So I began my backtrack. It took a day and a half to get to Riosucio and three in total to get to Salento, a popular touristy town in the mountains where I rented a room for two weeks and did a few admin related things I needed to get done.
River in Peñalisa during the backtrack.
Nice tree-lined road during the backtrack.
Colombian truck driver representing with the best flag.
Spent a night in the big city of Pereira (boring, don’t bother) and this was the little shanty town on the edge of the city as I walked out.
Wasn’t having any luck so I walked all the way to the bottom of the long, steep hill hoping to find a nice flat spot to hitch. I did, but had to stand beside this monstrosity of a motel for at least two minutes before I got a ride.
Weird abandoned building watching over me as I waited for a ride on the side-road into Salento.
In Salento I found an Indian restaurant where I had a good curry and a mango lassi.
And in fact I rented my room above the same restaurant. It was a lovely place to spend a couple of weeks.
Sometimes the fog would roll in.
But mostly the area around Salento looked like this.
And the road south was good and smooth when I eventually got out of there.
And that’s all you’re getting.
Total distance hitchhiked: 61,703 km.
Total number of rides: 435.