Touring Tuesday - Cycling in South America

The sign says 'Share the Road" in Spanish

Here's an interesting blog called Rob's South America Trip 2014 by Rob Ainsley. It's about his travels through South America a few years ago. He did a lot of traveling by bus and took side trips by rented bicycle. Rob did a good job of getting to know the locals and visited many off the beaten path places. He found out that in Bogota, Colombia, they close off many of the downtown streets to cars from 7:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. on Sundays. During that time it's a festival with street vendors and people biking, walking, jogging and skating.

One of the most interesting places was an isolated town of about 500 inhabitants called San Cipriano. It used to have train service, but the trains have stopped running. To get there, you now have to take a three hour bus ride, then cross a river on a footbridge. Once on the other side, it is time to wait for what the locals call a "little witch." It's a small wooden platform with wheels that fit on the tracks. In one of the back corners is a motorcycle with the front wheel on the platform and the rear wheel on one of the tracks. These contraptions take travelers the final 7 miles to San Cipriano.

Rail service to San Cipriano