Panamericana roadtrip memories 10

Team 68
Colombia is without a doubt the most beautiful country of this journey. Ecuador is stunning too, but in a sweet way. Here, the salsa just pours from everyone’s pores. Thousands of people have built up their lives at the Panamericana hoping to be able to provide for themselves. They are cheeky, they laugh and wave at us, and they call, whistle and beg. They destroy the road, stand next to it with a shovel as if they’re road workers and they hold up their hand. They live in huts, sometimes made out of stone, painted in every bright colour of the rainbow. They take water from the many waterfalls, they call themselves ‘car wash’ and they wash the trucks. The rest is sitting and lazing around a bit. We drove through this bewitching, subtropical landscape most of the day. At noon we had a wonderful lunch under a thatched roof, the table filled with great grilled food.

Team 60
It is done and things are as they have been all along: we just haven’t had enough time to enjoy this beautiful country. But the impressions we have gained are absolutely tremendous! I would like to say one more thing about Colombia. We were always under the impression that this was a bad country, a country you really shouldn’t visit. This image has mostly been created by the media. Of course there are criminal areas in the big cities, but the other 90 % of the country and the population are simply fantastic.

It’s time to finish for the car too. More and more of these little ailments keep coming up. The lid of the boot keeps popping open and Henry needs to crawl over our luggage to close it again. We have made it without getting hurt or harmed. Our mileage counter is at 16.823 kilometres! Everyone is happy and fulfilled, but most of all we’re tired and I think most of us could really use a holiday.