Today we decided to ride off-route to San Augustín, a nearby town renowned for it's archeological ruins. Brian joined us early in the morning, having just taken an overnight bus from Pereira after cycling Alto de Letras. 

The ride out of town was uneventful, save for the number of cheers, thumbs up, and horn toots that we received. It seemed like we got more in a 10-minute stretch than we typically would in an entire day. The route took us through rolling farmland, with banana trees, fiddle leaf figs, and coffee orchards on all sides. Along the way, we met Pieter and Rene, two Dutch cyclists riding to Patagonia. We exchanged contact information and agreed that we would try to ride the Trampolín de la muerte as a group.

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The ride into San Augustín included a 1500ft climb at the end, which we all rode at our own pace.  

Unfortunately, I hadn't been feeling great all day and as we got into town and settled at our hostel I began to feel quite sick. Perhaps I caught something from the street food in Pitalito. Either way, for the remainder of the afternoon and all night I was throwing up and feeling feverish. I took some of my antibiotics in the hope of wiping out whatever I'd caught, and I did wake up the following morning feeling much better. However, we agreed to take the day off so that I could recover and touch base with a doctor in town. We'll be venturing into another remote section of riding, so we all want to make sure we're feeling our best and adequately rested. 

Update: I had another rough night on the 19th as the antibiotics kicked in, so we took the 20th off in-town as well. It turned out to be a good move as it rained for the better half of the morning. I began to feel significantly better and was able to hold down food throughout the day so we should be good for a morning departure tomorrow towards Mocoa. Here's to simple eating the next few days!