Preparations and arrival in Bogota

Posted by Javier on 2 August 2009

We were selected for Going South in December 2008, but in that moment we were not sure when we could start the trip. The people of deepeei understood that we could not start until late summer, probably September.  Asa worked as a veterinary surgeon for the Swedish State, and I was also in Sweden trying to finish a PhD thesis that I started back in 2005.

At the end we managed to depart the 23^rd of July, few days after being successfully examined for the PhD and just about 3 weeks after Asa resigned from her job. However it was stupid to leave so early: we were completely stressed and we managed once more to bother and make miserable the life of the closest we have, asking for many last minute big favors. Big sorry for that to everyone who knows what I am talking about!.

During the last week before departure Asa and I managed to discuss quite a lot and to blame each other for our mistakes and lack of planning. Not the best way to start a trip, but aside for some collateral effects we are now on the road and everything is just fine.

The preparations were basically related to getting rid of the flat and furnitures, cutting electricity, internet and all that stuff, preparing the bikes, and testing a bit the video camera and my new photo camera. Since the brand I use is finally not sponsoring us I won´t say their name. This is my small revenge against Nikon...(ouch !!!)). With the new camera I  got the chance  to shoot some photos in Sweden, which I regret I did not more often in the year and a half we lived there. I tried some new techniques like high dynamic range photography (HDR). I intend to post some HDRs here in South America whenever I have time to process them. You can see one example of an old machine in this post.

However the most funny part was to prepare and test my old bike steel frame, which I already used in Asia fduring one year and is just the perfect ride to me. I prefer steel since it can be repaired easily and almost anywhere. Aluminium, carbon etc.. are difficult to repair. Some people say that you cannot break a frame of good quality anyway...well I did it a while ago, and since it was made of steel they fixed it in a small village in the middle of nowhere. It is a pitty that they don´t make more light steel frames like ours (tange ultimate superlight and the like). If you can grab one in ebay or something I would not hesitate.

Four days before the flight we got a new sponsor: Sportson, one of the main chain of cycle shops in Sweden. It was great news since we really needed some last minute stuff, but we got our bikes ready 2 days before departure...quite stressy. They made a fast and great job in such a hurry!. In spite of all the hurries at least we were able to organize a goodbye party with our friends and family from Falkoping and Skovde, something specially needed after not being very social during the last months.

After sleeping in the airport of Goteborg and a long trip we arrived in Bogota, where we stayed in the house of Angelica and Claudio, a couple of bikers that have crossed America from Alaska to Ushuaia in 5 years, including living 8 months in the North of Canada during the freezing winter. They are members of warmshowers.org, a net of hosts that provide free accommodation to cyclists all over the world.

The morning after arriving we were busy packing the bikes and meeting the deepeei crew, which filmed and interviewed us during 2 days. We will hopefully meet them in a couple of months in the Brazilian Amazon, till then we have to film on our own and do our best :)

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11 comments. Tags: preparations, deepeei, Claudio, javier. Location: San Gil, Colombia