Mark and Neil Trekin' South: Bogota and South America

So we had to suck it up and fly the bikes to Bogota, Columbia. It's amazing how easy it was once we figured out what to do. Girag Air Cargo gives you a waybill, you give them US$900, and Presto! Your bikes are headed for a new continent. All we had to do was take off the mirrors and windshields and we were done. That night we stayed in Panama and booked our flights to Bogota. We couldn't seem to find the cheap flights everybody else was talking about. We figured it was their high season.
Sunday morning we were at the airport early only to find out we had standby tickets. And the plane was full. Awesome. However the airline people were very good and got us on a later flight that made a stop in Medellin and got into Bogota around 2 or 3 o'clock. Our hotel was in the older part of the city and was an interesting place to walk around. We managed to get some comida tipico at a hole in the wall restaurant. It was great. That's basically one pound of assorted meats grilled on a wood fire with a bit of guacamole, some baked potatoes and a bun thingy. Oh...and a beer. Okay..two. Did I say it was good?
We ended up killing another day in Bogota because the plane carrying our bikes broke down. There are probably worse places to be stuck. We also spent a bit of time figuring out a time-line for the rest of our trip and decided to cancel the Cartagena detour. It would cost us over a week and we're already feeling a little rushed. Too bad. I might just have to do a little field trip back there with my sweetie someday soon.
Just before lunch today (Tuesday) we got word that our bikes were ready to be picked up. We met two more American bikers when we were getting our motos out of Columbia Customs. They also were picking up their bikes and doing much the same trip as us. We had a nice chat with them while we picked up and readied our bikes. However we decided to go our separate ways after getting gas at about 4:00 pm.
Neil and I decided to get out of Bogota that night and go to Soacha. It's just outside of Bogota and on the way to Cali. It is quite a populated area but there are only a couple of Auto (read romance) Hotels. We stopped at a service station to ask if there were any hotels in town. This was one of those things that seem so inconsequential at the time. It proved to be a lucky stop. The shop owner's son jumps on his moto and leads us into town to make a few inquiries about rooms. He has no luck so he leads us back to the gas station. Now I'm thinking we have to go to the Auto Hotel because it's getting dark. The son and his Dad get on Google Translator to tell me the auto hotels are full of bugs and dirty and it's not safe there for us. The son offers to be our guide and lead us, again on his bike, back into Bogota to find a hotel. He says it'll only be half an hour. I'm sure it'll be an hour. And he doesn't want anything for it. So off we go in rush hour traffic headed for downtown Bogota. It takes an hour and 20 minutes and it's dark long before we're done. In the meantime this kid is talking on his cell and asking cab drivers and pedestrians about hotels. He even picks up his girlfriend on the way. The best part is when he tells two cops on bikes to get lost because they try to pull over Neil and get a donation. They were not happy when they left. Ha!
Somehow they find us a hotel and when we say goodbye he tells me "that's how we do it in Columbia". Or something along those lines.
I feel stupid because I can't remember his name. They were VERY nice people.