Well, we were very happy to sleep in a room for a dollar more. An enormous thunderstorm woke us up in the middle of the night! That storm is probably at the top of our thunderstorm charts so far. The thunder made the walls shake and the lightning was too much for the little lightbulb in our room. We managed to get a few more hours of sleep before the morning. The owner offered us a cup of coffee before we left, which was very nice.

Our ambition today was to get as close to Medellin as possible. Colombia really is a big country and we are driving through the mountains at altitudes of 1.500m, so our progress is quite slow. The beautiful green landscape makes up for that of course: we’ve seen a lot of coffee plantations and vineyards. Today we also saw a lot of Colombian football shirts, as Colombia is playing tonight against Chile. In some towns, 1 out of 3 people wear a yellow shirt today to support the team!

We were pulled over by the police only once to check our paperwork. The officer also inspected the driver seat and the trunk but everything was okay. Around 4:00pm we started looking for a place to park and camp. We first checked a petrol station, but the attendant said he did not recommend camping there. A little further up the road, we saw a restaurant with a big car park. The owner, José, came out to welcome us and was absolutely amazed with our story. We even gave him a little tour of the car and the tent, as he could not believe we could live like that for half a year. With José on guard all night, we had a small picnic and went to bed early. It promised to be a difficult night, as the highway was very close and the trucks were very loud… Patrick enjoyed his birthday beer (cold! thanks to Nate and Sarah’s fridge) with a view of the Colombian mountains!

Sound of the drums

Beatin’ in my heart

The thunder of guns

Tore me apart

You’ve been thunderstruck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2AC41dglnM