Dear readers,

I must admit the title is a bit of a click bait. Be honest, who of you had the initial thought that I would announce the end of the trip? While this would obviously be totally okay... I am of course not! Just crossed 20.000km the other day. Homestretch anyway, just some casual 12000km to go 💪

Very brief, where am I and how did I get here since my last post? I am in Pasto, Colombia, a day ride away from the border of Equador. Had a bit of a rough time in Central America and rushed through; met my personal "Endgegner" in the form of heat and humidity; got back on my feet in Colombia with a great start in South America and into the Andes climbing 35.000m in accumulated elevation gain in Colombia alone. Overall incredible 6 weeks in this vibrant country with unforgettable memories.

Just yesterday I joined the amazing street parties going on in the whole country for Petro being elected president, a histrocical vote. While I don't want to cheer for or against something here [I just don't know enough], it has been an electrifying atmosphere with people crying tears of joy and partying like crazy on the streets. In a country where the population has a huge mistrust in the government and official institutions, I got very emotional and inspired by seeing how much hope and optimism for change there is here right now. Let's see... I wonder who would need to be elected in Germany for such a reaction!?

Well, many unforgettable memories that I could produce book-like written output from... But I said I am quitting.

While many were long awaiting new posts, others told me they were almost a bit happy about it, taking me not posting as a sign of me fully developing within this trip and disconnecting. In that I gotta disappoint all of you... For one, I am going to quit posting. Until further notice, no new posts here. For two, not posting was actually the complete opposite for me. It was simply a huge pain in the butt for the last months to deal with the huge backlog of writing but actually wanting to document my memories as before, for myself.

I really enjoyed the writing. And actually also enjoy it very much right now [still not enjoy typing on my phone]. However, I felt I built up a certain quality and especially volume of each day's post that simply took more and more time to produce. What started as a little 20 minutes story-telling exercise [for some nostalgia go all the way back to my first few posts from Alaska] slowly turned into often working 1-2 hours on a daily post. Posting stuff I wasn't really happy with was [and is] simply never really an option. Still willing to catch up in Mexico I somewhat lost the spirit afterwards and now finally finally give in on my intuition [something that I also learned the hard way while loosing my mind in Central America].

The good news: the blog will not completely die. I just extended my subscriptions so that the live map will continue and give my beloved hardcore followers the daily dose of dot-watching. I also aspire to continue using the blog as a host for my favorite shots from each country.

The somewhat good but also embarrassing news: Instead of just a daily roadside randomness, I will use Instagram more extensively from now as my writing outlet. It is simply a format that is easier, more interactive and less time consuming to handle for me. Mark Zuckerberg 1 - Jonas 0...

I couldn't live with the fact pulling anybody into Instagram who resisted hardly until now. So just don't do it! I am happy to give you a personal reading of my posts once I finished the trip in exchange for a coffee/beer. For those who can't wait, I bet 99% of you know somebody who has an account. I am sure they would let you check my account @ridewithjonas from time to time 😉

What else... I am fit, healthy and happy. As for Klaus, he is doing rock-solid, too. One flat tire since Mexico City, that's about it. In Bogota I cleaned and maintained him for the first time since Vancouver, upsi... Now we are ready and incredibly excited for 3-4 month of remote off-road riding through Equador and Peru. Hasta luego! Que te vaya bien!

PS: Thanks for the folks reaching out after my "Uhm hi there... just rode 4000km through Mexico... " post. Cheers! Keep it coming.