Southern Exposure

Friday, January 16

We slept in until 9, enjoying the plush bed. Our first order of business for the day was finding some maps of Colombia and possibly a guide book. Lew had drawn us a map showing how to get to two book stores, which would likely have maps.

By the time we had gotten into town the night before, the sun had been setting and today was our first good look at Bogotá. It looked and felt like a European city. It was by far the most cosmopolitan city we had been in and it was quite a different feel from Panama City. The layout of the city was based on an orderly grid city, so if you knew the address you would have no trouble finding it. If only more cities were laid out so logically.

The first bookstore we tried had no maps, but did have a Lonely Planet Colombia in English. However, it costs $40! Thanks but no thanks, we’ll figure it out by trial and error before I pay that kind of money for a slim 200 page book. The next bookstore had nothing for us but directions to a third book store. That store did have maps, and we bought the best one which was still terrible compared to the maps we were carrying for other other countries. Who prints a one sided map?? It would be good enough to get us to Ecuador.

After that minor success, we went to a cafe nearby Lew’s residence to have a snack and some coffee. The open air cafe, Oma, was very hip and wouldn’t have felt out of place in Seattle. It was cooler than many places in Seattle and the menu was full of big city deliciousness. We had coffee and pastries, then headed back to casa. As we walked back we walked by some sushi places and asian restaurants that left our mouths watering for non Latin food.

I called Raffael from the night before to see if he was still interested in taking a look at Inna’s bike. I was quite tired of dealing with this oil leak. We’d just had it looked at and a seal replaced in Panama City, three days before, but it was still leaking oil. Raffael said he was still happy to look at it, and rather than having me navigate through the unfamiliar city, he offered to ride over and pick me up. Inna would go out for sushi with Jennifer while I went over to Raffael’s shop.

After he arrived it was another ride through the chaos of Bogotá traffic. While I think he took it easy for my benefit, he still road more aggressively than I’m used to. Lane splitting on a bike with panniers makes me nervous, but it saves a lot of time in city traffic. Occasionally he would slip through a space between buses I simple couldn’t make and I’d have to catch up.

Once we were at his shop in his garage, he quickly went to work. He took the countershaft sprocket off, and looked at the new seal. It was in good shape, but leaking. I hesitated when he wanted to take it off, because every mechanic who had removed it before had destroyed the seal in the process, requiring a replacement. I was worried it would be tough to get a replacement this late in the day. Raffael confidently reassured me it would be no problem, so I said go ahead. Kudos to him, he was the first one to be able to remove the seal without damaging it.

Raffael also did something no other mechanic had done. With the countershaft sprocket off and the seal removed, he started up the motor and put it in gear, to be able to watch the oil leak in process. It seems so obvious in retrospect. There appears to be a seal or gasket inside the case that is not perfectly round around the counter shaft. This was bad news, as this can only be replaced by pulling the motor from the bike and completely opening the motor. He offered to do this, but I was extremely hesitant of undertaking such a major operation. We discussed it and decided it was probably better not do open the motor.

Raffael had another idea to replace the stock seal with a more robust seal. He measured the space available and a thicker seal would fit. We were off to get the new seal, and lucky me, I would get to ride on the back of his KTM. I really do not like riding as a passenger on a motorcycle, and to do so in Bogotá traffic was on the bottom of the list of things I wanted to do. I wasn’t going to wimp out though, so we were off. The KTM has a very nice motor, and he wasn’t shy about using it, lane splitting and cruising through the city. I just held on to the luggage rack and trusted he knew what he was doing.

The part of town we arrived in was a grouping of small stores all selling vehicle related parts. Rather than going to a dealer for a specific partner number, here you shop for a matching part regardless of origin. After shopping a few stores, we found a seal of the right diameters but 3mm thicker. It was for a Suburu I believe. I was really sad I hadn’t brought a camera as this was a very cool little neighborhood of shops and I’m jealous we don’t have anything like it back home.

Once back at his shop, he installed the new seal, which fit nicely. We started the bike and ran it for a long time. We were quite pleased with ourselves that the bike was not leaking any oil at all. He shifted the bike down into neutral, and as the countershaft finished spinning, a nice stream of oil leaked out and down the case. Arg!! While ultimately not successful, it was an improvement as it was leaking less. Hurray. We put the bike back together knowing it was the best that could be done without major surgery.

I was very impressed with Raffael’s mechanic skills as he was the first one to at least identify the actual problem. I was even more impressed with his generosity. He refused any form of payment and even managed to pay for the new seal. He had approached two stranger travelers on the street, offered his services, worked on the bike, all out of the kindness of his spirit. It was a bit overwhelming to be bestowed such a random act of kindness.

Before we left to guide me back to Lew’s, he introduced me to his family, who had me watch a YouTube video about Colombia. It comes up if you search for “danger risk Colombia”. It starts out misspelling it as Columbia, and shows all of the crazy drug war scenes portraying Colombia as a violent death trap from recent American cinema. It turns into a tourism ad for Colombia, listing off the country’s beauty and many other virtues and is entertaining.

When I talked to Lew, our plan for the night had changed. He wanted to take us to a crazy restaurant called Andre’s Carne de Res. We had planned on going Saturday night, but they had decided to have a party Saturday at home instead, so we’d have to go tonight. Raffael guided me back home, taking a few liberties with one way streets. At least I wasn’t on the back anymore.

We got into Lew’s car, and even though I’d felt very safe so far and just watching video extolling Colombia’s virtues, it was now my first time in an armored car. It’s just how Lew rolls. The windows were an impressive inch thick. Andre’s was about 45 minutes north of town.

Lew had really been building this place up for us since we arrived. We were expecting a huge place that was so over the top it would defy belief. As it turns out, he wasn’t overhyping it. As we pulled in, the place seemed to about the size of a city block. The parking lot went on forever and was organized by astrological signs. I knew it was the real deal when as we reached the exit from the parking lot to the restaurant, there was a booth offering the services of a driver to drive you and your car home after your dinner, all for about $30 US. Wow.

Once inside, it’s a very hard place to describe. If you’ve ever been to Chuy’s in Houston, it’s Chuy’s times ten million. The place is cluttered with completely random objects everywhere. While the entire restaurant is huge and seats probably 1000 people, you can’t really feel it. It’s not one big open room, but rather an endless maze of small spaces and dancefloors. The lighting was predominantly red. The wait staff was wearing a mix of funky costumes and era-inspired stylized outfits. There was music playing loudly and people were dancing, singing, socializing and having tons of fun.

We were seated at our pre table, the table we would eat at before our proper table was ready. The pre table was located near the kitchen, with a great view of the kitchen and the rest of the room. The kitchen staff was the opposite of the rest of the space, seeming very methodical and orderly. We ordered a bottle of Aguardiente, the local Colombian fire water, and a bucket of ice to keep it cold. Shots were poured and food was ordered.

It was really an amazingly well oiled machine. While the atmosphere was basically total chaos good times, the staff, mostly college students, are outstanding. You can make a request of any waiter passing by and it will be taken care of either by them or by your actual waiter. Service is timely. The food is actually really good. We ordered an assortment of platters, meats, and even a great salad. Whoever thought of stuffing cooked tomatoes with mashed potatoes was a genius. The corn on the cob arrived in its on tiny grill with hot coals to keep it warm and cooked to your liking. I want one for home.

We ordered a 2nd bottle of Aguardiente and hit the dance floor. Jennifer showed us her moves while Inna and I tried to keep up to the Latin rhythms and not look too gringo. Not sure if we actually succeeded or not, but we had a lot of fun. The evening was very entertaining and joyful – Andre’s is an absolutely crazy experience! I don’t think we even saw a quarter of the place and I imagine it gets crazier towards closing time. Once the restaurant closes, the parking lots kitchen (?!) serves chicken soup to tired (and drunk) patrons. It’s good to know such places exist, and I would say it’s worth going to Bogotá just to go to Andre’s.

Once we arrived back at Lew’s, we were invited into the theater room for some karaoke. For the first and last time in my life I actually sung karaoke and am grateful neither my singing nor everyone else’s laughter was recorded. Lew has clearly been practicing and scored 97/100 on some romantic classics. Jennifer sung quite nicely some songs in Spanish while Inna demonstrated her 80s repertoire. It was a late night and we were not in a hurry to get up the next day.