Well, I actually found something to write here. Actually, just a link to a nice moto video from a friend on Vimeo.

Andes Moto from Romain de l'Ecotais on Vimeo.

This is quoted by Anthony Bourdain in his No Reservations Peru episode. As far as I can tell it is only attributed to a unnamed prophet. However, I do know that Eric Burdon and the Animals sang “We Gotta Get Out of this Place” and that is how and am feeling as I am approaching one year back home.

The trip was now over for all practical purposes. I was just finalizing some things before flying home. I couldn’t make it home in time for Mother’s Day but I was adopted by a nice Venezuelan family.


The lunches dinners and parties didn’t stop till I got to the airport.

My last night, brother Ruben threw a great party where one of his friend’s showed off his many talents including playing multiple instruments and telling endless jokes. He was from Margarita Island where they talk so fast I stopped trying to understand anything he said. Still, just watching him perform was a blast.




Finally, the day came when I had to say goodbye, or rather, hasta la luego, because this would not be the end our friendship. Ruben and his wife treated me like family and made the end of my trip perfect. It ended with the best thing that impressed me most during my two year trip. The generosity of strangers and how quickly people can love each other when they are open to the possibilities.



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I will soon write a post summarizing the trip with links to certain stories that people only now visiting this site may not find easily. If you are one of these people, for now, I urge you to look at my Peru, Bolivia*, Argentina, and Chile stories.

I didn’t expect much from Ushuaia. Initially, I didn’t even plan on going all the way down. It is a long difficult ride down and then back up just for a photo. However, I am glad I did it. Perhaps some of the most difficult riding but very rewarding. I arrived at the end of Route 3 for the photo alone– alone, no tourists, no other riders. I unceremoniously positioned the bike and considered how to take a photo of myself. Then, the buses I had passed on the way in started arriving and the tourists started walking over. A group of people came over and took my picture and turned out to be a group of ‘paisas’ from Medellin, Colombia. One of them was a rider who knew some of my Medellin friends. Later, an Argentina guy I befriended in the hostel came over from the group of tourists and congratulated me and took more photos. He had watched me loose my cool as I tried to fix the motorcycle at the hostel, fearing that I needed major repairs less than 50 kilometers to the end of the road. It was a fitting ‘ending’. I was alone, as usual, but somehow friends or friendly strangers appeared.

The trip has not changed me, really. People have told me I am not the same person. No doubt, but only because I am confident in my beliefs, how I treat people, and my priorities. Morals are important, and people recognize a moral person by the way they present themselves. As such, you are treated in kind. And, I have been treated with kindness, generosity and respect in every country and by people in all walks of life. Some people take trips like this just for laughs, to escape reality, and pretend they are what they are not. In the end the trip ends and, if that is all the trip is, then it is a waste. Seeing the sign for the end of Route 3 I realized I am ready to go home. But, first I am going to Brazil!

I was told by a friend that the road from Nasca to Abancay was the “Mother of all Twisties”. I got an early start but soon enough found myself behind a PNP police car that I was afraid to pass because of my past difficulties. Fortunately, the pulled over before I hit the first set of real twisties.

Then I hit the puma for a loooonnngg time.

The food in Peru has been very good, a close second to Mexican food. Even out here I was able to find a good meal.

The road from Nasca to Cusco winds up through the coastak desert until it reaches the altiplano pampa region at over 4,000 meters. This road was only recently paved. The unpaved road must have been very interesting. The road passes through the Reserva Nacional Pampas Galeras nature reserve protecting the endangered vicuna, a relative of the llama. The straight road is a welcome relief from the endless twisties coming out of Nasca, but you have to really watchout for animals in the road.




Click foto for short Quicktime video on the puma.



The road drops into a valley along the Apurimac river, the source of the mighty Amazon.

In Abancay I encountered my first friendly PNP officer who directed me to the moto friendly Hotel Imperial where I met a German couple traveling on a couple of BMWs.


The next morning it was off to Cusco through another round of serious twisties. In Cusco it was like suddently entering a demolision derby. A million little ¨Tico¨ taxi being driven my people who probably paid someone $2 for a fake drivers license. I had a small fender bender with a cab who tried to quickly pass me on the right side as I was trying to decide where to turn at an intersection. He was pretty upset, but I didn´t see any damage to either of us and I didn´t have insurance so I drove away.

I wasn´t particulary qualified for the trip. . . Still, I felt that the life I lived was a step removed, filtered, rehearsed, relaxed… Six weeks after the first phone call, I quit my job and kissed my girlfriend goodbye.

… Dr. Kate Durrant, her teeth chattering despite the sleeping bag in which she wrapped herself. Thirty, sharp-eyed, lean and British, she had a long, artistocratic face and auburn hair cut in a short punk style laced with orange. She stuck her head up and best she could, surveyed the barren puna. “At times like this,” she shouted, “I wonder why I ever came here.” “You come because it is better than your boring life in London.” Bydak shouted back.

“Running the Amazon”, Joe Kane

The Swiss couple I met in Huarez convinced me to ride through the Cordilla Blanca before heading out for Lima. They said that it was that best part of all of Peru outside of Machu Picchu.

Another reason to always leave early is that you never know what problem with arise. The bike just refused to start after gassing up before heading for the Cordilleras Blancas mountain range. No lights no nothing.


I finally got it started after a lot of hitting. The battery was low on water and once that was remedied it seemed to be much happier.




Feeling confident that the bike was in order I headed for the mountains. The climb out of Carhuaz (not to be confused with nearby Caraz) quickly turned into a long series of switchbacks.


It was a nice ride until I encounter this little obstacle that made me a bit nervous because I had visions of loosing my balance on the curved surfaces of the logs.


Otherwise a beautiful although challenging ride up into the Cordilla Blanca mountain range.


The road then crosses a plateau for about 20 kilometers because beginning to climb again. It was out here where the official entrance to the national park is located. I apparently didn´t notice a sign somewhere at the beginning of the road that there was an entrance fee to enter the national reserve park. Fortunately, I had some extra $20 usd bills because they were very particular about the condition of the money.





Then I met my old nemesis Mr. Sand before beginning the climb up Punto Olimipica pass at 4890 meters above sea leval.








You climb so high you you are looking straight at the glaciers on the surrounding mountains.


You get a good look down into the valley also.





I thought I felt dizzy on a mountain ride in southern Ecuador, but I may have been being a bit dramatic. This, however, was serious. The rapid change in altitude combined with the relentless switchbacks forced me to stop and catch my breath many times. It felt like the the switchbacks would never end but I could see there was not much mountain above me and my gps was already over 4800 meter.


Here is a video clip where you can get a sense of how dramatic the view was and hear that I was exhausted at this point.


But, I wasn´t at the pass yet, and had to keep climbing.


Sometimes, I just felt like I was going to drive onto a glacier.








Until, I finally reach the pass.


Finally!!!


Here is a small video clip at the the pass of Punto Olimpica.


Now I just had to go down the other side of the mountain.


It was here I realized my rear brake was not going to last all the way to Lima. I used more front brake than I would have liked in these conditions but my rear brake as bare thin and I didn´t want to damage the brake disk.























The road did finally begin to level out, but I was far from finished for the day!














At the first town I managed to miss my turn and almost climbed the wrong mountain.


I was supposed to take that road down there.


Here we go!


As I was traveling almost due east I caught some nice light as the sun set.


I had dropped into a valley and had another few hours of switchbacks and mountainside roads.





As I climbed out the valley and the sun set there were more beautiful views without a artificial light in sight.


And finally I reached the town of San Luis.


I stayed in San Luis to replace the rear brake pads and just rest, eventhough the hostel was one of the worst at which I have ever stayed. I couldn´t bring myself to even take a shower in this place.

There was no problem getting up early because at 6 am they started placing loud military music (click on photo for video).


The road from Caraz to Huarez is beautiful. Huarez itself is not very appealing but there is no denying the beauty of the surroundings.




Huarez also has its share of motorcyclists. The restaurant Chili Heaven in Parque Ginebra run by a rider name Simon who I never got to meet or even learn his last name. He sure does love KTM, though.


Then there is Vagabound Bar owned by Marcello a rider from Lima. I met this Swiss couple heading north at the bar. They were real travelers. No website or business cards but have been on the road for many years.


The next day I took a day tour to the buried city of Yungay, but we first stopped for some ice cream at Carhuaz.



The old city of Yungay was buried by an avalanche caused by an earthquake in 1970 and buried over 20,000 people. Most of the people who survived did so by climbing up to the top of the the cementary.


The young girl gave us an oral account of the events of that day. One girl was buried alive because her parent made her stay in the house as punishment her bad behavior while her parent went to the top of the cementary. The guide used that to segway into a line about how we should cherish each moment and love our family because life is unexpectable and short.






We then wet to the Lagunas de Llanganuco. It might have been a lot prettier had there been clearer weather.


These two couples from Lima sort of adopted me during the tour when they saw that I was alone.




A side story was that the previous day the hotel told me I had to check out this day because a group reserved all the rooms. They said they would look for a cheap hotel with parking for me while I was on the tour. Therefore, I had to leave the tour early and take a local back bending collectivo back to Huarez. Of course, when I returned different people were at the front desk and nothing had been done. I hastily packed and started looking for a hotel with parking eventhough I hadn´t found any others the first day I arrived in Huarez. So I eventually went to Vagabound Bar to seek help and was directed to hotel.

Last week I past the one year mark since I left New York. I had planned on being back home about now. Oh well.

This may be as close as I ever get to celebrating an annivesary given that I have yet to be married.

Border crossing can be very frustrating or a minor inconvenience. I found the biggest problem to be the slow pace of getting the paperwork done. Some bored person pounding on an antiquated typewriter, just doesn’t care about you and your motorcycle that may be worth more that his yearly salary. Now if a bus just dropped off 25 people ahead of you that time is now multiplied. Therefore, I try to get every border early in the morning and on a weekday. And, I have had no problems with border crossings. There was only one border that I could not handle and that was entering Honduras from El Salvador on the Panamerican Highway.

The following is an excerpt from Tim Cahill´s book Hold the Enlightenment. I would like to reproduce a good portion of it hear, assuming that he will not mind as long as I make a shameless plug for his books.


Tim Cahill’s Travel 101

I first got into Tim Cahill’s books when I overheard someone at a Horizons Unlimited meeting talk about his book Road Fever which recounts a world record run in a car from Argentina to Alaska. Hilarious!

February 23, 2007: Arrived in San Salvador riding my badly stretched chain.

Just arrived in this lovely city.

I will be making regular posts updating my position. My larger posts are posted days after the fact so don’t get confused.
Thurs Feb 15= leaving San Cristabol in the morning for the Guatemala border and Huenhentango (sp?).

I finally made it to mainland Mexico, although I had to travel north to get there. For some reason I thought it was just a few hours from Topoblampo to Mazatlan and I so I spent the next morning touring the harbor of Topoblampo. The harbor is a preserve for Dolphins. We didn´t see too many although I was assured that usually you can see large groups swimming in the harbor.

















I left for Matazlan in the late morning and by 2pm the heat became oppressive.

I arrived at Matazlan city limits just in time for the sunset, but then had to find my way to a hotel in the dark, which was not fun. Eventually, I found a recommended hotel called Hotel Siesta. It wasn´t the cheapest place but they let you park in the courtyard and it was located along the malecon.



No wonder I liked this hotel. This was posted outside the entrance.










Monument to motorcycle police officers



I found Mazatlan Viejo (Old Town) a quaint place to stay. It seems like they are working hard to improve the area. There is a nice plaza with good restaurants and even good coffee.















I met this BMW rider taking his new 1200GS in for its first service.


I made my way down to Puerto Vallarta where I actually had a very good time despite all the tourists. It seems like those dam Canadians invade Mexico during the winter– they’re everywhere!