It had rained heavily overnight, and in places a couple of landslides had fallen onto the road. There were a lot of road cyclists out today, which being a week day was unusual in that they should have all been at work. Chatting to Rodrigo, a cyclist from Don Matias, i soon discovered that it was a public holiday. This was great news in terms of negotiating my way into the city of Medellin, but sucky in ther sense that I would not be able to get my bike fixed until the next day.

As a parting gift, Rodrigo gave me his arm warmers, which protect both from the sun and the cold - they will come in handy for the mountains ahead of me. Thanks very much Rodrigo !

Entering Medellin was actually a bit of a pleasure, as the main road leading into the city was closed for all vehicles except cyclists. As it was a holiday, literally hundreds of people were out walking, cycling and skating along road between the city centre and the stadium. I somehow have difficulty imagining the A45 being closed to all traffic on a Sunday, but why not?!? We could learn something from countries like Colombia.

Into the centre, and I ended up in Hotel Sol y Luna for 20,000 pesos a night which is ok for a major city.