Day 4: to Rio La Miel (140 miles)

We headed out from the hot springs hotel, climbed up in the mountains to about 12,000 feet. After cresting the mountain we headed down on paved roads with lots and lots of curves. Today we descend all day down to about 650 feet above sea level. Along the way we passed through lots of small towns. There were a lot of cars, semi trucks, small trucks, and motorcycles on the road. We did a lot of passing other vehicles today. There were lots of trucks making turns and way in our side of the road. It all kept us on our toes. Every turn there could be a truck coming the other way blocking half of mor of our side. We take nothing for granted and drive very defensively.

After about two hours and lots mor to go, we stopped at a coffee shop, where we had capacino and amazing carrot cake,

Back on the bikes we continued dropping in altitude, and endless curves later we came to the town of Marquelis. At this point we were still up in altitude at maybe 5,000 feet or so. We stopped for lunch and Ricardo, the owner and guide, noticed a screw in one of the guy's front tire. Ricardo is amazing, and prepared. He pulled the crew out, inserted a tire plug, since these are tubeless tires. Then he plugged his mini electric tire pump into the bike and inflated the tire. Quick fix and good to go.

After lunch we continued dropping in altitude, lots of curves, and small villages and towns. We came out in a flat wide valley, were we got straight roads with fewer curves, as Ricardo had promised. We stopped to gas up the bikes and eat some snacks and drink water to stay hydrated. It was now hot and muggy. Ricardo looked at my rear tire and thought it was a bit low. Sure enough it had a very slow leak from a nail. Out came Ricardo's repair kit and he plugged and fixed my tire in probably less than five minutes. Here's a picture of the nail.

Back on the bikes we headed up the road till we headed off on a dirt road. It had lots of larg and small potholes and depressions filled with water. It was a fun, but challenging ride. Eventually we came to a clearing that was the end of the dirt road. Ricardo always has surprises. He told us to take all our gear off the bikes that we were going to get on a boat that would take us to our hotel.

This is the boat we were going to get on.

Once we were all on the boat with our gear we headed up the river.

About 20 minutes later we reached our destination, an Eco hotel.

We are two to a cabin, with a river view.