Our friend Larry sent us some photos of his recent ride on his BMW R100GS motorcycle down through Central America and into South America. It turned out to be a completely hair-raising experience.

Mike and Terry in Panama

I made it through Costa Rica to Panama City, Panama, where I visited with friends Mike and Terry. That was a nice get-together. While there, I arranged to get my BMW shipped by air from Panama City's Tocumen airport to Bogota, Columbia to avoid riding across the Darien Gap, a wild and dangerous break in the Pan American Highway between southern Panama and Columbia.

COPA Crew

Here are the very helpful COPA cargo folks in Bogota, Colombia who helped get my motorcycle to me after it arrived from Panama.

Roadside parking

Leaving Bogota, I headed southwest towards Cali, Columbia, riding on some nice roads and through some beautiful mountainous scenery.

Columbian farm

Before reaching Cali, I turned west towards the Pacific coast to the port town of Buenaventura, where I spent a few days. I then moved on to San Cipriano, a remote area along the beautiful Rio Cipriano and the location of a bizarre railroad transportation system.

My morning dip in Rio Cipriano

Time for a ride on the crazy train

The railroad from Cordoba to San Cipriano...it's the ONLY way to travel.

Since there are no roads, the locals in San Cipriano have taken advantage of rarely used railroad tracks between San Cipriano and Cordoba. They travel back and forth on the tracks using homemade "brujitas", four-wheeled wooden platform rail carts which are pushed along the tracks manually with a pole, or by a motorcycle attached to the platform. Some of the brujitas carry freight and others have bench seats for passengers. Some carry both. I rode on a cargo brujita (which means "little witch").

And you thought Austin's MetroRail was pretty cool...

On motorized brujitas, the motorcycle's front wheel is tied down on the wooden platform and the rear tire rests on the rail to provide a totally unique method of propulsion. There is a lot of commuting between Cordoba and San Cipriano so brujitas depart on a regular basis (or when they have a full load). There may not be another transportation system in the world like this.

Snack time

After riding the rails, I headed southeast towards Cali, taking short breaks along the way.

Columbian motorcyclists

Colombian riders taking a break. Note the vests everyone has to wear, except tourists.

 

This feature originally appeared in April 2010 - Updated: 05/14/2010

All photos courtesy of Larry S.