Patagonia-Bound

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2010-03-07T20:10:00.000-05:00

Going Home

2009-04-26T21:53:00.001-04:00

We said our goodbyes to the Dakar Moto crowd. I was again reminded and sadden to be leaving these kindred spirits that have a burning desire to see the world in a way that most people find peculiar. The flight home was uneventful. That’s always a plus when you are 30 thousand feet in the air, strapped in an aluminum tube sitting on top of tons of jet fuel. Retrieving the motorcycles from the shipping company was also uneventful. We decided to take them directly to Southeast Michigan BMW for much needed maintenance and repairs…and cleaning…yes cleaning.

I’m happy to say neither motorcycle bare any indication that they have been on such an adventure except for the cracked headlight cover on my motorcycle. Maybe I will leave it for a while as my reminder of the experience.

It is good to be home. Three months is a long time to be away from my wife. And you best believe I appreciate having a relationship that allowed me to do a trip like this. I know I’m very fortunate. Phew…trip report done! at least for now. After taking a little break I’ll add some more thoughts on the trip, the motorcycles and equipment. Maybe I’ll even have the courage to figure out the total trip cost….or maybe not. Thanks for everyone’s positive comments and encouragement. It means a lot.

Buenos Aires - more fun

2009-04-26T20:10:00.006-04:00

Dakar Moto’s hostel was full so we headed to the nearby Munro Hotel. The hotel is a 5 minute ride from the shop and is a real bargain for Buenos Aires. Our daily routine evolved in to working on getting the shipping arranged, hanging out at Dakar Moto trading travel and life stores, and sight seeing in the city. While at Dakar Motors one afternoon a couple show up and start pouring over a well used army green KLR. I realized I’ve seen that bike before, ahhg, its one of the Seguin brother’s road warriors. And it turns out the buyer is Motoxxman, who posts on Advrider. What a small world. He was buying the bike to take a motorcycle trip with his girlfriend while they were traveling through South America. On two different evenings we had an Asado at Dakar Motos. What is an Asado? In the states we call it a cookout, in Australia it is called a barby and in Germany its …not clear what they call it. Actually an Asado turned out to be much more elaborate than a simple firing up the grill and cooking some meat. First it involves specific cuts of meat as well as varies types of sausages. In Argentina you seldom see anything green with your meal. At a traditional Asado it seems that the variety comes in the various meats you consume and some bread. Of course our non-Argentines slipped in some salads, bell peppers and cream cheese. The Asado is a distinct cooking process that involves metering in hot charcoal or wood embers so the flame never touches the meat. For more details you can Google it or buy a book. It is really an art form, if done right. In addition to the meat preparation the tradition seems to require the presents of friends or extended family. I don’t sense it would be considered an Asado if didn’t involve a large number of participants.

Leo from Germany, and Javier, both demonstrated they had mastered the art of preparing the meat for the asado.

I can’t remember if I already commented on the wonderful tasting Argentine beef. I normally don’t eat a lot of red meat but while in Argentina I was compelled to do as the locals.

The downtown area of Buenos Aires was a lot of fun to visit. It is diverse, colorful and easy to get around on public transportation. Here are some pictures from our tourist time.

On Sunday we went with Ken and Carolyn to the San Telmo neighborhood to poke around. On Sunday’s the neighborhood features a large, high end, Antique market on the square, street performers and food vendors. This is the area where you can watch the Tango dances perform in the streets.

The weather was perfect, sunny and warm. The streets were packed but not overcrowded. It turned out t be a perfect day.

A nice old Merc

A motorhome?

We had an early dinner (they would call it lunch in Argentina) and finished it off with coffee and desert at the famous al Gran Café Tortoni. This place has been around since 1858 and has a lot of history and is very popular. We had a short wait in line outside before getting a table.

So which one is alive?

We had a great day but as evening arrived we had to head back to the hotel.

Buenos Aires

2009-04-26T18:08:00.004-04:00

We approached Buenos Aires with the expectation of the shipping drudgery and killing time until our flight home. Our experience in Buenos Aires turned out just the opposite. We had a great week and thoroughly enjoyed the city. Dakar Motos was a big part of the joy, notably the warm welcome we got from Javier and Sandra, the owners, his friends and the travelers staying at the shop’s Hostel. In my opinion, and broadly speaking, Dakar Motos is the South American haven for motorcycle travelers. It is a repair shop, hostel, and hang-out all under one roof. More significantly it’s one of those rare places where motorcycle travelers feel “normal” and the reason for the trip is completely “understood”. The front of Dakar Motors

Pictured from the left are Javier, Ken, Carolyn, Andi and Sigrid.

Javier is one of those people that instantly befriends and makes you feel like you’ve known each other for years. He and Sandra, his wife, don’t seem to treat the shop as a business. It seems to be their life and Javier is quick to invite you in to it. Sandra, not pictured, helped us organize shipping the motorcycles. Sandra is one of those people you rarely met and remember forever. She is full of energy, always upbeat and has a genuine concern for helping other people.

Just to give more texture to the Dakar Moto experience I’ll describe the guest a bit more. Carolyn and Ken are from Australia. They are on the second leg of there round the world trip and have been travelling around South America since 2007. Ken and Javier had some great Dakar Race stories. I was green with envy. Of all things they kept mentioning Ricardo and his antics as they chased the race around Argentina. Sure enough it was Ricardo, from Ecuador we met in Lima and who joined us for diner. Small world. Andi and Sigrid are from Austria. They are traveling on 2 KLRs with bad shocks. They had to leave the motorcycles about 200 miles south of Buenos Aires, come to the shop to get replacement shocks and then bus back south to resume their trip. There was another guy, forgot his name, from Israel trying to sell his KLR so he could return home after touring around South America.

Leo, pictured above, from Germany shipped his African Twin from Germany to Fairbanks Alaska and rode it to Buenos Aires. He was hanging out in Buenos Aires doing odd jobs to make some money. We later found out he was a pretty good Asado cook, tango dancer, stand up comedian and chased by a numerous Argentine women. Also not pictured was Heinz from Germany. He arrived the day before we left. He was in amazingly good spirits given that he experienced the nightmare we all worry about. Sadly, he crashed in Chile destroying his motorcycle and cutting his trip short by two months. Fortunately he was not seriously injured.

No surprise, Javier and Sandra’s son Julian, has his own motorcycle.

Ken's pretty Dakar getting readied for the next leg of their adventure.

On The Way to Buenos Aires

2009-04-26T16:20:00.005-04:00

Our next destination is Buenos Aires, 2000 miles up the east coast of the continent. On the way to Buenos Aires we stopped for the night in Rio Grande, Comodoro Rivadavia and Bahia Blanco. It was an uneventful segment of the trip but here are highlight along the way.

We started with backtracking up TDF’s Ruta 3 to Rio Grande. Rio Grande is the self proclaimed Trout Capital of the World. We decided not to challenge their claim. Here was another photo opportunity of yet another superlative.

We also needed our tires changed before the long stretches of high speed asphalt on Route 3 through the Pampa to Buenos Aires. For those keeping track I replaced the worn out Metzler Karoo with the TKC80 I’ve been carrying along since Santiago. Chris also replaced his Karoo with the Anakee he had been carrying. We were both disappointed in how quickly the Metzler Karoo Knobbies wore out. We got maybe 2700 miles out of the rear and the fronts were starting to cup. So for the trip we will have run thru 3 sets of tires. At the tire shop were found that Santiago BMW gave us yet another surprise. The rear wheel bolts might well have been welded in place. Our expert tire guys in Rio Grande considered every trick in their play book to get the bolts loose. They ended up using wd40 and tapping the bolts with a hammer.

A Carnival parade was underway in town.

TDF is actually is the land of fire.

Most of Ruta 3 was boring except when it ran along the Atlantic Ocean.

We met this group of travelers from Buenos Aires at one of our stops. They were off to Ushuaia.

A major conflict the government and large farmers was underway because of increasing assessments. The farmers were on strike. We crossed some of the protesters along the highway. Many of the farmers use shocking displays to get their point across. One really gruesome display (no worries. no photo) was a number of dead cows piled up next to the highway.

This is another display of their displeasure. Fortunately for us they didn’t block the highway on our route as they have done in other areas.

On the way I discovered the inner seal on my final drive developed a small leak. Fortunately I had a replacement seal but would prefer to not do the repair until returning to Michigan. So I, of course, watched it very closely and it turned out to be a non event.

Reaching Our Southernmost Destination - Ushuaia

2009-04-22T15:54:00.004-04:00

Descending the mountain pass I didn’t expect to round a bend and abruptly find us entering Ushuaia. There, directly in front of us was the welcome sign I had been seeing in so many pictures. Wow, we actually made it and in one piece.

After getting the obligatory picture we headed off to explore the town and find some place to spend the night. We stopped by a number of places that were listed in the Lonely Planet but they were either booked or no place to park the motorcycles. We eventually stumbled on to the Drake hostel. I remembered the name from Nina and Trevor’s write up on Ushuaia. We checked it out and it turned out to be much better than any of the places that were all booked up.

From the street it didn’t look like anything special. It includes a nice open area in the rear, an atrium common area and even computers in the room.

After checking in we walked around town, got something to eat and took pictures of the waterfront. The town’s population shoots up when the cruise ships anchor. As we were arriving in town two behemoth cruise ships were disgorging passengers like salmon spawning. Soon the streets were teeming with shoppers and the city had all of the Penguin motif stuff ready for the taking. Seriously, I have to admit I liked Ushuaia, despite the crowds. It is a well run city with good restaurants and outdoorsy activities available for all taste. I eventually got over my expectation that we would find Ushuaia to be an isolated, sparsely populated outpost in the midst of a vast wilderness.

A correction is in order. We have been referencing Ushuaia as the southernmost city in the Western Hemisphere. According to the Ushuaia Chamber of Commerce we are underselling their notoriety. It is the southern most city in the world. How is that for a superlative?

Now here is another superlative. About 20 miles beyond Ushuaia is the end of Argentina’s route 3, the proclaimed southern most highway in the world. Since it is close by and it was another warm sunny day, we decided we could not pass up the opportunity for another cheesy photo op.

Again, we were thinking we would be in the wilderness and all alone. Who else would find it appealing to travel this far just to say they reached the end of the road?

Well apparently large numbers of cruise ship passengers. They were here in droves. They were on foot, in cabs, on bicycles and in buses big and small.

There were so many, in fact, we had to wait in line to get a motorcycle in front of the sign so we could take the cheesy picture.

So much for our second unfulfilled wilderness experience expectation.

On to the Island of Tierra del Fuego

2009-04-22T13:16:00.003-04:00

Next, off to the island of Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) and to what we thought was the “southernmost city in the Western Hemisphere”, Ushuaia. Summer was definitely over and we were starting to experience some seriously cold nights. We didn’t want to get snowbound in Ushuaia so we wick it up a bit. The most direct route on to the island took us to the city of Rio Grande on the island of TDF. It turned out to be a long day in the saddle. From Calafate we crossed over to the East side of the continent, cross the Magellan Strait on a ferry, manage 2 border crossings and log 420 miles before arriving at Rio Grande that evening.

As we crossed the Magellan Strait it was fun to let the mind drift a bit. We were looking at essentially same landscape and stretch of water Ferdinand Magellan saw in the 1500s when he discovered the significant shortcut for round the world voyagers. Wow.

The landscape of Tierra del Fuego island runs from interesting ocean views, mountains, fungus treed forests to long boring stretches of plains. Here are the pictures to show you what I mean.

Sadly a lot of the island’s trees are dying. I believe from a fungus.

Stopping by the Perito Glacier

2009-04-22T10:44:00.003-04:00

Our next destination is the Perito Moreno Glacier and National Park. The closes city to the Glacier is El Calafate, situated on Lake Argentina. The road south of Bajo Caracoles was mostly dirt and gravel with little stretches of asphalt. Slowly but surely the romantic Ruta 40 will be entirely paved and no longer a challenge to complete. El Calafate is a very busy town. Surprisingly busy since the tourist season ended several weeks ago, I’d hate to see what it was like during the height of the busy season. The main street is teeming with shops and people filling them up. I can’t complain though. I was able to find a shop that sold those fancy berets the Argentine horsemen wear. This town has a large number of adventure vehicles that look like they have never been off road. This picture sort of captures the range of diversions in town.

The temperature dropped 20 degrees as we approached the glacier area.

I’ve seen glaciers before and was not sure the extra day, extra miles and $20 USD would be worth the trip. I still didn’t like that they charged us foreigners 3 times what the locals pay but the Glacier is spectacular. They have a well done aluminum and wood walkway down to the glacier face that provides a number of close-up views. While we were there big chunks of the glacier fell into the water. We heard them but I never saw it happen. Unfortunately the sound that catches your attention is the last stage of the event, save for the wake created by the ice falling in the water.

We met a couple from Germany on a GS. They shipped their motorcycle from Germany and planned to leave it in South America so they could return next year for more touring. More motorcycles showed up in the parking lot. Three of them were from New Zealand.

The ride out to the Glacier and back to Calafate was pretty scenic also.

Patagonia's Ruta 40

2009-04-20T15:36:00.005-04:00

This will be our first full day on the Patagonia’s Ruta 40 and we were looking forward to the experience. We rejoin the road on the lower, southern section. Here are some views showing the diversity of the road surfaces and views.

The road is not widely known, outside of the Advrider site and South America, actually Argentina. In recent times the road was highlighted in the Che Guevara Motorcycle Diaries movie and book. Before that it featured in the retelling of the Butch Cassidy saga. In Argentina, to travel the road is the ultimate manly feat. It is sort of like the Alaska’s Haul Road to Prudhoe Bay reputation. After you’ve done Ruta 40 you earn the right to the t-shirt and bumper sticker. Of course Chris and I set out to find stickers for our panniers. The road runs mostly north to south though Argentina’s Patagonia area. It is about 3000 miles in total beginning at the northern Bolivia border making it one of the longest roads in the Western Hemisphere Americas. Its scenery runs from spectacular to downright boring as it travels through long stretches of desert like flats and through snow capped mountains. It is paved in the north and mostly corrugated dirt (Ripios) in the south.

The wind is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. The velocity was high but the gusting was the real problem.

Even if you are hard as a rock, if you stay in one place too long, the wind wins. A striking aspect of the road is the damage it inflicts.

On a longer straight stretch boredom can set in. At one point, to ward off drowsiness, I stopped to chase an Armadillo across the tundra. It was a cute little fella and fast.

Attempting to hide under a bush…

The Bajo Caraoles Cross Roads

2009-04-20T13:14:00.003-04:00

We spent the night in the Bajo Caracoles Hostel. I imagined it was similar to the old road houses that dotted the US highways before the interstates. It was a colorful establishment that included a little general store, snack bar, restaurant and gas station and a colorful attendant. Everything a traveler needed.

A knife, saddle, flashlight or torch….whaddaya need? Chips?

A box of wine? whattaya need?

We checked in around 6:30 PM and very hungry since there was no place to stop for lunch and we only had that skimpy breakfast that morning. The guy running the hotel told us we had to wait till 8:30 for dinner. However, he told us to have a seat and disappeared only to return a few minutes later with a couple of ham and cheese sandwiches. The sandwiches hit the spot. With no internet there was not much to do but take a walk around the little village.

The town reminded me of some of the small Alaska and Yukon villages I have visited. It consisted of maybe 4 dirt streets and 30 building made of a hodgepodge of building materials and styles. On our walk around the village we counted no more than 12 people, 5 horses and 2 dogs. The entire village is powered by a big diesel engine mounted in a block building. The front of the engine pokes out of the door, I guess for cooling purposes. All of the village’s power lines emanate from the little block building. It provides power to the street lights, gas pump and each of the houses. The engine runs non-stop and can be heard throughout the village. After a while you no longer notice the droning of the engine.

Later that evening we got a loud knock on the door and an announcement that dinner was ready….finally. After dragging out dinner for as long as possible, we retired to the room. I read my book until falling asleep As the sun set over Ruta 40.

Crossing the Andes Back into Argentina

2009-04-19T22:18:00.007-04:00

As we traveled through the Northern parts of Chile and Argentina we frequently commented about not seeing any wildlife along the road. Suddenly that changed.

The road leading to the mountain pass had the typical road hazards for this part of the world. The wooden bridges were a worry. But the wooden cattle grates with open centers were a big worry. Maintaining focus on the road is critical.

OK back to the wildlife…Flamingoes and we are not in Florida.

I wasn’t prepared to round the corner and almost run down a large ostrich type bird standing in the middle of the road. We later discovered the bird is a Rhea. I’ve seen Rheas in books but didn’t know they were that big and indigenous to in southern Argentina and Chile. They are a hoot to watch and difficult to photograph up close. Motorcycles seem to freak them out and make them panic run. I read someone else where the bird’s erratic running style looks like an armless man running. How true. The big birds run at least 30 miles per hour. They hang around the edge of the road and sometimes dart back and forth across the road before deciding which way to run. Obviously that is unnerving when traveling at higher speeds on a motorcycle.

We arrived at another isolated border as we reentered Argentina. It was an uneventful crossing except we got hassles on not having Argentina insurance on our motorcycles. We again dutifully promised to take care of it as soon as possible, with our fingers crossed behind us.

After making our way in to Argentina we soon found another isolated soft dirt and gravel road. I noticed at times the best we could do was around 22 mph.

We went from one isolated lonely road to arguable one of the world’s loneliest highways. We had reached the junction of the 3000 mile legendary Ruta 40 (route 40), more on the road later. We eventually arrived for the night at the cross roads village of Bajo Caracoles. After a 9 hour riding day we clicked off only 120 miles.

Continuing on Chile's Carretera Austral

2009-04-19T18:59:00.003-04:00

Morning in Coihaique The Carretera Austral from Coihaique to Cochrane was sensational, especially the Cerro (mountain) Castillo National Park stretch.

The pictures can’t convey the views and sensations you experience from the seat of the motorcycle. We passed brilliant blue green, glacial grey and green lakes, bays that connected to the Pacific Ocean and mountains with jagged peaks.

It is amazing how the road can be narrow dirt and then without warning connect to a wide, paved and well maintained road.

We stopped to check on two French guys on small displacement Yamahas. They were north bound and just taking a break. They purchased the motorcycles in South America and planned to ride them around the Continent for 5 months… two brave and ambitious souls.

Check our road out..plus the view of the lake, glaciers and snow capped mountains... what a treat...

Yes each of these lakes are different colors. I don't know why but it was pretty.

Tree top canopy ride advertisement strung across the road, in stead of a billboard.

Cochrane is a small town literally in the middle of nowhere. Its not clear what the residence do to make a living beyond offer services to each other and the random tourist that might stop for the night. There is not much to do in Cochrane after the sun goes down but read or go to bed. Maybe that is why the restaurants typically don’t start serving until after 8:30 PM in this region. The hotel we found was clean and comfortable but sparse on services. In the morning we had the typical hotel Nescafe, bread, cheese and juice breakfast. We didn’t think it to be a problem since we could stop on the road and eat. Unfortunately it didn’t happen. We found ourselves out in the wilderness with no stores let alone any other type of service. Except for a couple of smashed granola bars stashed away for emergencies, we didn’t eat again until later in the evening when we arrived at the cross road village of Bajo Caracoles.

Chile's Southern Highway - Carretera Austral

2009-04-10T19:14:00.006-04:00

Our next objective was to travel south on the famous Carretera Austral (in English the Southern Highway) in Chile. The Southern Highway is in the Chile Patagonia area. As you travel south, Chile’s Patagonia becomes very different from the more famous Argentina Patagonia. The Chile side is characterized by mountains, lakes, the Pacific Ocean and many islands. It is very similar to the Alaska’s Southern coast. Argentina, on the other hand, is characterized by some mountains, glaciers and a lot of flat brown tundra that goes on forever. Clearly Argentina did a better marketing job because the Chile side is a lot more interesting. That is why we are going to the Southern Highway. It’s the only road that runs a considerable length of Southern Chile’s Patagonia. Getting to the Southern Highway in Chile requires traveling through Argentina if you want to avoid multiple long ferry rides on the Northern end of the highway.

We reentered Chile in a remote border crossing and made our way over to the Chilean Southern Highway. It started to rain and the road deteriorated. At first it was mostly hard packed dirt and then gravel. Soon the rain and gravel increased. The going got slow and tough as the rain increased, the temperature dropped and the road got sloppy, especially in construction areas.

At times the rain would let up and allow for a snap shot or two.

Here is a little about the highway (the highway term is used liberally). The Chilean government (Pinochet era) started building the highway in 1976. It was not opened to traffic until 1988. The purpose of the road was to develop the remote southern end of Chile. A number of high end fishing lodges are on the road but not much more. During the high season the road is a haven for trans American bicyclist, trout fishermen and crazy kayakers. The dirt and gravel road is about 770 miles and runs through numerous National Parks and around large lakes. The plan is to eventually pave the road. So we wanted to experience it now while the region is undeveloped.

We eventually made it to a little village where our road would intersect the Carretera Austral. It was getting late, we were both tired and hoping we could find a hotel for the night but nothing was available so we pushed on south. The weather and road conditions continued to get worse. Neither of us had on our electric jackets and neither of us wanted to prolong the ordeal by stopping so we pushed on until we reached La Junta and a nice warm hotel.

As we loaded up in the morning I found the cause of the intermittent noise I was hearing yesterday on the road. It looks like my rear fender decided to mangle itself with my inner fender. After a quick surgical removal of the mangled part we were off.

The rain stopped but it was still cold and overcast as we headed south from La Junta. We were wondering what we were in for given it was just the first day of the Southern Hemisphere’s Fall. The weather was unable to distract from the scenery and the road. Nor did the construction, and there was a fair amount of construction.

By mid day the clouds started breaking up and the temperature started to clime. We soon found ourselves with a warm sunny day riding by streams, waterfalls, snow capped mountains and an occasional glacier.

The road is narrow, one to one and a 1/2 lanes at times. Several northbound motorcyclist where a bit overly enthusiastic and almost took us out as they rounded a blind curve with a bit too much speed. It was scary to think of suffering a serious injury in such a remote area.

Some of the cars we passed were a testimonial to the difficult road conditions. We helped a young German couple in a 30 year old VW Micobus get it back on the road. We noticed it had no front windshield. It was explained that they lost the windshield after it was shattered by a big rock further up the road. Further down the road we came across a late model SUV with a caved in roof and no windshield. It was clearly the victim of a recent roll over. The occupants seemed to be barely tolerating the cold air blasting in their faces.

Our destination for the day was Coihaique (or sometimes spelled Coyhaique). It is the largest city on the Carretera Austral. Until the Carretera Austral was built it looks like the only way to get to the city from Santiago was through Argentina. The road got more difficult as we climbed over various mountain passes. All in all it took us 8 hours to go less than 200 miles.

Arriving in Coihaque we found it to be a surprisingly large city given the remote part of Chile. We were happy to find a hotel with heat since the sharp temperature drops as the sun falls behind the mountains. It’s a pleasant city with a very active downtown. The main plaza is a bit unique in that it is in the shape of a pentagon and all of the surrounding streets follow that pattern, making it easy to get lost.

Enjoying the Lakes District

2009-04-09T09:39:00.008-04:00

Here is an interactive Google map with blue flags to locate the cities mentioned in the write up….incase you were wishing or wondering ….. View From Santiago we headed south to check out the lakes district and the resort towns of Pucon, Chile, San Martin de Los Andes and Bariloche in Argentina.

On our way we ran into a couple, John and Gabriella, from Santiago on a new red GS Adventure. John is originally from Australia and Gabriella is originally from Buenos Aires. John is building a Motorcycle Touring business. It is called South American Motorbike Tours. The website is http://www.samotorbikrtours.com/ . They gave us some good advice on routes, what to see and where to stay. We had lunch with them in one of Chile’s famous ski towns, Pucon. In Pucon they ski down a volcano. It looked to be a steep descent. We rode with John and Gabriella to another interesting little ski town called San Martin de Los Andes. We spent the night there and walked around town. Funny how, if you changed the language, it could have been any ski town in the world.

Cool Caballeros. We instantly decided we needed a hat like that.

The first of many Chile Argentina Argentina Chile border crossings. Argentina requested if we had purchased Argentina insurance for our motorcycles. From where? We are in the middle of nowhere???? They didn't push it and let us in.

As we continued south we traveled through the picturesque “Lake District” roads heavily promoted by the Argentine travel industry for well founded reasons. The planned route was 80% pavement for the day. We ended up making a wrong turn and enjoyed an 80 percent dirt route that followed the shoreline of a beautiful lake. Some of the views of the bright blue green lake were simply stunning. The dirt road condition was not all that challenging so we could enjoy the views. We rejoined the pavement on Ruta 40 (Route 40), more on this famous route later. We did a lunch stop in Bariloche. It is a well known Argentine ski town. By now we had our fill of ski towns and pushed on further south after lunch and spent the night in El Bolson.

Ohhhh....so cute.

Our first introduction to the Argentina art of Asado. Much more on that later.

Great views and fun roads....

Barilochi

We met the rider of this motorcycle in Barilochi. He was from Buenos Aires and obviously skilled at welding aluminum. We rode south together out of our final ski town visited.

Before leaving Argentina we stopped in the town of Esquel. This is the little mining town that was made famous by the 30 year old book “The Old Patagonia Express”. The town has capitalized on the train’s notoriety and promotes one day train excursions from the town to a national park and back. The remains of the original wooden train, the author rode, still exist. It is in the train yard next to the station. It consists of one car and some sub frames. It doesn’t look like it is destine to exist on this earth very long. If you just walked up to the train station you would completely ignore the remains, no sign, nothing. Anyway we are going back in to Chile for some really fun roads and sights.

In and Out of Santiago...Quickly

2009-04-08T09:37:00.003-04:00

We pulled into Santiago around 2PM. Santiago is a big city with a downtown area that rivals any modern sophisticated large urban center in the world. It is picturesque, with plenty of quaint shops, cultural areas and attractive common areas. We would have to leave checking out the city for later. Our first priority was to find a hotel and then get the motorcycles in for some maintenance. We found a really nice area in the downtown area with cobblestone streets and a number of reasonable price hotels. We stayed at the Hotel Plaza Londres. I highly recommend the hotel and the area. The area was close to the main plaza but far enough away to avoid the crowds. It is very quaint, quiet and within easy walking distance to Museums and, shop.

After we checked in we went to the dealership to check on getting the motorcycles serviced, new tires and a battery for Chris. We were greeted by a friendly service manager that told us we could have everything done if we could bring the motorcycles in by 8AM tomorrow. A great relief to us was that they had the rear Continental brand knobbie tires we wanted. The TKC80s we put on in Lima still had some life in them but it was clear they were not going to last to Ushuaia and for sure not the 2000 miles of asphalt back up to Buenos Aires. It all sounded too easy and too good to be true. Little did we know…..

We arrived at the dealership at 8AM. The service orders were promptly written up. We asked about the price of replacing the front tires. The quote for the fronts was fair so we said sure, replace the fronts also. With confidence that we were in good hands we walked to a restaurant a few blocks from the dealership that had real coffee and some sinful pastries. To really boost our spirits we discovered the place also had wifi. It was the kind of café that Starbucks has patterned itself after. It had outdoor tables adjoining a little park area to add to the atmosphere.

As we walked up we spotted a brand new MVAgusta and a beaming owner. After talking to the owner in Spanish, his lady friend, in perfect English, assured us the owner already knew he had a cool motorcycle and we didn’t need to repeatedly tell him.

Chris, after enjoying his double coffee, walked back up to the dealership to retrieve his computer. Our first sign of trouble was the motorcycles where still sitting in the place where we parked them an hour and a half ago. We wondered why they insisted we get the motorcycles there at 8AM only to have them sit out in the sun.

After killing most of the day at the café, we walked back to the dealership only to discover the motorcycles were being worked on but not done. Long story short they did not have the tires we needed and did not plan to solve the problem today because it was their closing time. So while they were closing up shop they found it easy to just ignoring our pleas to help get us underway today. All we got was manana-tomorrow. We resigned ourselves to our faith and unceremoniously caught a cab back to the hotel for the night with a promise that the motorcycles would be ready by 11AM tomorrow. What a day. We spent a total of 10 hours hanging around a dealership to get 2 hours worth of work not done. The following day we returned to the dealership. Of course 11AM came and went. By 1PM we were leaving the dealership and on our way out of Santiago with new tires, fresh oil and a real battery for Chris.

To the Coast of Chile

2009-04-03T21:33:00.002-04:00

We were happy to have arrived in Calama and to have found nice accommodations, but both of us at that stage of the trip were eager to get to see the Pacific Ocean again and to get to Santiago. Thus, after our usual continental breakfast of rolls and coffee, starting my bike with the use of my new miniature jumper cables, and gassing up, we were speeding along Ruta 25 and heading for the Pan American Highway along the coast. We were also happy to be riding at lower altitudes with higher octane gas, as the bikes had been decidedly pokey with low octane Bolivian gas and altitudes of 12,000 to 15,000 feet. We were now at about 8,000 feet and headed for sea level. The landscape was again a barren desert with mountains in the distance. From time to time something interesting would show up on the side of the road.

But a lot of it was listening to the Ipod or goofing off with the camera...to pass the time.

We had decided to stop at the small fishing port of Taltal on the Pacific after weighing the options presented in the Lonely Planet. It turned out to be a great decision. In the early afternoon, we branch off the PanAm and headed for the town of Paposo on the coast, which is north of Taltal. The ride from Paposo to Taltal proved to be one of the most memorable rides of our journey. The windy road hugged the coastline with spectacular ocean views on the right and volcanic mountains on the left plunging into the sea.

Taltal itself is a very pleasant small fishing town with a pretty square and an interesting downtown area.

We stayed at the Hotel Mi Tampi, which also exceeded our expectations in terms of hospitality and elegance. On the recommendation of the hotel owners, we walked up the coastal road to a local family-style restaurant that specialized in the fresh catch of the day. Once again, our “late lunch” was also dinner in view of the hour of the day and the size of the portions.

On the following morning, we made our way back to the PamAm in a heavy fog. However, once we were a few miles inland, the fog cleared and we were again speeding south in the arid landscape that is northern Chile.

Our destination was La Serena, the location of which would put us on a schedule of arriving in Santiago at a decent hour on the following day, in time to get situated at a hotel and to visit the BMW dealership to make arrangements for service. While the landscape was becoming monotonous, the light traffic and smooth road enabled us to make “good time,” fortunately without interference by the authorities. We arrived in La Serena in the late afternoon and, after prowling the streets of the city for a time, selected a modest hotel for our evening stay. Once again, we found a great little restaurant that served the catch of the day.

Getting Out Of Bolivia

2009-03-31T20:21:00.002-04:00

After the battery fiasco on the Salar de Uyuni and the temporary, make-shift solution of the new undersized battery and homemade jumper cables, we were eager to make our escape from Uyuni and our way to Chile. We soon found out how utterly deceptive our maps were with respect to road quality. My Hammond Map of South America made Route 5 (701 on other maps) to Ollague, Chile, appear as a super highway. However, a local tour guide in Uyuni set us straight: “Just stick to the biggest dirt road going southeast.” As with the ride from Potosti to Uyuni, we were in for some adventurous riding in one of the most remote areas in one of the most remote countries in South America. We were riding in a high plain desert (over 12,000 feet) on some very rough, loose-gravel roads. Nevertheless, the landscape had an amazing beauty of its own.

After several hours of riding in the high desert of Bolivia, we were happy to come to the remote and barren frontier crossing near Ollague, Chile. Unlike our unpleasant border crossings in Central America, getting out of Bolivia and into Chile was a breeze, relatively speaking. Our only disappointment was the later realization that one of the Chilean border officials had had some fun with us in advising us on the ease and rapidity that we would experience on the road from Ollague to Calama.

Salt piles, big pink birds and storm clouds made the isolation erie at timesThen the sun would come out but the dirt got deep and soft in places.

The Vibration Gods claimed its first mud guard.

After pounding along on a deteriorating gravel road for miles on end, it became clearly apparent that we had had our legs pulled and were in for another tough stretch. The bright side of the experience was another opportunity to gaze upon some fascinating terrain of high deserts, more salt flats, and mountains framed by an incredibly blue sky. Eventually, we came to the paved portion of the road to Calama and were able to make illegally good time to our destination. We found that Calama was a good-sized town with numerous hotels and restaurants and a lovely town square. The source of the prosperity we learned was the abundance of copper and the extensive mining operations in the area.

Drama on The Salar de Uyuni Salt Flats

2009-02-25T09:04:00.002-05:00

To reach the Salt Flats you have to go about 14 miles north of Uyuni. At the entrance to the flats there were a number of trucks harvesting salt from the little drying pyramides. Once you get a few miles on to the salt you start getting a sense of isolation and remoteness, maybe what the planet Mars would feel like. The sun beating down on the bone white salt makes sunglasses an imperative. We rode out to the Salt Hotel. The hotel seems to be a frequent stop for the salt flats 4x4 tours.

We were just as much a tourist curiosity as the salt flats.

The famous Salt Hotel.

We were planning to maybe go a few more miles out onto the flats but our first serious motorcycle problem showed up to change those plans. Of all the places to have a battery die this was not one of them. We tried fashion some jumper cables out of a residential extension cord but the wire would not carry enough current. Just as we were realizing we were in serious trouble of being stranded one of the 4x4 tour trucks showed up. The driver enthusiastically went to work try in help us solve the problem, first with trying to jump start off his battery and then trying to push start the motorcycle. When both of those failed we went for the least desirable option of towing the motorcycle behind his truck to try and roll start the motorcycle.

Fortunately that worked and we high tailed it off the salt flat. Realizing we still needed to solve the dead battery problem, our first priority was to get the salt washed off the motorcycles.

We found this high pressure truck washing operation and paid about 25 cents to get a thourough washing.

The following day Chris set out to find a new battery. With partial success Chris found a small battery, suitable for the local 150cc motorcycles, and had a shop make up some jumper cables. We discovered that the little weak battery with a jump from my motorcycle would get it started and running on its own. By then it was too late to leave town so another night in Uyuni. Uyuni, was well underway in the pre-Carnival celebration. The celebration consisted of an increase in the annoying water balloon throwing. Thankfully the tradition seems to exempt tourist as targets. Several poor girls were literally run down, picked up and thrown into the fountain on the plaza. The other activity involved hundreds of boys and girls running through the streets hand in hand chanting slogans and getting hosed by young boys with water balloons, giant air pump water guns and hoses.

Even though she was resisting the gang of guys that threw her in the fountain, afterwards she seemed to be a little happy with the experience.

The gull of the Chinese Motorcycle manufactures...I don't think anyone in Uyuni was falling for the blatant adverticing lie.

Getting to the Middle of Nowhere Uyuni

2009-02-25T08:28:00.003-05:00

Downtown Potosi. On the way to the Salar de Uyuni salt flats we stopped in the towns of Oruro and Potosi. Oruro was not that interesting of a town. They were preparing for Carnival so there were droves of people in the streets, banners, bleaches, flowers, etc were being erected for the parades. There is an interesting thing about a lot of the people on the streets in every Bolivian city. They don’t smile. Who knows why? Potosi is supposedly the highest, in altitude, city in the world. How is that for a superlative. I thought the highest city would be in some place like Tibet but who really cares. The significance of altitude for us was its difficult to get around and even more difficult to get a restful night’s sleep. Potosi is also one of the oldest cities in South America because of its silver mines. We found a nice hostel with a great shower and a secure spot for the motorcycles. We walked around the square, got a bit to eat and called it a night. We were told that the road from Potosi to Uyuni was under construction. That was an understatement. It was dirt road separated by stretches of sand or gravel. It was difficult going at times because of the deep sand and fresh deep loose dirt the road crews were dumping on the road. The road is being improved but given the terrain, mostly mountains, that will be a long project.

The final stretch of the road gave some magnificent views of the Salar de Uyuni salt flats and the town of Uyuni. Once in Uyuni we checked in to a hostel and headed for the salt flats.

This guy rode with us for a while between Potosi and Uyuni. He was from Uyuni and knew the road well. He would go flying by us in traffic and downhills on his Suzuki.

Here is our Uyuni hotel. We checked in and since it was not raining we immediately headed off to the salt flats.

The Road of Death

2009-02-24T15:57:00.003-05:00

After fighting riding 5 miles down hill on wet slippery cobble stones, we found our way to the little town of Yolosa. It crosses a little river and then starts the mountain accent of the Death Road. There were some great vista and waterfalls but the mist, rain in places and the road demand so much attention that the camera stayed tucked away for most of the trip. In several areas the water cascading down the mountains at the switch backs, offer easy to manage water crossings. Mountain bicycles coming down the road was biggest road hazard. The road has definite rules for passing on coming traffic. However, passing on the right or left seemed to be a last minute decision for the mountain bicyclist. This big Dane was the Yolosa town greeter or there to bid a final farewell to those venturing on to the Death Road.

After only about two miles we encountered our first landslide. The road crew had cleared a small path so we made it across without much trouble. It was very muddy. So getting through validated the right decision to put knobbie in Lima rather than wait till we got further south. The road crew was not optimistic about our ability to make it through the other slides. So we decided to continue to the next slide to see what the whole Death Road thing was about. And then turn around.

We got to the next slide. It was a big pile of rubble that covered the entire road. It looked like the Death Road tour was over. Then we noticed a road crew with picks and shovels slowly emerging from what looked like a permanent collection of houses next to the slide area. Maybe the area experiences regular slides during the rainy season that requires a permanent crew assigned to keep the road open. The pile of rubble was mostly gravel, large stones and some large boulders all held together with a slurry mud. Chris and I gave a hand with the clearing. The construction workers, about 5 of them, seemed to know exactly what to do to give us a path over. We took our side cases off to reduce the weight. We motor walked the motorcycles over the debris while the construction worker pushed and steadied. We tipped them 50 Bolivianos (about $7 USD). It was the best 50 Bolivianos we spent in Bolivia. The workers gave a slight smile as they returned to, what looked like a three day job of clearing the road by hand.

Eddy you will also recognize this rock.

At the third landslide it was very deep mud with tree limbs and boulders sticking out of the mud everywhere. It created a barrier about four feet high. It was raining so only one photo. When we approached the slide we found only two road workers and one never did any work the entire time were stuck at the slide. Chris and I weighed the option of turning around and going over the boulder slide again, waiting for the one road crew worker to clear the road…days, or pushing ahead. There was a mountain bike tour guide, with his retrieval van stuck on the other side of the slide. We slogged through the mud on feet to see if he could provide us with any information. He said the rest of the road was clear back to La Paz. So we decided to try and get the motorcycles over the mud pile. Mind you we were at about 9000 feet above sea level just walking took a tremendous effort, let alone mud wrestling with a 600 pound pigs. Once we got the first motorcycle on top of the slide it quickly settled down on the bash pan and buried the front and rear tires in the loose wet mud. We could not go forward anymore and it was impossible to back down off the mud pile. The pig was stuck in the mud. The one working road construction guy saw it as a hopeless cause and returned to clearing the road by the cliff edge as he had been doing when we arrived. It was starting to look like we may be on this road for a while, maybe days. The tour guide came to our rescue and was our instant hero. We were truly very fortunate that he had a long heavy rope in his van. He probable had it to retrieve any of his bicycles that happen to go over the cliff. The tour guide and the construction worker assist by pulling our motorcycles thru the mud while Chris and I either motor walked or pushed. We finally made it, exhausted and covered with mud from the spinning tire. Another good fortune was the waterfalls next to the road provided a handy shower to get enough of the mud off of us so we would not slip around too much on the motorcycle seats.

The rest of the road was thankfully without any more drama. I really enjoyed the road, scenery and the challenge but after that last slide I had enough of tempting the Death Road Gods with keeping us there for an extended visit. It’s a great off road adventure, even for a 1200 GS. The road was not that technically difficult. There were some muddy uphill areas so having knobbies in the rainy season is a big plus. Another hazard was near the waterfalls the cobble stones were very slippery and uneven. That caused Chris and I both to take tumbles. In the end I’m not sure it’s the best to do the road in the rainy season. Here is where the Old Road meets back up with the New Road as we returned to La Paz.

I Can't Believe It...Where is the Death Road?

2009-02-24T14:12:00.002-05:00

The Canadian couple we met in Colombia, that were circumnavigating South America, gave us some good advice. They suggested taking the new road out to Coroico and riding the old road, nicked named the Bolivian Death Road, back to Bolivia. The rational was that direction was all uphill and much more fun on a motorcycle. Also the area is swamped with Mountain bike riders coming down the mountain and you can manage them better if they are going in the opposite direction. With that information tucked away we headed for Coroico, stopping frequently in La Paz to ask for directions to Coroico. It is clear the town is well known. Leaving La Paz the road quickly climbs to and eventual height of over 15,000 feet above sea level. It was on and off foggy and raining and really cold. As we continued we so no evidence of the so called Road of Death. The road we were on was nicely paved with guard rails, viaducts and even two long tunnels to tame the terrain. In some areas the road has been ravaged by landslides where challenging off-road detours were necessary. As we continued we realized we were on the “New Road”. However we could not find a turn off for the well known city of Coroico. Both our GPS showed us close to the town but there were no roads to take us there. I was starting question how we could come this far and not find “The Road” or the town. We eventually saw a turn off sign for Coroico. We took it and after about 20 minutes of going up a steep cobble stone trail we stop and questioned if we the butt of a sick joke. The road had obviously not been used. It was over grown and several donkeys on the road acted like they had not seen anything with a motor in years. We returned to the main road and became further confused by the large sign pointing to the road we just came off. It advertised Coroico as a great Peru tourist destination and included a picture of a large resort hotel complete with swimming pool. So where was this large city hiding? Long story short the town was on the top of the mountain. We were in the valley and had missed the main turn off several miles back. We later found that the little path we were on was an old seldom used path and if we continued on it we would have reached the city.

The main turn off was obscured by a police control point and road side vendors, both of which we have learned to avoid. We finally reached the town and sure enough it was a buzz with Peruvian, European, South American and US tourists. Coroico seems to be the starting point for a number of adventure attractions in addition to being associated with the Death Road. The area has mountain waterfalls, mountain treks, horseback riding, mountain biking and more. The official Coroico Tourist map lists all of those activities and curiously includes the location of the nearby Coca fields.

It also is an area where a number of African slaves settled. One local told us the slaves were brought in to work the mineral mines in the south. The mines are at a high altitude with its associated cold weather. The Africans moved to the area surrounding Coroico to live in a more agreeable climate. Some have adopted the culture and mannerisms of the local indigenous people including the dress and those interesting hats they prop on top of their heads. The younger ones seemed to have been watching MTV or BET and many look straight out of Compton California or Detroit with sagging paints, corn rows and backward hats…. in a striking contrast to their older generations. After talking with some of the locals we got an idea how to get to the Death Road. It starts about 4 miles from Coroico in a town call Yolosa. It was getting late in the day so we decided to spend the night in Coroico.

This guy decided to adopt me as I wandered around his city.

From our hotel window we could see the start of the Old Road.

Painfully Into Bolivia

2009-02-24T11:51:00.004-05:00

Continuing on we reached the Bolivian border near the resort community of Copacabana on Lake Titicaca. At the border processing out of Peru was simple, it included getting our passport exit stamp and closing out the temporary motorcycle import permit. The process getting in to Bolivia was not simple. First of all Bolivia has instituted a $135 USD “USA Retaliation Fee” excuse me visa charge. They would only accept it in US dollars. Canada, Australia, UK citizen? Nada for the fee. Then the process itself required many forms, copies from the local copy store, at our cost of course, and multiple buildings. The first problem was we didn’t have $135 cash with us and the border didn’t have a bank or ATM like the other countries that require a fee. So the Immigration Officer said he would hold our passport while we ride in to Copacabana and get the Visa fee. That was fine but the Customs Officer demanded a stamped passport and Visa before he would allow us to bring the motorcycles in to Bolivia, even for the four mile run to the bank. We eventually agreed to leave our motorcycle titles with him to make sure we would not run off into Bolivia undocumented. Then the National Police decide to get in the act. They want to see our Passport and import papers before allowing us to leave the border area. After some explanations, they allowed us to pass. Then when we get to the only bank we could find, the ATM is only for Bolivian citizens. The bank would, however, generously give us a cash advance against a credit card plus charge a 5% fee. At this point we were seriously considering getting our Peru permits back and going straight to Chile from Peru. After taking a “timeout” we decided to continue on. After getting our Visas and import permits, from now smiling Immigrations and Customs Officers, we have our last problem. Again the National Police have to check that your paperwork is in order and hand write down an entry in their official log book. They also put their stamp on the import permit, with a noisy authoritative banging the stamp down on to the paper as if they were killing an insect. Well after going through that ritual the boss Police Officer, surrounded by two of his comrades, places the two Import Permits on the desk face down, looks at us and asks us for money. After telling him no in English and Spanish, he still persists. I then sensed it was time to show them a mild sense of outrage. I also recalled Ricardo’s, from Quito, advice to just make stuff up when they make outrages demands. So I told them, in my best “Spanglish”, that their government sent me a nice letter saying that I had to pay $135 USD to get in to their country. They explicitly said to pay nothing to the Customs or National Police. At that point the main guy waved on and we departed.

We rode into Copacabana for the second time. I was simmering but then fought hard to keep reminding myself that the objective was to get in the country and we had done that. Copacabana is a colorful tourist town with jam packed markets selling all things Inca. At the town we asked about a ferry but everyone we talked to, including the police, told us its total highway to La Paz. The GPS showed land between Copacabana and La Paz except for a narrow stretch of Lake Titicaca water. We figured maybe they built a bridge since the highway was freshly paved and the town people insisted its highway all the way.

After climbing to about 14,000 feet and then descending back to lake level, we discovered open water and some contraptions that hardly fit our sense of what a ferry would look like. As I rode up the loose plank ramp they separated and my rear wheel started falling. I gunned it and got the motorcycle on to the ferry. Once on the ferry we found nothing to secure the motorcycles but us. From the shore the water looked calm. The channel was about a mile wide. Of course when we reached the middle of the channel the wind picked up and the waves started to roll and pitch the flat bottom ferry. It took a lot of effort to keep from getting pitched in to the cold waters of Lake Titicaca. I looked around for the normal Coast Guard approved flotation devices. They must have been carefully stored below deck somewhere. It was hard to believe but the ferries even carry those large passenger buses. I was told that they do send the passengers on a separate ferry.

A look back at the boarding boards.

Shoving off after a harrowing boarding process.

A driver's look that inspires real confidence. The guy in the Peruvian Hat seemed to be in charge. During the entire crossing he was chomping on Coca leaves.

The other problem was the ferry had a fixed bow, meaning we had to back the motorcycles off the ferry and down another loose plank ramp. We made it off the ferry with only one tumble. Chris and had the same reaction after were safely on firm ground again. We were both pleased that we were on a one way trip.

Peruvian Mountain Road Entertainment

2009-02-24T10:30:00.003-05:00

Before returning to Cusco and on to Bolivia, we decided to try a little of the road that takes you closer to Machu Picchu than Ollantaytambo. It was a brand new road through some of the most interesting scenery of snow capped mountains and little Peruvian villages. I’ll let some pictures tell the story.

It was amazing that the road was in such good shape and well maintained given the remoteness of the area.

Here is the highest point of the road, about 14,500 feet above sea level. I was feeling the altitude.

A few lightweight water crossings at the switchbacks added to the entertainment.

I think that is a glacier....but not sure.

Machu Picchu....Finally

2009-02-24T08:58:00.003-05:00

Here is the "Postcard"view of the ruins ....after getting that Llama to stop poking his head in front of my camera. I’ve been told that Machu Picchu is one of those places everyone should see. I was a little worried that the hype may lead to a big disappointment. I’ll save the suspense. It delivers the “Wow”. In short it was one of many Inca cities. It was thought that Machu Picchu was a city for the elite Incas, however that worked. The city consists of an urban area and the agricultural area, noted by the terraces. It was rediscovered in the early 1900 by Hiram Bingham. You can read his book that gives an account of his discovery by downloading his book at the Guggenheim Press web site. Its free. I’ll use pictures to tell more about the site. This is the main doorway to the city's urban area.

At first I was thinking having a guide was a waste of time. He seemed a little to interested in rewriting to increase the impact of the Incas on world history. When he got down to explaining the Machu Picchu site it got interesting. For example in the picture below, the sun will come through the middle window and line up with the Inca Cross on the right, during the solstice. This indicates its time to plant the harvest…provided its not a cloudy day.

Another example about the Inca Cross. The three edges, or steps of the cross represent the 3 animals important to the Inca believe system. The lowest step is the snake. The middle represents the Puma and the top represents the Condor. The guide likened the soring Condor in the sky to the Christen concept of the promise of heaven. Later as we rode through Peru I realized there are many images of the cross and the three animals, especially the Puma.

Eddy you will recognize this rock.

A view of the agricultual area.

Inca stone work.

Without the guide's help we would have wandered right by this rock. He demonstrated with a compass that the points of the rock line up perfectly with the North, East, South and West.

The surrounding mountains are beautiful. Below is a shot of the local power station. If you ride closer to Machu Picchu you can walk the remaining distance along the rail tracks to Aguas Caliente. Later we rode part of the road but more on that later.

Our guide pointing out how the rocks form the wings of the Condor before taking us throught the embalming area.

It was a tight squeeze.

You can see the road we took up from Aguas Calientas.

On the train ride back to Ollantaytambo this guy enjoyed waking up sleeping passengers with his toy Llama. It really spooked me to see that face as I came out of a deep sleep. A word about the trains. There are two classes of tickets, Backpacker and Skydome. We took the Backpacker to the park and returned on the Skydome. We found the Backpacker equally comfortable and the best value. The airplane meal and slightly bigger windows hardly justify the extra cost of the Skydome. On to Bolivia to experience the Death Road and the Salar de Uyuni salt flats.

Machu Picchu...Getting Closer

2009-02-23T19:31:00.010-05:00

Could that actually be him in Peru? Before we could continue on to Machu Picchu we were required to listen to a pitch on the Peruvian version of the stimulus package by an Obama helper. Actually he was trying to sell us some oil paintings...similar to the type that are sold art the Holiday Inn Starving Artist Shows. He swore he painted them. Funny how they looked just like the paintings being sold in Cuscoe. The elections have had an interesting impact on the trip. Initially the locals genuinely wanted to talk to a US citizen about the election results and the new president. By February the locals, that make a living off tourist, added “what do you think of Obama?” to “where are you from my friend?”. …the global impact of the Obama phenom spreads.... You can take a four hour train ride from Cusco to Machu Picchu followed by a 20 minute bus ride to the park entrance and then another 20 to 30 minute walk before you actually see the “Postcard” view of Machu Picchu. What a production. We found there were some options. We opted to ride our motorcycles closer and stay at a town called Ollantaytambo. The train from Ollantaytambo reduces the tiresome four hour ride from Cusco. An additional advantage is riding the motorcycles through and area called the Sacred Valley, named because of the numerous other Inca ruins in the area and the Inca Trail. There is an option to ride closer to a town called Santa Teresa, but it involves finding a place to store the motorcycles, cabs, local buses and a walk along an active train track. The Ollantaytambo option was a lot simpler but cost more. My friend welcomed us to Ollantaytambo, even though we could barely pronounce the name of the town. In Ollantaytambo we stayed at the KB Tambo Hostel that had a place to store the motorcycles while we the one day tour of Machu Picchu. Ollantaytambo is a very small Peruvian village that is adopting itself well as a tourist destination. In addition to Machu Picchu, it offers a jumping off point for mountain bike, horseback and treking tours. The town has its own ruins that are visible from the hostel.

This seems to be a typical dress of the local men.

While sitting at the village plaza taking in the sights, this little tike adopted me. He walked up and just stared at me and the candied peanuts I was munching on. Of course I had to share some with him and that made him linger even more. Cute guy.

You have heard the story about how to get the monkey off your back. Apparently this little mutt hasn't. This couple wandered around the square along with the little tike and the guys in colorful outfits. A lot to digest when you are just trying to sit around and relax at a local plaza so far from home.

This is a part of the Ollantaytambo ruins. It looks like some type of mythical shrine to the Inca Gods, but in reality it was simple mountain store house for the harvest. You can see how far it is up the mountain by going back to the picture of the kid and looking on the lefthand side of the picture.

The town had an interesting water management system from the mountain steams.

OK back to the objective of getting to Machu Picchu. We wait for the train to pick us up at Ollantaytambo. While waiting, I realized I was not the only one with a stupid looking hat on to block the sun. The locals must think we tourist are fairely odd looking with a peculiar range of hat habits.

My contribution to entertaining the locals.

Finally the train shows up. We board it and are off to Aguas Calientes the little city at the base of Machu Picchu. The train ride is one and a half hours through a valley with a raging river. We finally arrive in Aguas Calientes. The kindest thing I can say about the town is that it does not live up to the Machu Picchu hype. It does look like the Peruvian government is trying to clean up the town a little to make it more befitting of the entry point to the famous park. Next stop Machu Picchu.

On The Way To Machu Picchu

2009-02-21T17:11:00.006-05:00

On the way out of Lima and down the Peruvian coast we stopped at a little seaside village recommended to us by Nestor. There we enjoy our last bit of fresh seafood for a while.

Our next big destination was Machu Picchu, the famous Inca ruins. It took us several days to get there. Our first stop, on the way, was Nasca Peru, home of the Inca Nasca Lines out in the desert. The tower is the cheap and ineffective way to see the lines. In order to really appreciate the Nasca lines you need to take a tiny single engine airplane trip to fly over the lines. We took a pass on doing something so risky…not in our nature to let others be in control.

On the road leaving Nasca we ran into two guys from Brazil making a tour around South America. I can tell you several towns are probable not the same after these two blow through. They were really having a good time. We rode with them for a while.

Another overnite stop was in this hotel fashioned after a Peruvian Ranch, complete with a cowboy greeter. It was a nice place and if you are in to fishing a nice place to spend some time at the river next to the property.

This truck belongs to a Swiss couple that are taking a year to explore the Americas. They were north bound so they provided a lot of information. They skipped Bolivia because they heard they would have trouble getting gas. Fortunately we didn't take their advice on that.

These decorate a lot of the building roofs in rural Peru. I could not understand the explaination whether they were religious or simple decorative.

They had a number of Llamas and deer in pens on the grounds. I was not sure if these were decorative or had some connection to the restaurant on the grounds. Seriously, they do serve Alpaca in the restaurants in Peru. I don't think they eat their Llamas.

The next city on the way to Machu Picchu is Cusco, the capital of the Inca Nation. We arrived in Cusco around 4PM in heavy traffic. Normally it is fairly obvious to find the center of town. That was not the case here. To compound our difficulties some of the streets just stop and turn into narrow walkways. One hostel assured us they had a space to park the motorcycles. When we asked to look at the space it was up 7 fairly steep steps. We finally found our way to the historic center of Cusco and found a hotel, Casa Grande, a block from the main plaza. It had two other important aspects. It had an easy to access court yard for the motorcycles and it was one block from the famous, at least among Norton owners, the Norton Rats Bar. Cusco is one of Peru’s show pieces and next to Machu Picchu probably it largest tourist draw. Much of the well maintained historic section of the city is highlighted by famous Inca walls. These are carefully cut stone walls that make interesting patterns. Cusco is a nice town but the constant intrusion of people wanting to sell you things you don't want is tiring. These ladies carry around their baby goats, llamas and their own children trying to get money for letting you take their picture. I don't have a problem with their industy but they can get a little to pushy.

Here is where we stayed.

We never saw the owners of these KLRs but latter met them in Bolivia.

Of course we had to stop by the world famous Norton Rat Bar on the main plaza to enjoy a burger and beer. The following evening we met Jeffery, the owner. Jeffery rode to Peru on a BMW GS 20 years ago, found Cusco and decided to stay. He actually has a Norton and about 4 years ago rode it to Ushuaia and back. Jeffery, not satisfied to just have a famous bar, is opening a hostel next to the bar and retreat on some remote property he owns in Northern Peru. If you are ever in Peru stop by and say hi to Jeffery. He is a gracious host and full of good local information but does not do disco.

Hanging Out In Lima With Good Friends

2009-02-09T21:51:00.007-05:00

Thanks to our good friend Nestor, from Lima, second from the right, we had a great time in his home town. Because of Nestor's hospitality, we have an impression of the city we would never get had we just wondered around the city on our own. The other new friend is Recardo, from Quito Ecuador. More on that later. We arrived in Lima early afternoon and found the Flying Dog Hostel in the Miraflora area that Nestor had arranged for us. What a nice place and a Starbucks right next door. Chris and I were in heaven.

Here are some shots around the Miraflora area.

The city had a number of sidewalk cafes that would rival Europe's best. Well that may be a slight exaggeration, but not by much.

On our first night in Lima Nestor picked us up, took us to dinner and a tour of Lima. It was at night so the pictures don't do the city justice. What impressed me was the amount of new development underway. The local government has a plan and they are executing it, from new transportation infrastructure to beautification projects. One area we walked around was a park, niteclub resturant area called something Mar. It was about 4 stories built into the side of a cliff overlooking the pacific. We were there at 11PM on a week night and it was crowded.

We also drove in to the downtown area and saw some of Lima's historical buildings under lights.

Here is the Flying Dog Hostel were we stayed. Its right across the street from Miraflora's main plaza. A view from its lounge area

Inside the lounge area. That is my new computer slowly uploading photos.

Another thing that made our stay in Lima great was Nestor turned us on to his motorcycle mechanic Tato. Nestor has a BMW R1200GS and with no BMW dealership in Lima Tato is a great resource. He took care of installing the knobbies we had shipped to Nestor. Tato also took care of some of our other maintenance issues. Tato's shop is well known in Lima. Its so well know there isn't even a sigh out front. You know you are there because you will see all of the motorcycles out front and its next door to a Honda dealership.

Yes, that is a Honda Transalp. The dealer next door had brand new Transalp.

And while Chris and I were hanging out who should show up but Guillermo, his Duaghter and Michael. They were headed south and Guillermo developed a problem with his rear shock so Tato also took care of him.

Tato's shop seems to attract a lot of KTMs big and small.

One of Nestor's friends, Ivan, came by the shop and gave us all kinds of good information on motorcycling to Ushuaia and going to Machu Picchu. He also told us to look out for one of his friends, Recardo, to show up at the shop later in the day. Ivan said we would not miss him, jestering that he was very tall and riding a 1150 Adventure loaded down. Well Recardo pulled in and I have to say he may be the tallest person in Ecuador. Recardo was making his way home after following the Dakar race in Chile and Argentina. I was envious. As it turned out I had heard about Recardo from the Horizons Unlimited Motorcycle Travel group. Eduardo was instrumental getting Ecuador change some of their policies to make it easier for foreigners to travel through Ecuador. In the picture below Recardo is talking to another BMW rider that lives in South America and Thailand.

Between talking to other motorcyclist and walking around the area, Chris and I found a food court in the nearby market where we enjoyed some more Ceviche (fresh fish marinated in lemon sauce).

Here is the owner of the food stall in pink. She was very proud of her eatery and seemed to be the big boss of that little corner of the market.

All in all we it was a productive and fun time in Lima. We got the motorcycles all fixed up for the next leg of the trip and met some people that reinforce how great the motocycle community can be around the world.

I also found another one of the multifloor computer markets. My mini mouse died on me and I easily forund one for about half what it cost me in the States. Bestbuys better hope this concept never catches on in the States. On to Machu Picchu next....

Northern Peru

2009-02-09T17:41:00.008-05:00

Our first night in Peru was in a town name Piura. It had a pleasant town center and plaza. We stayed at the Costabella. Interestingly named since we were not even close to the ocean. At the hotel was about 30 Peace Corp Volunteers and employees. Most had come down from their assigned mountain villages to watch the Superbowl...no, no, I mean for a regional meeting with the Lima staff. In the small world department, one of the volunteers went to high school with Chris's son. Once we left Piura it didn't take long for us to get into some serious deserts. A pleaseant surprise for us was we passed many of the famed Peru police and not one stopped us. In reseaching this trip I read a number of incidents about motorcyclist being stopped 4 and 5 times before reaching Lima. All we got were friendly waves or blank stares.

A big hazzard was in the small towns. The little taxis dart in and out with out warning or care about what's coming.

We reached the highly recommeded beach town of Huanchaco, Ecuador. It is just north of the large city Trujillo. We found a reasonably priced hotel on the beach. As Chris was inside checking in, a trio approached me an immeditely started talking about our motorcycles. It soon became clear they were the owners of the 2 motorcycles I saw parked in the hotel's court yard that prompted me to stop in the first place. They turned out to be an absolute delight to meet. Little did we know our paths would cross several times.

Meet Mike, Guillermo and his lovely daughter Patricia. They are from Brazil and were on a month long ride around South America. Guillermo is a world class traveler. He has riden his motorcycle through Europe, Africa and more. The astonishing thing about Guillermo, although he doesn't look it he is 75 years old. We spent some time together sharing stories. It was a challenge since their first language is Portuguese. You can find out more about Guillermo and his adventures at www.bebemo2003@yahoo.com.br .

Huanchaco is a clean, well run little beach resort town very popular with the surfers. The wicker things sticking up in the sand is a traditional surf boat the locals use for fishing.

Oh yeah, I do seem to vaguely recall something I said about rainly cold mountain days....

More Ecuador

2009-02-09T13:02:00.007-05:00

From Quito Ecuador we started our trek south to the border. The entire route was in the Andes mountains, so knocking down high miles per day was impossible. It did allow us to experience rural Ecuador and the breathtaking scenery. We spent nights in Riobamba, Cuenca and the little village of Catacocha before getting to the border. Here are some photos that can help tell the story.

Our mid day stops for lunch in the little mountain villages provided an up close look at how the locals live. This stop resulted in only a coke. They market their restuarants a little different than in the States.

This one was an absolute delight. When we went by it the window was filled with customers waiting for tables. We managed to get a seat with another guy. The choice was a set fish or meat lunch plate with beverage. We chose the meat. It was great and the price was a little over$2.00 USD each.

We also had a variety of road surfaces to deal with. Most, however were new concrete or asphalt...but not all.

At one point we got lost on a mountain road with very little traffic. After about 30 minutes we found guy parked on the side of the road. He confirmed the road did go to the next city. We discovered we found the old road to the city that went over the mountain instead of around it. Below is a picture of where the old road connects to the new road. Those are cars and trucks in the road to the right...not bugs.

We arrived in Riobamba in plenty of time to get checked in and walk around the city. The city is a working city so no tourist stuff or colonial buildings. I finally figured out this is a fireman's uniforms. Not sure about this guy, maybe Airforce?

This guy was willing to make us a new saddle while we waited.

This guy was deep in to his siesta so no haircut today.

The fresh fruit was tempting and we had to buy some. Next to the guy's head are some red bananas. In Riobamba we stayed at the aptly named Oasis Hostal with a little kitchen. So for breakfast we had a yogurt fruit salad and some of Latin America's favorite coffee.

Cuenca Ecuador is a large town with a well preserved historical center.

There are a lot of towns in South America named after this guy.

So that no one gets the impression our trip has been nothing but sunny beaches and refreshing mountain air, we have had our share of cold rain. This is the village of Catacocha Ecuador. It seems to be the vegetble and fruit market village for the region. The rainy picture below was taken at 7 AM Sunday morning. The entire downtown was full of fruit and vegetable sellers.

including bananas tumbling out of their doorways.

This is either a tiny pickup truck or some big bean stacks...Actually a lady at a market broke open one for us. It has a white flesh, similar to a pear surrounding the bean. It was tasty.

...big Chris or small hotel? This is the hotel we stayed in. It was easy to find since it was the only one in the village. The hotel owner also runs a pumbing shop and let us park the motos overnight with his pipes and such. It was on to the border about 60 miles away. During the ride we came across these interesting large green trees.

We ran into a problem trying to exit Ecuador. It seems we got a 60 day visa but only a 5 day import permit for the Motos. Unfortunately for us it was day 6 when we arrived at the border. The border guy initially checked us through in record time, maybe 10 minutes. I noticed he kept counting on his fingers and then put the dreaded hand up and asked us to wait. He eventually found the sixth finger on his other hand and called his boss to resolve our transgression. His boss was the border official from hell. He showed us the back of the import permit that specifies we owed 10% of the value of our motorcycles for an infraction. Long story short the boss's boss eventually shows up. He is a man of reason and compassion and tells us we can leave. This took over and hour to resolve. At least we could enjoy the monkeys in the trees while we waited. Getting in to Peru was painless.

Quito Ecuador

2009-02-08T22:08:00.005-05:00

Entering Quito was a initially chaotic, but we were able to find our lodgings, Hostel de Herbling, with surprising ease, or was it just dumb luck? As the name suggests, the hostel is a German- owned and operated facility, which enjoys a good reputation among frugal travelers in South America. We spent two days there catching up on chores and sightseeing in Quito’s Old Town.

Wonder where these tourist are from....

We stopped by the famous Quito Motorcycle hangout but they were not open for lunch.

Yes she is sending someone a text message.

The Casa Hebling was a perfect hang out.

Gaby, the receptionist went out of her way to mke all of the guest feel welcomed. A shot of the roof tops from hostels roof terrace.

Ecuador and into Summer

2009-02-08T21:31:00.005-05:00

We were in good spirits as we headed into Ecuador; the border crossing had been easy, and our next destination, the small city of Otavalo, was only a few hours away. We were also pleased with the realization that we were getting close to the equator.

Otavalo had been heartily recommended as a stopping point, owing largely to its undisputed charm and its famous market, which is huge on Saturdays. The city has a large indigenous population, and traditional dress is very prevalent. The men wear long, single pigtails, calf-length white pants, rope sandals, ponchos and dark felt hats. The women wear beautifully embroidered blouses, long black skirts and shawls and either interesting folded head clothes or small fedoras. Fortunately, we rolled into Otavalo early enough to enable us to get a good look at the city in the afternoon and evening. We checked into the Hotel Riviera-Sucre, and once again our motos were welcomed into the lobby. On following morning we went to explore the market. While we were there on a weekday, and thus missed the famous Saturday market, it was still a worthwhile experience. We were especially pleased to discover the sweetest variety of bananas, bananas rojas (red).

Of course I had to include a picture of two Danes in black sweaters

We departed Otavalo in late morning and headed to our next destination, Quito, the second largest city in Ecuador. However, our first priority was to find the equator, that point where our North-South GPS coordinates would be a line of zeros. We found that point both on the highway and later at the famous sundial where we took several photos of ourselves and our motos at the more “official” equator.

Riding out of Colombia

2009-02-08T19:58:00.001-05:00

The ride to Pasto went from very pleasant, to spectacular, to miserable in the final miles in a cold downpour. As we eventually made our way into the countryside, we passed through rolling hills and sweeping corners. It was a fine Sunday morning, and large groups on cyclists were out on their long Sunday ride. In the Tour de France, Colombian riders have historically been great climbers, and as our day wore on, the reason was clearly apparent. Once again, we were ascending into the bright green, steep mountains. We were reminded of the great temperature variations with altitude changes. When riding at 10,000 feet, the temperatures were in the 50s (F), but as we descended into the valleys, the temperatures climbed into the 90s, which naturally poses a dilemma as to what to wear. This proved more than academically interesting as we approached Pasto in the low 50s, and the skies opened up with rain. When we eventually found our lodgings for the night, we were cold, wet and definitely ready to dismount. The name of our hostel will remain unmentioned in keeping with Harry’s mother’s admonishment: “if you can’t say something nice….” The hostel neither had space for parking, nor had any arrangement with a nearby parking facility. Hence, we set out in search for a safe place to secure our bikes in the cold rain. After circling the blocks of one-way streets, we found a seemingly dubious looking gated parking lot where we apprehensively left our bikes, six blocks from our hostel. On the following morning, we were relieved to find our bikes as we left them, and I was gratified when the attendant, with a beaming smile, handed me my soaked gloves that I had left on the ground the night before as I was putting the cover on the bike. This was just one more instance of the helpful and friendly treatment we received from the people of Colombia.

Cali Colombia and beyond

2009-02-06T19:31:00.003-05:00

Since the trip to Cali was described to us as a ten-hour day, we left Bogota at 5:00AM in order to “beat the traffic.” We soon discovered that Bogota is inhabited by early risers, and due to the traffic and our navigational confusion, it took some time to get out of town. The riding for the first part of the trip was a trial by fire initiation to the ways of the road in Colombia. Passing large trucks between the sharp curves became an acquired skill, as we weaved our way through the slower heavy traffic. After a roadside breakfast, we soon started climbing into the mountains and the scenery went from mundane to spectacular. At higher altitudes the mountains became bright green and rugged with clouds above us and below us. It was a definite challenge maintaining the requisite concentration of pressing through the traffic between the switchbacks while being awestruck by the vistas. The description of the length of the trip proved true, and we arrived in Cali in the late afternoon, having covered a little more than 300 miles throughout the day. Fortunately, we found another pleasant place to stay, the Casa Blanca Hostel in a bustling neighborhood of Cali. After an outstanding dinner at a Peruvian restaurant, we were planning our next day’s ride to Pasto, our final stop in Colombia before crossing into Ecuador.

Have you seen many of these in your local gas station?

This little tike refused to smile for the camera dispite her mother and brother both carrying out all types of silly antics behind me.

As we approached Cali we stopped for gas and a little break. As Chris and I were standing around a guy rushes up and starts asking us all the normal questions. Soon he is on his mobile phone and within a few minutes his family shows up at the gas station. They were a delight to talk to and of course we all had to take a round of pictures.

Here is the Hostal where we stayed, the Casa Blanca. The owner Mike goes out of his way for people traveling on motorcycles. Its a nicely run hostel and we enjoyed the stay. Thanks Mike. Leaving Cali was harder than getting in to Cali. It seems Sundays are big food market days. We got stuck in the middle of it but enjoyed the sights.

The locals that lived up in the mountains would travel by bus from town and then have their goods packed up to the village by pack mules.

A lunch stop on the way to Posta for some famous Colombian Chicken and Potato soup. Seems they really didn't have chicken today. We were not sure what kind of meat was in the soup. The potatoes and broth were good.

While we were at the restaurant a Canadian couple pulled up on two 650 Dakar BMWs. They were north bound having circumnavigated the South American continent starting in Guyana. We were impressed. You can check out Brent and Carrie's story at http://www.aquest.ca/.

We got pulled over by the Colombian police. It turned out to be a bit of a love fest complete with exchanging names of popular Hip Hop artist. They, of course, won.

Enjoying A Day In Bogota

2009-02-01T19:02:00.007-05:00

Since we were unable to do the more pleasant things that we had contemplated, we agreed that we should stay another day in Bogota for the sightseeing activities. After a nice breakfast at one of the many small restaurants in the neighborhood, we set off on foot to the Simon Bolivar Square where many of the government buildings are located. When we arrived at the Square, we found that the Colombian Legislature was in session. The heightened security was plainly evident with the presence of many soldiers and the personal bodyguards of the legislators waiting for their charges to complete their business. We eventually found our way to the Museo del Oro and wandered through the numerous exhibits. After lunch we then went to the Museo de Botero (Fernando Botero, the contemporary Colombian artist probably best known for his corpulent animal and human figures). While we had discussed the idea of taking cabs to our sightseeing venues, we ended up walking throughout the day. By the end of the day, we realized that the hills and the altitude ( almost 9,000 feet) were taking its toll. Thus, we were pleased to be back at our hostel for our final night before we started the ride to Cali.

The Chandalaria (Old Bogota) area is filled with artist. Some of their street art is fairly whimsical.

The Palace Guards changing shifts. I think they were trying to figure out how to politely tell me to MOVE IT! so they could march off in formation. I would have been worried had I not noticed the yellow safeties in their rife's chambers.

One last observation about Bogota. I've heard others refer to Colombia as 2nd or 3rd World. Hard to imagine a 2nd World Country with dedicated Urban Bus Lanes and the infrastructure to support cars that have been converted to natural gas. I also saw a fair amount of pulic recyle containers.

Here and old Mazda converted to natural gas is being refueled where we were refueling the motorcycles. Yes this time I cropped the picture to focus on the refueling process not the car owner on the left.

A Day Solving Problems in Bogota

2009-02-01T18:31:00.007-05:00

Once back at the Amandamayi Hostel, we agreed that we definately wanted to stay yet another day in Bogota for more exploration, sightseeing around the Simon Bolivar Square, and a visit to the Museo del Oro (Museum of Gold). Unforeseen events, however, postponed these plans. First, the self-destruction of Harry’s new Dell mini-computer necessitated a search for a replacement. Second, the unpleasant discovery that I no longer possessed my moto-importation documents, which were necessary in order to leave Colombia, required a return to the shipping /holding company to obtain duplicates. Thus, our third day in Bogota was spent accomplishing these tasks. It must be said, however, that when we returned with the sad story of the missing documents, the officials, whom we had encountered two days before, could not have been more accommodating and friendly in solving the problem. As I was been assisted in obtaining duplicates, Harry was watching the bikes and practicing his Spanish in answering many inquiries about our trip. Likewise, when Harry was shopping for a new computer in a busy, upscale part of Bogota, I watched the illegally parked bikes and had numerous conversations with curious pedestrians about our planned destination. When Harry returned with his new computer, I was answering the good-natured but incredulous questions of several members of the Policia Nacional. One young cop laughingly concluded: “You americanos are crazy, but a good kind of crazy.” We supposed that this was a complement and politely bid our farewell.

I also spent the 3 hours looking at old cars and trucks while waiting for Chris. Colombia has a fair numer of modern cars and trucks as well as fair numer of interesting classics. I'm old and this truck was old when I was a kid.

Here is the amazing Bogota Computer Super Store. It consist of aout 70 shops al selling computers and parts. The prices are a little higher than in the US but no sales tax helps to reduce the difference plus you get a international warrently vs the US only when you buy in the US. The downside is the operating system is in Spanish.

Chris entertaining his new police friends while we parked illegally in front of the computer market. It was getting dark and I could not use a flash ecause of the police reflective vest would wash out the picture.

Autogermana BMW

2009-01-28T20:09:00.002-05:00

Our first order of business was to find the Bogota BMW dealership in order to get oil changes for the bikes and a new rear tire and possibly a new side case to replace the one that I had destroyed on the previous evening. After a brief telephone conversation with the shop’s service manager, Edgar Gomez, it became readily apparent that our hopes for success in this area would, in all likelihood, be realized. However, when we arrived at the new facility of Autogermana BMW, we found that our optimistic expectations were to be greatly exceeded; we were ushered into the new facility as if we were foreign dignitaries, offered coffee and chocolates, and seated in a nice office for Edgar Gomez to ascertain how he might fulfill our every service need. We were delighted to find that Edgar could have all of the work done while we waited, but we declined the enthusiastic offer to have our disgustingly dirty motos thoroughly cleaned due to time constraints. While our bikes were being serviced, Edgar offered to accompany us to a nearby restaurant for lunch. Harry and I had agreed that we had to pay for Edgar’s meal in light of the service experience, but when we sought the bill from the waitress, we discovered that Edgar had beat us to the punch, which left us shaking our heads in amazement. Once we were back at the shop, the service on our bikes was soon completed. After hearty handshakes, photos, and settling up, we were happily on our way with fresh oil and filters and a new rear tire and side case for my bike.

Most of the motorcycles at the dealership were various iterations of of the GS line old and new.

The dealership opened in this new location only two months ago and have quite an investment in motorcycle and accessory, excuse me, lifestyle products. We met Ralph who offerd us a lot of advise on Bogota and Colombia. A real friendly and outgoing person.

Magarita recommended a route on the way to and from the dealership. She said we would probable enjoy the scenery. What an understatement. Avenida Circunvalar cuts a park like twisty path just above the busy downtown area with spectacular views. Some fortunate souls get to drive the road twice a day to and from work.

Bogota...What a Beautiful and Welcoming First Impression

2009-01-28T19:30:00.005-05:00

Once we completed the customs and motorcycle importation process and then liberated our motos from their pallets at the shipping office, we set off into Bogota at dusk and in a heavy rain. While our original trip plan excluded Colombia due to security concerns, we were now headed into a huge metropolitan area at rush hour to find a hostel in the southeast part of the city that had been heartily recommended to Harry by a fellow adventure rider. After much circling around the general area of our destination in the dark rain and a minor mishap (I clipped an “invisible short post” with my side case and tumbled to the pavement), we eventually found our safe haven: the Anandamayi Hostel. Once again, we were warmly welcomed into a beautiful spot, and once again space was made in the inner courtyard for our motos. After getting situated and changing into dry clothes, the owner of the facility, Margarita, ordered a large Colombian dinner to be delivered, which we gladly shared with her and one of her staff members, Fany. We had indeed stumbled upon a wonderful experience. The Amandamayi Hostel was originally a lovely home dating back to the mid-1600s, which is located in the oldest part of Bogota, La Candelaria. On the following morning, we explored the enchanting neighborhood, had breakfast at an exceptionally pleasant French pastry shop, and heartily agreed that perhaps we shouldn’t rush off to our next destination, Cali, as we had originally planned. The wonderful Magarita. A view of Bogota's Mount Surrat from the Hostel,s rear gardens. A typical room.

A view of the city from in front of the Hostel.

Collecting Ourselves and the Motos in Bogota

2009-01-28T18:37:00.003-05:00

We arrived in Bogota and found the cargo and customs area within walking distance of the passenger airport. After some false stops at the DHL and Customs office, we got the process going. Unfortunately DHL released our motorcycles to a transfer holding company that was about a mile from customs. That was a problem. We were both a bit exhausted and with headaches from the high altitude and heat. The nice people in the customs office, sensing our problem, summoned a guy that would drive us over and back. Jorge Sanchez, started as just a driver but turned out to be a helper that actually provided a useful service because of his car. We gladly paid him for his services. We have his mobile if anyone needs it for their trip.

It was inauguration day back in the United States and to our surprise every TV was turned to the US coverage. Large crowd gathered around rivited to the TVs. There was a genuine excitement in the air but we had business to tend to and we could watch the coverage later.

At the holding company we had to pay an extra $60 USD to extract our motorcycles from the shipping dock. Once we settled all of the customs and shipping paperwork they brought our motorcycles to the edge of a shipping dock and asked us to pull our truck up so they can load them. They were dumbfounded when they realized we planned to uncrate them and ride them off. The next problem, of course, was no ramp. After some negotiating with the workers, the foreman organized sending a second forklift truck on a mile trip through the airport to the parking to lower the Motorcycles. One worry was the 80 degree list of one of the motorcycles on the pallet. Fortunately it stayed upright as the pallet almost broke apart from the lifting. Those extra shipping straps Mike gave us at Southwest BMW, were a trip saver. It was a real heart in mouth moment for everyone until the motorcycles reached the ground again.

After about 45 minutes to unstrap, reassemble, reload, refill the tires and get suited up, we were off to Bogota city proper. Phew! ...but the excitment was not over.

Surprise...We are Going to Colombia Next Not Ecuador

2009-01-28T18:02:00.003-05:00

On Saturday in Panama City we went out to the airport to organize shipping the motorcycles and us to South America. Once we got to the cargo area we found out all of the options, we thought we had, evaporated. No one was shipping to Quito Ecuador in December and January and Bogota Colombia was our only choice. So we took a timeout to discuss the merits of going to Colombia. Long story short, we decided the pain of stopping the trip, turning back and subjecting ourselves to Central American’s border torture made Colombia a better looking option. Not a hard decision after we discussed various approaches to additional safeguards while in Colombia. So we are going to Bogota. That conjures up all kinds of negative images. First we explored shipper options. We went to the most popular shipper, Girag. They told us the only sure option was to drop the motorcycles off in two hours for a Saturday departure. We looked around at the other options and of all things found DHL willing to ship our motorcycles for around the same price as Girag. They were very professional and told us we could ship any day we wanted. So we booked the motorcycles to ship out Monday and bought plan tickets to fly out Tuesday morning. Our plan was to arrive in Bogota early Tuesday, collect the motorcycles and head for Ecuador the next morning.

Saying goodbye to our motorcycles from the taxi.

Next ...to Bogota Colombia, collecting the Motorcycles and avoiding any of Escobar's buds, the FARC and the usual suspects.

Panama City ….Suddenly We Are In Big City Again

2009-01-28T11:35:00.006-05:00

I’ve always marveled at the pictures of the Bridge of The Americas that crosses over the Panama Canal and I guess divides Central America from South America. However, we don’t feel ready to declare that we made it to South America quite yet. I did have a sensation when, without warning we found us ascending to the Bridge of the Americas’ entrance. What a sight to look down and actually see where the Panama Canal leads out to the Pacific Ocean. The sensation was an absolute thrill. These bridge pictures we taken later as we crossed the thing multiple times trying to find the Mira Flora locks or by getting misdirected by an over enthusiastic traffic cop. This is looking towards the Canal.

An empty car hauler heading to the Pacific Ocean. Maybe it will bring back more Asian imports?

Part of the Panama Cityscape

After finally finding the BMW dealership we checked on a tire and getting the motorcycles serviced. No tire and come back Monday. We met Luis, the mechanic who was really helpful with getting us started on the shipping process. A local BMW rider, Juan Carlos was also very helpful including recommending a place to stay. I can’t say we were overwhelmed with the rest of the dealership’s treatment of us. We were mostly ignored and had to seek out assistance to buy some parts. Paying almost $25 USD for a $5.00 headlight bulb further dampened our enthusiasm for the place.

As we were looking for the BMW dealership we passed Panama Bikes. I recalled the owner, while running a Harley Chopper shop, rides a 1200 Adventure. We stopped in and talked to him. He had a tire but did not want to part with it on Saturday afternoon so we left. Maybe it was because it was late in the business day on Saturday but we certainly didn’t feel any desire to hang around and were not encouraged. We were genuinely interested in his business but it didn't seem to matter. He did ask us to put a note in an “Advrider” note book. We did and then unceremoniously departed.

Our hotel was clean but a little pricy for what we got. It did have the all important place to park.

We met a couple from Germany traveling from Texas to Argentina in a tricked out CJ. Dirk and his lovely wife Lieve both ride GSs and have traveled extensively on them. This time they decided to try something different. You can follow their travels at http://www.latinotrails.com/ .

Of course we could not miss a trip out to the Canal. It was the highlight of our visit to Panama.

I know some have been disappointed or underwhelmed with seeing the actual canal. I was impressed. Had it been built in the last 20 years I would not be moved either. I was moved when I thought about when it was built, the level of thought that was put into the design and the enduring image of American ingenuity. We watched a couple of ships go through the process and headed back to the city.

The officials at the Canal announced proudly that they had secured all of the financing to build the new canal. I didn't know it was a definite project but I guess time wwill tell. The plan is to build it just beyond the little hill with the building on the summit. The new Canel will handle the modern super tankers that now have to make the long trip around the continent.

On the way out of the Canal area we passed some of the old houses where the US workers lived while building the Canal. These were described in David McCoullough's excellent book on the Canal. On the way back to the city we went out to Amar a series of small islands connected to the mainland by a treelined causeway. The area is full of restaurants and tourist shops. It was a fun area with great views of the downtown skyline, anchored yachts, cargo and cruise ships. We found a nice restaurant to have diner and enjoy the views.

It was a nice way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. Next.....getting us and the Motos to South America.

David Panama...a real working city

2009-01-28T10:06:00.003-05:00

It was a reasonably cool day and the road along the Pacific coast was smooth with great sweeping corners. As with the prior day, we often sped by coconut plantations where palm oil is made.

Here is the actual Palm Oil source. When you ride by one of the processing factories it smells just like standing at a movie theater's popcorn consession.

We made it to the Panama border in the late morning with that now familiar sinking feeling of anticipation of things to come. We were somewhat pleased when we were once riding again in less than two hours of the same routine. It would appear that four hours of the process make two hours look pretty good, even lucky.

The above view seems to be that reocurring blue and grey tint nightmare. Below we found some familiar stickers of fellow travelers.

We made friends with some more Mexican GS riders touring the length of Central America. They were fun to talk to and compare notes. They also gave us one of their trip stickers. we gave them a card with our blog address but it seemed like an unequal exchange. Maybe we should get stickers next time....or maybe not.

A little cultural exchange with a policeman and his radar gun. Fortunately he let us go on our way with a warning and a hundred questions about our trip.

We decided to end the day’s riding fairly early, as there appeared to be no good stopping points between David, Panama and Panama City, where we intend to make travel arrangements for ourselves and our motos to South America to resume the trip. David proved to be interesting in the sense that it is the first stop since Chinandega, Nicaragua, that has not been a tourist destination, with all of the attendant touristy shops, etc. There was something refreshing in seeing people simply leading their lives, working, shopping and going to the town square to listen to a band play Panamanian music.

Next stop...Panama City and figuring out how to get the motos into South America.

Playa Dominical Costa Rica

2009-01-27T22:22:00.005-05:00

Our goal was to get to the south coast of Costa Rica near the Panama border. After a couple hundred miles of mostly great roads, we ended up in Playa Dominical at a hotel on the ocean just south of the town. The last 30 miles of the ride, however, were on an extremely rough and dusty gravel road that put the large GS Adventures (and the plugged tire) to the test. While everything passed this test nicely, we were not a pretty sight when we set about to find accommodations, being hot and sweaty and thoroughly covered with a thick layer of dust and dirt. Fortunately, our money was clean.

The hotel's open resturant lounge are had a great view of a little cove and the Pacific Ocean.

We enjoyed a, rare for us, Pacific Ocean sunset. The locals also seemed to enjoy the sunset.

Next..Panama here we come.

Tamarindo, Costa Rica

2009-01-27T21:38:00.008-05:00

With my rear tire still holding air, we sped out to Granada after a quick breakfast at the hotel. Our destination was Tamarindo, Costa Rica, but that, of course, necessitated another odious border crossing. Once again, the process was frustrating, hot and lengthy (about four hours), largely due to the understaffing on the Costa Rican side. I was anxious to get to Tamarindo because I had spent four weeks there in 2008 at the Coastal Spanish Institute in a dual-study program: Spanish and surfing. My former surfing instructor, Alex Hazell , had made reservations for us in Tamarindo and had invited me for an afternoon of surfing on the following day while Harry roamed the town. Our two-day stay in Tamarindo was a welcome time, of relaxation, albeit a short one. Tamarindo is a famous beach community on the northern coast of Costa Rica. Although the town is quickly becoming overly developed, the beaches and surfing are superb. It was great to see the school staff again and to get out on the waves for a couple of hours with my persistently helpful surfing instructor. At the border we meet two new friends from Mexico. They were traveling from Mexico to Panama and back. One had a 1150 GS and the other had a 1200 GSA like ours. Talking with them helped pass the time away at the border.

They gave us smaller versions of their trip sticker

Downtown Tamarindo.

If you are interested in an old FJs there are tons of them in Costa Rica in all versions.

Alex, the surfing instructor and his lovely wife Larkin.

Alex organized a really nice hotel for us to stay in at a great price for a resort town.

Next stop....Dominical Costa Rica.

Granada Nicaragua ...with a small delay getting there

2009-01-27T20:55:00.008-05:00

The next morning Chris plugged his tire in the hotel lot. He used a stop n go mushroom plug. After fixing the tire and feeding both motos about ½ quart of oil, we head on to Granada Nicaragua. In order to avoid the major Nicaragua city of Managua we had to take a little used and maintained route. Sure enough Chris hit one of the uglier potholes and blew that plug right out. So in 95 degrees, no shade trees, dusty road Nicaragua CA 3, we replace the plug. This time we used a traditional string plug and glue. While we were working on the tire a young man, no more than 16 years old, approached us. We could see he was not doing well in the hot sun. He asked if we could share some of our water which of course we did. Eventually we made it to better pavement and the road to Granada got interesting.

Granada will not be replacing Antigua as the favorite city but it is a strong competitor. The city sits on Lake Nicaragua which must be about the size of lake Erie. Lake Nicaragua is connected to the Caribbean Sea so Granada had a substantial port in colonial times. Granada is Central America’s oldest colonial city founded in the early 1500s. Similar to Antigua, Granada also got destroyed several times but by angry Europeans wanting to take control and or wipe it off the map.

Our Hotel. It was nice and cheap.

With a place for the motos.

We won’t be forgetting those two days anytime soon. I think both Chris and I were ready to hit the pause button for a bit. We did just that next in Costa Rica and it was enjoyable.

Our Longest Day ... so far

2009-01-27T20:15:00.002-05:00

It was fortuitous we got on the road early. It was a short ride to the El Salvador – Honduras Frontier. It was Saturday and everyone says don’t cross boarders on weekends because of the “home for the weekend” traffic. To add to the poor planning Honduras has the reputation for being the most challenging boarder process to navigate. When we arrived at the border we found long lines and to add to the stress it was Saturday and the banks at the boarder close at Noon. If we had followed our original plan to stroll the beach and eat we would have been really screwed. You don’t want to spend the night at a boarder, excuse me, Frontier. Hum, Maybe that’s why they call it that. It does remind me of the street shots used in the HBO Deadwood town series. All you see is a flurry of activity in the streets that only to a local does it makes any sense and order.

As you enter some Frontiers you have to literally hit your pause button, scan the area attempting to separate official administrative buildings from commerce establishments. You also have to discern officials from the people trying to make money from the tourist. It doesn’t help that a number of people standing around wear some type of badge to look official even if they are not.

Back to the story of one long day and empty stomachs. So to compound our poor planning we did what I would not recommend to anyone. We didn’t want to spend the night in Honduras because of its reputation. So we planned to processed out of El Salvador, processed into Honduras, ride across the southern tip of Honduras, about 75 miles, processed out of Honduras and in to Nicaragua. Did you follow that? So what happen? Getting out of El Salvador and into Honduras took about 3 hours. And yes we got through and in to Honduras without using any helpers. On the road I decided to not take any of my normal landscape road pictures. If you can’t shoot/say any thing nice… On the road we added another headache to our hunger. While in Honduras we ran into a 2 mile traffic backup on a narrow two lane highway. We found that a serious accident was blocking the entire highway. After waiting about one hour in the hot sun, we managed to squeeze our motos through the traffic maze, across the police tape and got on our way. The police and rescurers were distracted trying to use a front loader to separate the remains of a small pickup truck from a bus. The headaches were not over. We spent another 3 hours at the Honduras Nicaraguan border in sweltering weather. Once through the borders we had maybe 3 hours of sunlight left to make it to Leon Nicaragua. So we continue with no time to stop for food. I never did agree with Michael Douglass’s famous line “lunch is for wimps”. I did have a few energy bars stuffed in my side case. The heat had deformed them to an almost unrecognizable little mass but they hit the spot for both of us. We also were grateful that we both had about a liter of water. That was a major lesson to not get caught on the road without water.

So what was the final headache? Chris picked up a nail in his rear tire. Of course we were in the middle of nowhere. We managed to get to the next town, Chinandega, Nicaragua just as it was getting dark. We left the nail in the tire and put enough air into the tire to limp over to the hotel we found. The hotel we found a comfortable hotel owed by a Nicaraguan that returned from living in the States, so the longest day had a pleasant ending.

Onto El Salvador

2009-01-17T19:52:00.005-05:00

We left the lovely city of Antigua, Guatemala on a cool morning on January 9th and proceeded down to near sea level on a beautiful, windy new road to CA1. As we descended, the temperature climbed from 60F to 93F in short order.

Again, we were approaching the dreaded frontier process, this time between Guatemala and El Salvador. While the Guatemala side was all too familiar (countless aggressive “helpers,” money changers and others milling about, either in training to become “helpers” or money changers or just waiting around for something interesting to happen), the El Salvador side was refreshingly business-like and efficient with the use of helpers officially strongly discouraged. Nevertheless, the process took a couple of hours in 95-degree heat.

Once underway again our spirits improved quickly as we rode along the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Although we were only a few miles from the ocean in our last day in Mexico, we had never actually seen it. At this juncture, our riding priority was to stay along the coast and to bypass the unpleasantness of San Salvador at all costs.

Our goal was to get settled into a hotel as close to the Honduras border as possible well before dark. However, unforeseen delays, unmarked roads and an overly-optimistic plan for the day caused us to violate one of the cardinal rules of the trip: we were still looking for a hotel in the pitch dark in purportedly the most dangerous country in Central America. We finally found refuge in a small beach community, El Cuco, in the southeast corner of El Salvador. In light of the fact that both we and our motos were safe for the night, it mattered little that the “resort” was a bit shabby and overpriced.

The food at the hotel's restaurant was good. Because of the long ride, the stress of arriving in the dark and the border crossing we decided to reward ourselves with a Banana Split. The kind waiter not wanting to disappoint us brought out an Apple Split. Maybe they didn't have fresh bananas in El Salvadore. Apples are likely imported and very expensive. The new found type of split was good.

On the following morning, we ventured out onto the beach behind our temporary digs and discovered that the place was also used as a fishing operation, as there were large tables of drying fish and vultures wandering around in the sand looking for treats. We also discovered that there was a power failure in the entire El Cuco community, so we set off without coffee or breakfast on what was to be the most difficult day of the trip so far.

Antigua Guatemala - The Colonial Era Capital

2009-01-17T16:26:00.003-05:00

The next day we made it in to our next new favorite city Antigua, Guatemala which was surrounded by volcanoes. The road to Antigua was under construction but motos get preference. We were expected to go to the front of the stopped traffic and in some cases sent on through the construction site. The bus and truck drivers would frantically wave you ahead if you didn’t move to the front. Interesting how close you can get to a big front loader as it is digging in to the mountain side. And of course the views were spectacular. We thought sporting riding would be over once we left Mexico. Guatemala was just as much fun in the mountains. On the way to Antigua we passed the turn off for Xela (aka Quetzaltenago) where my wife, oldest daughter and I spent several weeks learning Spanish. Brought back memories of a 6 hour bus ride to Guate City. I think that will be my wife's last bus trip through mountains.

We reached Antigua early enough to walk around the city. Antigua was the colonial era capital of Guatemala. Its no surprise the Europeans chose the spot. The surrounding volcanoes and the mountain climate made it a perfect location. That is until they discovered those pesky earthquakes required a continuous urban renewal program. Some of the half destroyed Cathedrals build in the 1500s, make the city …like eye candy for history buffs.

She is not scratching her ear she is talking on her mobile.

The hotel where we satyed the night was inexpensive for a tourist town and very comfortable.

Next stop...El Salvadore.

Yes...We Are In Cental America

2009-01-15T22:26:00.004-05:00

Did that volcano just belch in front of me?

Our first stop for the night was Huehuetenago Guatemala

The town was not much to look at but the hotel was a delight…and cheap. We stayed at the Zaculeu hotel a block passed the square.

The next morning we swallowed hard and asked the hotel front desk how to get out of town. The hotel had one of their employees hop on his 125 and lead out of the city maze to the highway.

We made it in to our next new favorite city Antigua, Guatemala which was surrounded by volcanoes.

Central America Border Crossings...phew...

2009-01-15T21:55:00.004-05:00

From San Cristobal we headed to Guatemala for our first Central American boarder crossing. The boarder crossing process varies from country to country but they all follow a consistent four step pattern. Export the body (Immigrations) Export the Moto (Customs) Import the body Import the Moto. In Central America the borders are romantically called the “Frontier” or Fronterizo in Spanish. But there is nothing romantic or pleasant about them. The locals have discovered they can make money off of people from other parts of the world by helping them through the process. Most are unintentionally rude in their approach. They have to play on your fears and compete against the other helpers for your attention. Consequently, in 90 degree heat, a confusing mix of official and commercial activity and the drone of noises, they can get their victims to give in.

After doing a lot of research on boarder crossings, we decided we would run the entire Central American gauntlet without relying on helpers.

Getting out of Mexico, steps 1 and 2, was painless. We overlooked the need to stop at a bank in Mexico to pay the $25 USD visa fee. We were able to easily do it a the Banjicito Bank at the boarder. We also went to the office next door to cancel the $400 bond place on our credit cards. That was to reimburse the Mexican government if we later sold the motos in Mexico. We also got our passport exit stamp. In to Guatemala was step 3 and 4. It took a while because of the long lines, but we got through the process without using any helpers.

..and yes they make you pay for fummigating your vehicle as you enter the new country so you can't import the other countries nasties. Then it was off to Huehuetenago Guatemala for the night.

San Cristobal Mexico

2009-01-12T08:44:00.005-05:00

San Cristobal is a curious mixture of the pre-Columbian indigenous people and the remnants of the old colonial. It is not at pretty as Oaxaca but more culturally interesting. Here are some shots from around the city.

Chris and I got separated when I went to find a hotel. I sat on a bench in the park while my moto socialized with some of the locals. Shortly after I took this picture my motorcycle was swarming with police. I found they were just curious about it.

The town attracts a lot of European's.

..and GSs. We saw 4 all registered in the state of Chiapas.

Some of the local women wore these interesting skirts. They looked like they weigh 10 pounds and were hairy looking.

We are well in to January and the Christmas celebrations continue on the Parque. They were giving away these large Christmas Bread cakes to the kids.

We found a hotel several blocks from the Parque at a good rate and secure parking but no internet and the rooms were a little small for two 6 feet plus guys.

This was on the Municipal City Building on the Parque. The EZLN is the revolutionary party that was fighting for separation at one time but seems to have lost its momentum. Note the Palestine bit. Saw that in Oaxaca also.

Interesting, at least to me, are the number of young people, pictured on the right that are attracted to the area’s contemporary revolutionary, land reform views of the people on the left. Sort of feels like the a throw back to the 60's. I didn't notice a lot of mixing and talking with each other. It was interesting to read that the latest leader of the EZLN got on a motorcycle and road around the State trying to revive the cause. Is there some symbolism there? They even sale EZLN T-Shirts to the tourist. What would Che think? Who knows. I,m just an outsider looking in from afar.....

There is a nite scene in town. But Chris and I found a dinner place with wi fi so we hung out checking e-mail, Skype etc.

The Road to San Cristobal Mexico

2009-01-11T21:03:00.002-05:00

Finally, I have time to try and get us caught up. Since I’m a slow typer I’ll do it mostly with pictures. We left Oaxaca and headed to another great Southern Mexican city of San Cristobal in the state of Chiapas, Mexico.

Part of the ride was through a high desert. Lots of shades of brown.

The scenery is great but you have to keep an eye on the road.

On the way to San Cristobal we stayed in a little town called Juchitan. The town wasn’t much but the hotel was very comfortable, secure and best of all cheap…like $25 with wi fi for us and secure parking for the motos. We were determined not to get lost getting out of town. Asking the hotel clerk for directions is an amazing discovery for two hombres that don’t like to ask for directions.

Laundry time.

The road to San Cristobal was another enjoyable experience for sport riding. And yes we got a little lost on the way out of town but we are getting better at it.

I got reprimanded for taking this picture but I was glade they werte there.

The Mexican state of Chiapas, you may recall, tried to succeed from Mexico several years ago and was the location of some fairly violent army conflicts with locals. Things are much calmer now except a little dust up with the teachers that brought back the Army in 2007. Because of the years of separation from the rest of Mexico it feels a lot more like Guatemala and is culturally very interesting. San Cristobal is a curious mixture of the pre-Columbian indigenous people and the remnants of the old colonial. It is not at pretty as Oaxaca but more culturally interesting. Next I’ll post some pictures from the city.

Oaxaca

2009-01-04T15:48:00.004-05:00

When we rolled into Oaxaca, we were definitely ready to dismount. Again, we were fortunate to find a place to stay near the zocalo, a charming older hotel going slightly to seed. The best part of this place is that they welcomed both us and our motos into the hotel. It must be said that our R1200GSAs look rather elegant parked in what must have been the dining area of a nice hotel in its better years. After a brief exploration of the city, we determined that Oaxaca definitely warranted an extra day.

The Road to Oaxaca

2009-01-03T22:58:00.005-05:00

Initially, the way to Oaxaca was uneventful: more high speed and expensive toll roads. However, the nature of the ride changed dramatically after lunch when we headed up into the mountains on Rt. 175. After a stop at a banana stand, we were headed up a road of endless switchbacks and climbed from an altitude of 200’ above sea level to about 9600’, with a temperature drop from 83F to 52F and a change in vegetation from rain forest to alpine. The corners sharp and endless and made us snicker about the much-ballyhooed Deal’s Gap. After more than three hours of flipping our bikes back and forth at a foolishly brisk pace, the idea of the toll road was regaining its charm….not really. The level of concentration required was reminiscent of Grattan with the added excitement of passing cars between the corners, dodging oncoming traffic and swerving away from the occasional cow or dog.

On to Veracruz

2009-01-03T17:36:00.004-05:00

We left Tampico in a deep fog in the morning of New Year’s Day, and after eventually finding our way out of town, we were on our way south again along the coastal highway. As we proceeded south, the vegetation became increasingly lush, and sugar cane fields and orange groves came to replace the arid expanse of the north. We stopped at Tuxpan for lunch and then continued on along the coast. The riding was at times heavenly with its winding roads through the greenery, but often turned hellish with the sudden appearance of reductores de velocidad (speed bumps) and vibradores (corrugated pavement that put the rumble into rumble strips). Eventually, we became accustomed to the local method of attaining speed-limit compliance and developed sharp eyes for those nasty obstructions that could launch us over the bars.

We arrived in Veracruz at dusk, which was later than we would have liked, as we were clueless about the city and anxious about finding a hotel on a holiday weekend. Luck prevailed, and after riding around the busy streets, we found a nice new hotel off the beach. Veracruz is an ancient port with an interesting history, but out desire to cross the mountains in the ride to Oaxaca prompted us to leave the possibility of further investigation behind.

Into Mexico

2009-01-01T20:58:00.013-05:00

It’s hard to believe that today was only the fifth day of a long trip. We have traveled about 2200 miles from snowy Michigan to warm and sunny Mexico. At 7:30 this morning we left Brownsville, Texas, and entered Mexican customs, with both excitement and a little trepidation (Cormac McCarthy’s “crossing” was a recurring thought with all of its dark and ominous connotations). However, after some fumbling about, things went smoothly, and we were happily on our way in about 45 minutes. It’s noteworthy that both border cities, Brownsville and Matamoros, were a pleasant surprise; both seemed thriving and clean. Our destination today was Tampico, which is on Gulf and about a 320 mile ride. On the way we sped along on two-lane roads through the countryside. Actually, most of the roads had two full lanes and small get-out-of-my way lanes to the right where people pull over when being overtaken. It’s a sensible system once you get used to constantly looking at the rearview mirrors, as most of the drivers here ignore the 100K or 110K limits. We started the trip with the best of intentions regarding local speed limits, but the ride became increasingly “sporty,” as we got a better feel for the situation. As with the north shore of the greatest lake, most of the enforcement seemed to like to stay close to home, in the towns. However, the war on drugs was evident in the form of trucks full of soldiers wearing balaclavas and cradling M-16s, the sight of which was both reassuring and disconcerting. We stopped for quick lunch of tacos de bistek ranchero, which we captured in the photos below. Another noteworthy event was crossing the tropic of cancer in the early afternoon . We arrived at the outskirts of Tampico well ahead of schedule and checked into a plush Best Western in full recognition of the fact that this place will surely not be the norm during our travels. Our curiosity about the bright lights of Tampico overpowered our better judgment, and into the morass of the city we went por motocicleta. After negotiating the dangers of the furiously busy narrow streets, we finally found a restaurant for dinner, carne asada for both of us. All in all, the foray into the city in the evening provided a clear reminder of the need to exercise better risk management skills in the future. Tomorrow we head south along the Gulf coast and hope to stop at a much smaller town just north of Veracruz.

We Are On The Road

2008-12-28T22:23:00.005-05:00

We got out of Michigan on Saturday. We could not have asked for a better Christmas present than the 50 degree weather. After getting a nice send off from my family I cautiously rode an hour in thick fog to meet up with Chris. The big surprise for me was finding that 3 of our friends got up early Saturday and drove 40 miles to give Chris and I a send off. Thank you Jim, Ruth and John. We had 2 hard days riding to beat the bad weather. End of day 2 has us in Covington LA somewhere between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. We had hard rain for the last 4 hours of today's ride so its good to be in a nice warm hotel rather than a tent. Tomorrow we will head off to Houston. I have some family to visit and will drag Chris along. By Wednesday morning we plan to cross over in to Mexico ...and officially start the Latin Trip. Below is a picture of Chris's moto after last weeks snow storm, patiently waiting for the departure.

The Motorcycles and Preparation

2008-12-19T10:44:00.007-05:00

Here is a little about the motorcycles and preparation. Chris and I have identical Motorcycles down to the color and year. It wasn’t planned for us to look like twins rolling down the highway. We had mutual friends but didn’t know each other when we separately purchased our motorcycles from John Horner at BMW Motorcycles of Southeast Michigan.

For my preferences, the BMW GS Adventure comes almost complete for these types of journeys. It’s a little heavy (subtle sarcasm) and tall but makes a decent compromise between on and off road handling for long distance traveling. Here are some shots of what was done to prepare the motorcycles. The Adventure and standard GS come with adequate off road protection. The exception is the need to add a little more protection to the headlight, radiator and those expensive titanium protruding cylinder heads. The latter got more protection from Adventure Design’s well thought out Engine Guard Extension bars. Additional lights, front and rear, were added to help others see us.

Working out a tire plan took some effort. We decided to start with a fresh set of street bias tires but switch to knobbies when we get to Peru, where we expect to do some serious dirt roads high in the Andes. Problem is they don’t sell the size knobbies to fit our motorcycles in northern South America. So we will be shipping tires from the US to a friend in Lima, Peru. Interesting enough the good old US Postal Service was by far cheaper than the UPS, DHL privateers. However, the tires haven’t arrived yet, so ….

Packing is another time consuming logistical challenge. The strategy is to get everything in two lockable side cases and a tank bag. The rear top case will stay mostly empty so that the tank bag can get locked up during restaurant stops in sketchy areas. Here is the obligatory picture of my gear spread out before getting stuffed in the cases.

Between Chris and I we have some of the same branded gear and some different. At the end of the trip we will likely do some type of product evaluation on our selection of “stuff”. -Harry

A Little Background

2008-12-18T19:37:00.014-05:00

It was closing in on midnight, I was on the Glen Highway heading to Alaska's gigantic Wrangell-St Elias National Park. For the last hour I was enjoying views of the park’s mountain ranges. Suddenly I came on a spectacular and imposing view of the mountains. The midnight sun, location, illuminated snow caps together made a dramatic scene. Stopped in the middle of the deserted road, staring at the mountain, I began to suspect this Alaska trip was not going to be my last long distance motorcycle trip. There was “more to see” while on two wheels. The picture at the beginning of this blog is the view I saw that night on the deserted Alaskan highway. So it is befitting because it led to taking this latest journey.

In 2007 I decided to do what I was admiring others doing. I completed a 13,700 mile motorcycle trip from Michigan to Deadhorse, Alaska and Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada, both on the Arctic Ocean. The Google Earth globe shows the route. If you want to read about the Alaska trip, visit this site. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=250239&highlight=h-jay.

After arriving home I was certain another trip was going to happen. Its something about learning new skills, testing your abilities against the unknown and doing something out of the ordinary that involve a certain amount of risk. By August I decided South America was the next destination. Eventually a route evolved from some "must sees" recommendations. They included the tip of South America's legendary Tierra del Fuego ending in the famous town of Ushuaia, Argentina. I also added the Ruta 40 through the wild Patagonia landscape, 16,000 feet passes in the Andes, Machu Picchu ruins, the Salar de Uyuni salt flats and maybe the “Road of Death” in Bolivia.

Thanks looking in. I hope you enjoy MO 2 C in Latin America with us. - Harry

BMW Motorcycles Southeast Michigan Open House

2008-12-07T10:57:00.015-05:00

Well the trip preparation continues as we approach the departure date. This weekend was BMW Motorcycles of Southeast Michigan holiday party. Chris, on the right in the picture and I were part of the entertainment. We answered a lot of questions about our motorcycles, maps and the newly discovered travel tool … the globe positioning device that needs no batteries. Anyway, we both had fun talking to our friends and other customers about our up coming trip. I remain overwhelmed by the enthusiasm a lot of people have around this trip. I can honestly say I’m starting to fill some pressure to not disappoint them. Here are some more pictures taken during the day.

Global Fund For Children

2008-11-11T21:51:00.008-05:00

While we are packing, preparing and waiting to part, here is a little commercial for the Global Fund for Children. We support the Global Fund for Children and hope to visit some of the activities they support as we motor through South America.

The Global Fund for children is a non-profit organization that is doing amazing work with “at risk” children around the world, including Latin America. We are using our little adventure to bring more attention to this organization and the work they are doing.

So what do they do? Global Fund for Children raises money and makes small grants to existing organizations that are working with children. They are located in Washington DC but have staff members located around the world. The money they raise goes a long way because of their grant selection process and administrative efficiency. Here a link. http://www.globalfundforchildren.org/ If you prefer to listen rather than read about the organization check this out. Small Amounts Reap Big Rewards:Maya Ajmera's interview on NPR Listen to the interview on NPR's site .

From the Global Fund for Children's 2006-2007 Annual Report: Our Vision, Our Mission At The Global Fund for Children, we envision a world where all children grow up to be productive, caring citizens of a global society. To this end, we work to advance the dignity of children worldwide. We Pursue Our Mission By: Making small grants to innovative community-based organizations working with many of the world’s most vulnerable young people Harnessing the power of children’s books, films, and documentary photography to promote global understanding.

In summary, they effectively use donated money to address an important issue around the world...preparing our children for their future. Because of this, we chose to feature them on our travels. Check them out and consider a generous donation. Tell'em Harry and Chris sent you….

See What We Will See

2008-11-05T12:19:00.013-05:00

Here is a 3 minute BMW Motorrad promo shot in Bolivia. It gives you an idea of the riding experience in the Andes. -Harry ">

Planned Route - South America

2008-11-03T21:28:00.011-05:00

Here is the planned route from Quito Ecuador to Buenos Aires. We plan to fly the motos and us home from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The route will likely change but as we progress you can hopefully stay oriented using this planning map. -Harry View Larger Map'>http:// View Larger Map

Planned Route - Flying the Gap

2008-11-03T19:45:00.013-05:00

In Panama City we have to pack up the motos and ship them in to South America. Why? The road south stops just past Panama City. There is an 80 mile stretch of the Panamanian isthmus that is thick jungle. It is called the Darien Gap. The jungle stymied the builders of the Pan-American Highway. The highway builders planned to come back and finish it later but never got around to it. In later years the enthusiam for a the highway diminished. Now the jungle is occupied by the FARC guerillas, after being run out of Colombia by the goverment. We will fly the motos and us to Quito Ecuador. -Harry View Larger Map'>http:// View Larger Map

Planned Route - Mexico and Central America

2008-11-03T19:31:00.007-05:00

Here is our planned route from the Mexican boarder to Panama City, Panama.

These maps are interactive. You can expand, grab, move them around to see more detail.... go ahead and try...you won't hurt anything. -Harry

View Larger Map'>http:// View Larger Map

The Trip Plan

2008-10-31T10:25:00.008-04:00

So Whats The Plan? We've been inspired by others so maybe we can inspire some others to pack it up, throw a leg over the seat and just go.

Our plan is for the two of us to head south right after Christmas, 2008. We are planning to take three to four months, traveling through Mexico, Central America and fly over the Darien Gap in to South America. In South America, we will continue south to the southern most city in the western hemisphere, Ushuaia, Argentina on the island of Tierra del Fuego. We will then turn north and go 1900 miles up the east coast to Buenos Aires, Argentina. In Buenos Aires, we will likely take a little vacation, before flying the motorcycles and us home in time for an early spring in Michigan. All in, the trip should be about 15,000 miles. Along the way, we plan to visit some great sights, such as, Peru’s Machu Picchu ruins, the Bolivian Salt Flats and Argentina’s Lakes District. We will also travel some legendary roads like the Carretera Austral (Southern Highway) in Chile and the famous Ruta 40 that travels through Argentina’s Patagonia region where BMW filmed their 2004 GS New Model Introduction publicity shots. -Harry