cool climate on the Andes doesn't require summer clothes. Concerning food, even a supper costs less than one dollar if I cook for myself. A breakfast at a cafeteria is about 30 cents. A pack of inexpensive cigarettes is sold for about 45 cents. In addition, houses are also inexpensive. Even in the capital Bogota, a much larger house than in Japan is available for monthly rent of $90 if in an inexpensive area. The only problem is alcohol. In other countries in South America, a liter of cheap aguardiente was sold for $1 or $2, or at most $3, but it costs nearly $9 in Colombia. In Japan, the amount of a retirement pension has been decreased year by year and it will be decreased more in several years when baby boomers will retire. Then it will be very difficult to live on that small pension if the residence is rented. But easy living is possible not only in Colombia, but also in any country in Central and South America.

Colombia is beautiful. The Andes are beautiful. The only thing that I thought beautiful in the USA and Canada was the Rocky Mountains. Riding down south mainly on the Pan-American Highway, I came down the mountains to lowland in Nicaragua and I only remember it was hot all the way to Panama. However, the road gains height again in Colombia and runs on the ridge of the Andes. The view of wide variety can be seen from the road in the mountain, and it's great fun motorcycling. It's the best to ride, enjoying the view of the Andes. It was cool while I rode in the mountains till Ecuador in the south, but a desert extended as soon as I entered Peru. It got hot. From there the desert continued for 4,000km along the sea. The road was straight and I could ride fast, but the view was monotonous. The desert continued nearly till Santiago, the capital of Chile. I crossed the Andes to the east in the south of Santiago and went into Patagonia. A semi-desert, where even grass was scarce, continued till the south end of South American continent. A vast field extended in the north of Patagonia in Argentina. It continued till Uruguay and then Paraguay. The view was monotonous all the way. Although there is the Brazilian Highlands in Brazil, a vast flat field lied on the top of the highlands and no mountain was visible. Later, the jungle continued in the north of Brazil and Venezuela, and it was hot. When I went back to the Andes in Colombia, it got cool as if the heat till then were an illusion. And a series of beautiful colonial towns stood in the mountains. I hadn't seen such well-conserved beautiful villages as those except Alamos, a small village in the north of Mexico. These towns or villages have tranquility and another beauty that Quito and Cusco, the cities of World Heritage, don't have.

I traveled around the New Continent for 3 years and 3 months. There is a saying in Japan, "Make your loved child take a trip". Travel has yielded lots of philosophers and litterateurs. Buddha, who was born in Nepal, traveled to India and attained enlightenment. Goethe also took a trip to Italy. A Japanese traveler Basho Matsuo wrote "haiku" in his trips. I don't understand literature, but I expected I might be able to have a glimpse of even a part of his mental world. Nevertheless, my brain was too small in comparison with that of Buddha. He was meditating under a big tree for years. I was riding a motorcycle. Although I saw a lot of scenery from the bike, I lacked thinking. As a result, to my regret I couldn't come closer to Buddha, not even by one step. However, I was helped by lots of people including Esperantists. I witnessed love among people through the journey of 3 years and 3 months. In Mexico my bag on the motorcycle was stolen at midday. In Argentina I was attacked by some robbers. I was ripped off for no reason by the police several times. But these were exceptions. Most people in Latin America were kind and friendly. I felt easy to find that there were lots of Latin Americans who live and die in love, while in Japan love has been gradually disappears and a desert-like society is being formed. I don't have a talent to be a philosopher. I know that truth, virtue and beauty are important, but I think that love is also inevitable for our life. I saw it in this journey. And, I think with love my life is good enough. The education level is low in Latin America, and accordingly the people are certainly poor. But, I like Latin America with full of love.