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Welcome to the 60th Edition of the newsletter and the last edition for 2006. We wish all of you a happy holiday season, and hope that many of you are enjoying the holidays somewhere warm and with loved ones (or at least one out of two ;-) We're spending Christmas at home this year (London, that is), winding down from a long and eventful 2006 and resting up for 2007! This has been a good year for the website. We've been reported on in many magazine articles, and our traffic is way up too, passing over 520,000 user sessions a month, which helps get new advertisers and keeps existing ones happy: for example, Lee at Kudu Expeditions writes: "Just to let you know we are very happy indeed with the response we are getting from the homepage banner." And in lieu of the book we've been meaning to write for years now, we did manage to publish the HU Achievable Dream DVD, which is selling very well. We've had eight Travellers Meetings, most of which Grant managed to get to! Many thanks to all the local meeting organisers, who make the events happen. For 2007, we're planning 11 meetings, including new meetings in Thailand (January), and hopefully South Africa. We finally launched the HUBB upgrade with lots of new features, including avatars, private messaging and the ability to post pics in messages (with no separate account required). Over the next few months, we are investing considerable time and money in new content management software for the site, which will integrate with the HUBB so only one user ID will be needed. Registered users will be able to have their own personal page including pics. Finding information will be much simplified. There will be more sophisticated blog software for the travellers stories. Not least, from a maintenance perspective, updates will be quicker and less effort, and we will even be able to update the site from the road if we ever get to travel again! And so to the 60th edition of the newsletter - bigger and better than ever - who knew back in December of 1999 when we published the first one, that we'd still be going strong seven years later? Thanks to all of you :-) "The Achievable Dream" Video |
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Too many to list! If you haven't checked out the Links page it's time you did - it's scary long, but it's a fascinating browse. Get your website listed in the LINKS Sectionby listing Horizons Unlimited on YOUR web site, let me know you've done it by mailing me a link to the page, and you may get listed here in the next newsletter and on the Horizons Unlimited web site Links page. To make it easy for you, we even have our logo and link code here! All sites will be considered for listing, but must be a MOTORCYCLE or TRAVEL site, useful or of interest in some way to travellers. We reserve the right to refuse to link back.  Motorcycle Services MC Air Shipping, (uncrated) USA / Canada / Europe and other areas. Say "Horizons Unlimited" to get your discount on Shipping AND insurance! Documentation arranged too.
There are many 'Helpful People' listed on the Links page, a huge thanks to all of them. How about you? Or you can join a Community, or start your own!
Do you know of a good shop 'on the road,'...in other words, somewhere there isn't a large number of shops? (Also of course any shop that specializes in travellers equipment and repairs is of interest.) But we're particularly looking for those rare items, good repair shops in South America, Africa and Asia etc. Please post your info in the Repair shops around the world Forum on the HUBB. There are now 100's shops listed in out - of - the - way places, from Abidjan to Ghana to Peru! Be sure to check out the HUBB "Repair shops around the world" forum if you need work done! When you meet people on the road, and they haven't heard of this e-zine or the website, we'd appreciate it (and hope they would too!) if you'd get their names and email addresses and send it in to me. Thanks, Grant Request for infoWouldn't YOU like to know all about the border you're approaching - what it should cost, paperwork required, 'tips' needed, and who to talk to, etc.? When you cross ANY border, take some notes, and pass them on to us. Thanks! ShippingThe Shipping page on the site is HUGE! It can be reached directly or from the Shipping link on the Trip Planning page. If you have any information to contribute, please go here, and register (or just login IF you have used this system before) and you can then submit your information. Thanks! Travel Advisories:The Foreign Office in London's Travel Advice Unit advises against travel to all sorts of places. Check out the listing before you start! The US State Department regularly issues updated travel advisories, information and/or warnings. |
Lois Pryce, UK, UK to Cape Town, in Tunisia, Yamaha TTR250,"Heading west across the scrubby plains of southern Tunisia and into the desert, where I was meeting up with the El Chott Rally that takes place every November in this far western part of the Sahara. My reason for this diversion was that the UK support truck is headed up by none other than rally and overland expert, David Lambeth, who had done some work on my bike for this trip. He had kindly let me come along for a few days, so I met up with him in the desert town of Douz, along with his support crew, Reg and Jez, and the rally riders, Rupert, Tamsin, Gordon and Stuart, plus Henry and Karina who were racing their vintage 80's Landcruiser. Also in the party was John, a competitor from previous years, who this time just happened to be riding around Tunisia on his KTM 950, and was joining in the fun. I spent four nights with the rally and had a fantastic time, riding to remote desert outposts each day, stopping at lush oases surrounded by sand dunes, camels and palm trees with clusters of fresh dates hanging from their branches. Each evening we would meet up with the racers and after comparing notes of our day's adventures, we would join in the moaning about the German catering truck, a huge, sinister looking, black Tatra lorry that rolled up every night, dishing out meagre portions of unpalatable food to the hungry rally. This entire catering operation was run by a terrifying army of hard-faced ex-porn actresses, complete with pierced gums and diamond studded teeth, who would have been enough to put you off your food, if it had been edible in the first place.
Keeping it all going! L-R Reg, David, Jez, John As if being served raw sausages and over-boiled cabbage by a poor man's Pamela Anderson in the Sahara wasn't strange enough, we were lulled off to sleep every night by the Polish rally team, who would start up their welding and grinding equipment around dusk, and then round off their evening of toil with a rousing sing along of Polish folk songs. Occasionally I would catch a glimpse of one of the mechanics striding along in his greasy overalls with an enormous axel slung over his shoulder, singing heartily and looking for all the world like a Soviet propaganda poster. If you did manage to get to sleep, it would almost certainly be broken around 4.30am when the catering team would crank their generator into life and start boiling the vegetables - just to make sure they were cooked in time for that night's dinner. Just when I thought things couldn't get any more bizarre, nature surprised all of us with a day long rainstorm. Us Northern Europeans who had come hoping for a Saharan November of hot sun and blue skies were predictably aghast. 'Wet and cold in the Sahara! I don't believe it!' the entire camp was saying in various languages. The rainstorm was duly followed by a vicious sandstorm, which saw everyone blundering around in their goggles and hiding in their tents. Thus is the life of the desert rallyist - and I have to say, I loved every minute of it! So, my time in Tunisia is coming to an end and it has been a good warm-up for the road ahead. I enter Algeria in a couple of days, where I will head south across the Sahara proper, and that's when the action starts!" Peter and Kay Forwood, Australia, around the world since 1996, in Montenegro, Serbia (Kosovo), Macedonia, Greece and Turkey, Harley-Davidson,"31/10/06 Montenegro is the world's newest country. Created less than five months ago after a referendum to separate it from Serbia and one of the reasons we are again here. Although the motorcycle visited the autonomous region Montenegro, whilst it was part of Yugoslavia (later changing its name to Serbia and Montenegro), it hadn't visited Montenegro, the country. Montenegro and East Timor are the only two new countries created during the almost eleven years we have been travelling. A friendly welcome at the border but we needed to buy motorcycle insurance, not having the usual European Green card Insurance, 10 Euro for the minimum two weeks, and we received a stamp in our passports, the first since entering Italy from Tunisia last week.
The owner and a local character at Hotel Pelikan on the way to Podgorica We moved along the coast and into the mountains towards the small and new capital, of Podgorica, of this country of 650,000 people, and settled in a lovely mountain lakeside village for the night. The old building also houses a restaurant and with a few British holiday makers we enjoyed an early evening wine as the sun set at five pm and dinner was over soon after in this early to bed town…
Roadside snow on the pass indicates winter approaching --- 2/11/06 Yesterday was the first day we felt winter rapidly closing in. As if the first of November was the start. Frosts in the hills and snow roadside on the mountain pass. Today we awoke to light rain which turned to sleet and snow before breakfast and decided our staying another night here. It is still a long way to Eastern Turkey with high mountains in that region before we get to warmer Iran." Peter and Kay Forwood have travelled to 175 countries, travelling over 450,000 km during 10+ years on the road. Horizons Unlimited is proud to host their complete RTW story and pictures here! Help support the Horizons Unlimited E-zine - visit our sponsors!
Africa Bike Tours provides you with a selection of unique guided Namibian tours by experienced off road hosts. Thanks! Hamish Oag and Emma Myatt, UK, Asia, Australia and the Americas, in Australia and Easter Island, BMW R1100 GS,"We visited a few wineries, with Hame at the handlebars I did the tasting for both of us (he was very patient as I got giggly by 10am) and discovered, amongst several other delicious wines, red champagne - another fab Aussie invention!
We called in to visit Kevin, the BMW enthusiast we'd met near Cairns months ago. He was really happy to see us and eager to show off his four restored old BMWs, they were pretty impressive. He had the most amazing tool collection I"d ever seen, I caught Hamish drooling over it when he thought no one was looking! Australia as a place to live? Definitely. Australia has so much to offer, you could live here in any climate or environment you chose simply because of the size of the country. You could choose not to have seasons at all, or only very mild ones. You could choose dry or wet, hills or plains, mountains and snow or rolling green hills, desert or lakes... the list goes on. It's all here, if you have the skills Australia needs. Talking to people who've emigrated here has been interesting, and it seems as if Hamish and I would qualify - we've been offered jobs several times already and apparently there is a bit of a shortage of teachers and engineers, in fact there's a bit of a shortage of most skills. Australia has much to offer everyone and it would be a great place to bring up children, there is just so much more for them here - more opportunities, more space, more freedom. The cost of living is cheaper and house prices are cheaper. There seem to be so many advantages, and we've yet to meet anyone who's emigrated and regretted it. ...After an interlude to our travels, flying back to Scotland for a family wedding, we're back on the road for part two of our adventure; South America. Having landed in Santiago, Chile and being successfully reunited with Bertha (our bike), we're off to Argentina, hopefully in time for the HU meeting in Viedma.
...When back in Melbourne, our main task was to crate Bertha for the journey to Santiago. BMW Melbourne kindly provided us with a crate, albeit minus the new 1200 Adventure it originally contained, bummer! Mindful of freighting the bike with an empty tank, we arrived at BMW with the fuel pump wheezing; saving us the job of emptying the tank of residual fuel. As with all the best travels, a case of good luck as opposed to strategic planning. After braving a Melbourne hail storm (remember, it's supposed to be summer here!), and a bit of juggling here and there, we squeezed the bike, panniers and spare tyres into the wood and cardboard box, strapped it down and said goodbye. All being well, we'd be reunited in Santiago in a couple of weeks time. ...Rather then fly directly to Santiago, we'd opted to stop-off in Tahiti for a couple of days and then Easter Island for a week. After all it was the same price as a direct flight, so why not? I should have realised if David Essex sang about somewhere, it was bound to be dubious! Ok, that's a little unfair (on Tahiti, not DE), it wasn't so bad, just expensive. Nonetheless, it did provide us with the chance to kick back after the previous month's excesses. (Next time I'll go to Tahiti and he can go to Skegness! - I liked it! - Em)
Spot the Hamish ..Both keen to visit Easter Island, Isla de Pascua or Rapa Nui, depending on your language persuasion, we soaked up our week there exploring the island both above and below the surface. Other than its isolation, wonderful barren landscape and friendly folks, Easter Island's draw card is of course the mystical Moai, the massive stone figures that dominate the horizon. Hewn from a dormant volcano between 800AD and 1600AD, the Moai were then lowered down to the base of the volcano, final carving completed, before being transported to their respective Ahu or platform at various locations around the island. Sounds straightforward, however these statues can be up to 20m in height, weighing in excess of 100 tons...and no cranes, hoists or low-loaders to transport them the kilometers required back in them days! There are of course as many theories as there are possibilities, most employing wooden logs in some configuration or another. Hence the reason for the lack of trees, so it is believed.
Hamish and Emma get into rubber. So when we weren't learning about stone statues and birdmen, we took to the water to explore the crystal clear depths. Did I mention visibility? 30m +! Diving to a depth of around 25m and looking up as if wearing aqua marine coloured sunglasses on a sunny day. Spectacular..." Ed. See Hamish and Emma's blog here on Horizons Unlimited for more stories and great pics! Help support the Horizons Unlimited E-zine - visit our sponsors!
Thanks! John and Alanna Skillington, UK, Europe to Australia, in in Turkey and Iran, Suzuki V-Strom," …Off to Goreme Open air Museum. This is a World Heritage Site, rock cut Byzantine churches and chapels. The Karinlik Kilise is the most famous of the churches for good reason. Look at the amazingly well preserved frescos dating from the 1st Century AD.
Karinlik Kilise church, Goreme, Turkey Our second day in Goreme is spent being lazy wandering the cobblestone streets and watching the daily lives of the people. Goreme although a heavily touristed area still clings to its traditional way of life with veiled women in their baggy trousers and the men drinking tea in the tea houses. It is a truly amazing place.
The following day with the help of Ramazan our host we manage to find a box and post home all our camping gear, and other bits and pieces. Nearly 12 kg worth. The poor old bike is going to be so happy without this weight. ...We end up staying in Goreme for eleven days. Each day is wonderful, walking the valleys, chatting to the local shop owners who now recognise us and shake hands with us and invite us in for tea. ...We have a wonderful days riding firstly up the steep rough road to Mt Nemrut. For those of you who don't know, this summit was created by a megalomaniac King called Nemrut who built two ledges into the mountains and erected huge statues of himself and the Gods and then had his underlings build an artificial peak of crushed rock 50 metres high. The sheer scale of it is breathtaking even more so when you realise it was built in about 50 BC. It remained hidden from the world until 1881 when a German engineer happened upon it.
Gods of Mt Nemrut, Turkey For other Overland Motorcycle Travellers in Turkey: Athena Pension - Bergama (fantastic breakfasts, Aydin's omelets are the best) Our two favourites were Athena and Star Cave Pensions.
Up and at em early as we know it will be a long day. Breakfast, packed up and gone by 8.30am we ride past the plains beneath the twin peaks of Great Ararat and Little Ararat on our way to the border. (Gurbulak)
At an estimate we passed through 5 different checkpoints each time thinking well that must be it. Eventually we are on our way riding through Barzagan, Maku on our way to Tabriz. We have our first fill up with fuel. It costs us less then $2.00 AUD, after the astronomical prices in Turkey Skill is a happy camper, although he doesn't appear to be in this photo.
Cheap fuel in Iran Into the City Centre where we stop again and ask a policeman for directions and then another stop, we are just rechecking our directions on our Lonely Planet map when a man sticks his head over Skills shoulder and says in perfect English "Can I help you"? " Ummmm not sure" is our response. He then points to a name in the LP and says this is me. Sure we think, here we go. He hands over his business card and sure enough it is Nasser Khan, one of Tabriz's most experienced and respected guides.
Ghazvin city bazaar, Iran Most of the cars on the roads are old (pre 1980) and seem to be of a similar make. Driving on the freeways or in the towns are the ubiquitous blue utes (or pickups) in varying shades of blue carrying all manner of cargo. Whether it is supplies for the shop, or perhaps some furniture, And even Marcus' broken down motorbike. (Read on for more about that saga later. Poor Marcus.)" Ed. See John and Alanna's blog here on Horizons Unlimited for more stories and fabulous pics! Grant Guerin and Julie Rose, Australia, Trans America and Beyond, in Ecuador, Suzuki V-Strom,
Jules and Piggy (the bike) "Border Crossing Exit Colombia (Ipiales) Enter Ecuador (Rumichaca) For us the process took all day, and that included being interviewed for Colombian TV news about our trip and our life in Australia!
Church (constructed from lava) - Baños, Ecuador Excited about seeing our first Inca ruins in South America we climbed aboard the local bus from El Tambo for the 9 kilometer journey to the archeological site of Incapirca. Archeologists believe that Incapirca was a strategically placed military post on the Royal Highway that ran from Cusco to Quito. The short distance took about half an hour slowly winding up the mountains through numerous indigenous settlements, farms and a tapestry of plowed fields with meticulously planted crops. The bus filled with locals, in traditional dress, their goods and chattels including a sheep that was lifted up on to the roof, by its horns, and tied down, it was not happy being up there, kicking, stomping and bleating.. guess he wanted a first class seat!
Sheep Transportation, Ecuador. Cuenca is one of the premier colonial cities of Ecuador. We attempted to negotiate the way into centro, after half an hour of going around in circles we gave up and went to the nearby town of Baños. A beautiful and imposing blue church is perched high above the town and overlooks the valley that contains Cuenca. There are many mineral hot baths to choose from, stunning expensive resorts and cheap 'n' nasty hotels.
Blue Church, Baños, Ecuador We pull up to the first establishment. The lazy staff looked at Jules as if she was insane when she asked how much a room would cost for the night. 'The whole night?' they questioned and then mutter between themselves, eventually deciding on a price. Ok, so they don't seem to get much overnight custom Jules thinks and moves on to the next hotel. Sensing Deja Vú or a glitch in the matrix the scene replayed itself and continued to do so until hotel number 4 which finally, at least, had parking. Meanwhile Grant, waiting patiently, had begun to notice that this town had a plethora of discos and karaoke bars. What was this place? Not the sweet little resort village Baños we had visited further to the north. It was summed up nicely when we turned the TV on that night, and the only clear channel was a porn channel!" Ed. See Grant and Julie's blog here on Horizons Unlimited for more stories and lots of great photos! Help support the Horizons Unlimited E-zine - visit our sponsors!
"More important than all the fancy jackets and pants put together..." Grant says: "Where've these been all my life? A no-brainer - the only way to ride!" Andy Tiegs, USA, to Central/South America, in Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, KLR,"I left the next day for the short ride to Sucre. Sucre turned out to be a really nice town, and I stayed around for a few days. I had read about the Joy Ride Cafe there, run by a Dutch motorcyclist, who used to run motorcycle tours out of there, so I stopped in for lunch and met Gert, the owner. He does run mountain bike rides now, so I signed up for one the next day.
Taken on a very remote road, east of Huaraz, Peru. Naturally, photos don't do justice to the scenery. It was on this ride that I met Simon and Lindsay, a British couple who I would continue to run into over the next couple of weeks. This ride, unlike the World's Most Dangerous Road, actually had up as well as down hills, so I had to work, which was a good thing. Sucre is the Bolivian capitol, so there are a lot of government buildings, and really nice looking parks. Sucre is a much smaller city than La Paz, which is the finance center of the country, with high rise banking and insurance buildings throughout the downtown.
On my next trip I am going to use a giant fiberglass chicken as a top box. After Sucre, I headed toward Uyuni, which is the town nearest the Salar de Uyuni, the world's highest and largest salt flat. This meant backtracking to Potosi and then taking a gravel road 130 miles or so to Uyuni. The road was an easy ride, except the washboard on the gravel was pretty fierce at times, keeping my speed down. It ended up being a pretty easy days ride. I rode into town, and started looking for a hotel, and as I was about to walk into one, I heard someone holler my name. It was Jeremiah, who was sitting in an internet cafe writing me when he heard my bike go by,and went outside to look and see who it was. Jeremiah is someone I first met in Mexico at a HU meet, and then again this summer in Colorado. He is also the one who knows the two Ecuadorian guys I met in Mexico on this trip, who I ended up staying with in Ecuador. Small world. I knew he was roaming around down here in Bolivia, so it wasn't a total coincidence that we met up here. He was travelling with Ming, another American rider from Oregon, who he met on the road.
Allan, the guy on the left, is someone I met at a Horizons Unlimited meet in Mexico a few years ago. He and I had kept in email touch and we met up in Uyuni for a few days. You can keep up with his travels at www.worldrider.com, there might even be a video of he and I out on the salt flats on there by now. The 2 on the right are Dutch guys we met on motorcycles here. They run motorcycle tours in Europe, and were here scouting locations for tours in South America. Jeremiah and I knew that Allan, another American, was in the area as well, and we tried to figure out where he might be. We came to the conclusion that he was probably out on the Salar on a jeep tour, since we knew he had shipped his bike here on a train, due to an injury he had from a small crash in Santa Cruz. Allan was in fact, out on a jeep tour, and we all eventually got together for a traditional Thanksgiving pizza dinner, at a restaurant run by a guy from Massachusetts. It was here that I ran into Brits, Simon and Lindsay again, where thanks to me introducing them, they were cornered by Allan and interviewed for a podcast on worldrider.com. I'm sure they will thank me for that someday. Not today, though.
We camped for the night near an island in the middle of the salt lake. Once into Argentina, I rode 100 miles, until it started raining. I found a really nice little town called Tilcara, and ended up staying 2 nights there. From there it was an easy paved ride to Salta. My main goal there was to get insurance sorted. I found an agent through my Horizons Unlimited contact who could insure a foreigner, and stayed here 3 nights checking out the city while I waited for my insurance policy. While I was walking down the street, I bumped into Simon again, and met he and Lindsay and 2 guys they were travelling with, for dinner and drinks later. Tomorrow, Saturday, (is it really December already?) I will head south toward Mendoza. There are a lot of outdoor activities there, plus I need tires for the bike, so I will likely stop there for a few days. Maybe a bicycle tour of the wine country is in the works." Ed. For more stories and pics, see Andy's blog here on Horizons Unlimited! Help support the Horizons Unlimited E-zine - visit our sponsors!
Thanks! Linda Bootherstone-Bick, UK, Gibraltar to Australia, in Malaysia, Indonesia, Suzuki DR650,"Cherating has a nice sheltered beach and a little river estuary where you can take a boat ride amongst the mangroves. Saw some black and yellow snakes in the trees, monitor lizard, kingfisher and hornbill on the trip. It reminded me of being in the bayous around the Mississippi region. The laid back atmosphere of Cherating made me want to stay again. There are a few foreigners around. One Englishman, David, has taken early retirement in Malaysia and keeps himself fit on his mountain bike and giving windsurfing lessons. When I hired a local push bike we went on a 34km ride into the jungle and up the coast to check on where I could see the turtles, as there was another hatchery close by. That night at 11pm we , and about 50 others, held a baby turtle in out hands and gently set it on the beach to watch it scurrying by moonlight down to the waters edge, to be washed away by the next wave. Good luck little turtle, I hope you don't get eaten before you have a chance to grow up.
Baby turtles in Cherating Turtle Sanctuary, Malaysia. Unfortunately, the leather back turtles, once prolific on this coast are now practically extinct. Now it is mainly the Green turtle who comes on shore but fewer and fewer. Even this ranger program, where people are allowed to touch the babies, is not a good idea. Any human involvement is a deterrent and of course the demand for turtle eggs on the black market means that only a small percentage of those laid get to hatch, no matter how hard the rangers try to keep watch. Like Angor Wat in Cambodia, the Borobudur temple complex is the main tourist attraction. As with Angor it is also expensive for tourists who pay 11 times the local price to get in. However it is a must do. Built in the 8th century by the Sulendra dynasty, it is a huge square structure that rises to several levels each with carved motives depicting the stages of karmic life. One of the carvings depicts a sailing ship and in 2003 a model of this ship was built and sailed successfully from Indonesia to West Africa retracing the old Cinnamon trading route. The temple complex lies in a big park surrounded by the volcanic mountains and is pretty speccy, especially at sunset, I'm told. After playing music with some buskers in the temple tourist area I was about to find a cheap sleep, aiming to return about 6 to see the sunset there. However, on returning to my bike I found 2 strange looking Vespa converted sidecar outfits parked alongside and was immediately surrounded by a group of scruffy looking, dread locked young men with broad smiles, reaching to shake my hand.
Rat scooter The leader, Eric, invited me to come back to their house in Yogyarkarta and I have been staying in their student digs ever since. They have kindly sacrificed one of the bedrooms for me and they sleep in the lounge. Typical student life, they are now on holiday and come and go on their bikes, playing computer games, watching telly, shooting the breeze and drinking tea and juice, playing guitar and generally hanging out. I have been getting up early and hitting the email cafes to get these reports written and catch up with your emails.
Eric's Vespa Yesterday Eric acted acted as my guide for the local temple complex and finally my police permission came in handy as we produced it as documentation to get me the local entry price instead of tourist fee. It worked! Today I aim to go into the town centre and do the tourist trail there before I leave tomorrow.. …on to Bukit Lawang, 150 kms north in the jungle. There is an attempt to save the diminishing number of Orang Utans and they are given a supplement of a few bananas a day but not enough to make them dependent and put them off looking for their own food in the bush. Unfortunately the cost of guided walks in this National Park are too high for my budget so I just went to the feeding areas and found a bat cave in company with a nice young Czech man who was touring by bicycle. The road out to this jungle resort is bloody awful with broken tarmac and lots of water filled potholes. Both Marek and I were seduced by the information that there was a shortcut back to Berastagi which bypassed the heavy traffic of the trucks through the city of Medan we both passed on entry. Independently we set off the next morning to find this way.
Marek on shortcut After 30 odd kms of bad road,(but less traffic and through pretty villages) I came to a section that I could not negotiate so turned back and met Marek on his way up. With his push bike he could get through but I went back adding several kms and hours to the ride and , whilst in the town had to stop because of torrential rain. Got to the GH late and exhausted but poor Marek had an even worse time, he told me when he finally arrived. Neither of us will take advise about shortcuts again." Help support the Horizons Unlimited E-zine - visit our sponsors!
Thanks! Patrick and Belinda Peck, Australia, around the world, again, in Canada, Yamaha Super Ténéré XTZ 750,"Howdy Doody from Edmonton, Canada, home of The Peck Family! Since we wrote last we were on our way by ferry without the bike from Crete to Athens. We met up with our Greek God friend Orestis Padouvas (see photo below!) who we have been in email contact with for a few years now. He has a Super Tenere too and we stayed in his parents penthouse and had a great time checking out Athens and surrounding area and the Peloponnesus. We travelled by hire car and it was different but great, we saw some amazing scenery and Pats friend, George Andrew's, family roots in a small town called Stemnitsa.
Orestis Padouvas (Horizons member in Athens) We were a week ahead of schedule, so decided to fly to Romania and have a week of fun and parties with our great friends Csilla and Oliver Schul. They are a really amazing couple who think big, are fantastic company and really good people to call friends. They are a motorcycle accessories dealer for Romania and work and play hard. Next step was the much looked forward to week in Paris. We had a great time, saw all the sights and walked our legs off while staying at JJs very homely house with a great fireplace! JJ is a lovely, hospitable French biker with a beautiful African Queen wife. It is now snowing and -15 deg C in Edmonton, Canada with -25 expected tonight BBRRRR! We will be here till 26 December, with a week in Calgary for a Bikers meeting and a week in Jasper to catch up with friends in the middle. Arrival home in Cairns, Australia on 29 December to +32degC expected!! Thanks for all your love and interest in our lives! This will probably be the last update till we get on the road again in January 2008. Remember, we are the ODD couple and you can visit us at home in the ODD years only! Have a great Christmas and we hope the new year is a good one for you!" Ed. Check out Pat and Belinda's HU Blog for stories and great pics! Help support the Horizons Unlimited E-zine - visit our sponsors! Please be sure you tell them how you heard about Morton's BMW!
Thanks! Joseph M Devine, UK, Touring the America's 2006 Alaska to Patagonia, in Peru, Argentina and Chile,"In this part of the world it pays to blend in, have a good bike but keep it plain I throw a tarpaulin over my boxes and tie it down, it keeps my kit dryer and I look more like a courier rider and attract less attention. Also the hole in my screen has been a big plus it's the first question any one asks 'where did you get that'. And as a bonus if I had money I would have replaced it. So therefore I must not have much money, my riding kit is very good, but plain black with no logos I have been saluted on more than one occasion so there must be military or police who wear something similar. Other than that, get them before they get you. The police and military are better than a GPS for locating gasoline, hostels etc and enjoy being asked and I have never been asked or had it been suggested that I pay for any thing. ...Today I get to Cusco, an easy run through breathtaking countryside. I was at 3000m and started meeting landslides some big, others just the odd rock where there were no hills, a bit odd I thought until I turned a corner into a queue of traffic and burning up ahead. My first reaction was an accident but as I filtered through the traffic it became obvious this was a protest, tyres were scattered across the road and on fire, broken glass and rocks were also scattered everywhere around. I noticed that the incident seemed to be limited to a small group of people and the rest students so I just rode forward navigated the glass and burning tyres said hola smiled and cruised through one of the women threw a glass bottle in front of the bike but I just twisted round it and shouted not gringo, Irish. After that it was all hola and buenas dias, no problem I just pulled over, had breakfast and tried to find out what the protest was about.
It seemed it was high school teachers complaining over pay. I then headed down the road, knowing that another blockage was somewhere ahead as there was no oncoming traffic, and sure enough 20km later and many landslides and obviously there it was, only this time the barrier was right across the road were there were concrete drainage ditches so no going around. I pulled up to the front, parked the bike and joined them. ...had a good chat and a drink, and an hour and a half later I was allowed through along with a local bus with a heavily pregnant lady, the rest were held for another 3 hours. Communicating and being good with people always works unless you're married to them.
...The first problem was water, lots of it running across the road. I negotiated all the streams and washed out areas, difficult when you are on a track 8 foot wide with a 500 foot drop, and then I saw the bridge - it was about 400 foot below me and the road seemed to vanish around a corner and not reappear. I decide to play it safe and walk down and check. Sure enough the road went around the corner but was there. It snaked down the cliff. A few areas were damaged but I could see to within 50m of the bridge and it was manageable so I walked back up. Very hard work in motorcycle armour at 4000m, and rode down around the last corner. The road disappeared - it had been washed away. 150 foot below me was the bridge but no way of getting to it. I could not turn the bike around as the track was now only 6 foot wide and a 20 degree slope so I laid it over, stripped off as it was exhausting work and manhandled it around using the engine bars as a pivot point. When it was pointing uphill I stood it up, kitted up and rode it back uphill very glad that I had left the boxes behind as the extra weight on the back would have been impossible and I would have had to carry them up individually. It was another 5 miles on the upper track until I reached an intact road to the bridge. The first 2 concrete platforms of the bridge had also been washed away and replaced with an assortment of planks, railway track and tree trunks so it was go for it and no looking back.
...My detour from Machu Picchu to see the Cruz de Condor has been eventfully to say the least, Political road blocks, mud you could lose a person in, cliffs, often over a 1000' drop, snow, water, ice, sleet and high temperatures all in 2 days, but best of all great people, good food and 560m of dirt and gravel at over 4000m altitude - very rewarding motorcycling. And the only occasion I have been thrown from the bike in 23,000 miles. ...Up early and it's off south about 900 miles to Ushuaia, so it will probably be two days riding, especially as the wind is very strong. The journey started well enough, just another desert with scrub bushes. I was making good time when I hit some road works and had to detour through a short stretch of gravel, well the enviable happened and the bike sank in 2 foot of gravel. The grader had managed to fill a ditch in with loose stone. As the bike jerked to a standstill and sank I rolled off the side and wandered what had hit me. The machine was fine standing upright but half buried and impossible for me to pull out. Lucky for a me a lorry driver saw what happened and stopped and the two of us released the bike it seems a few lorries had their wheels stuck to the axles there as well and had to be towed out. I arrived in Ushuaia - I had completed the North to South. I found a nice hostel and settled in for a few beers. Ushuaia, visited the National Park, and took a boat out to Penguin Island. It is snowing a lot and there's not much in the line of motorcycle shops so a bike service is not on. I looked into shipping the bike straight back to the UK or USA from here as I was still concerned about the clutch and pivot bearing and now the rear shock was leaking as well. However no freight to Europe seemed to go from Ushuaia so it's ride back up to Buenos Aires and repair or ship from there. ...500km to Comodoro Rivadavia everything was going well when the clutch just blew. I was on a long slow incline when it started to slip then was gone in seconds. I pulled over to the road side 350km from nowhere. Luckily a couple of builders were not far behind me when I hit the hazard warning lights. The lads were great and as there was no way of lifting the GS into their small truck they gave me a tow 100km to a petrol station. It has got to be the scariest thing I have ever done and there was no way I could have done the 250km left to Comodoro so I thanked them and waited at the gas station. Sure enough 4 large Lorries pulled in shortly and in broken Spanish and with the help a Dutch couple who spoke some Spanish I was able to get a lift to just out side Comodoro. The Lorry drivers were fantastic lifting the bike unto the lorry with the crane and then insisting on sorting me a hotel and dinner; a great bunch of guys. I tried to get a clutch and bearings send down from BMW but every thing seem to be a week to 10 days, and allowing for 2-3 days work that would mean 2 weeks before the bike was back on the road. There was no way I could get to Venezuela and then to Florida to meet the wife for Christmas, so I decide to ship the bike straight home from BA. ...I was still 1800km from BA airport and we could find no trucks going in that direction so we arranged a one way hire from Hertz at Comodoro Airport to BA airport. I got a pickup truck at $200 US a day and we lifted the bike straight off the Lorry unto the pickup. I started driving at 15:30, drove through the night and was in BA at 10:00am the following day. I went straight to Air Cargo and Lufthansa, booked the bike in, completed all the paper work and customs and had returned the hire car to Hertz in 4 hours. I took a taxi to BA as I had a couple of days before my homeward flight. The Bike shipping cost $1270US to Heathrow and my flight to Heathrow via Mil ian was £370 so not too bad. The bike is back home in Milton Keynes and dismantled. I have fitted a new clutch and Pivot Bearings. A replacement rear shock is ordered and a big clean is on-going. Hopefully by December she will be fully operational again and ready for the next instalment, which is now in planning." Ed. Congratulations on getting all the way to Ushuaia, sorry to hear about the bike problems, hope they get sorted. Help support the Horizons Unlimited E-zine - visit our sponsors!
Grant says: "simply a must-do for all airheads" Mark and Erin Kirkendall, USA, RTW?, in Colombia, BMW F650GS,"So we are in Colombia, the kidnapping capital of the world. In 2003, there were over 3000 kidnappings, setting a new world record. My sister just sent me a nasty email about how selfish we were to go here, complete with the US State Departments advisory against travel to Colombia. 25% of the nations foreign currency exchange comes from the exportation of cocaine. These are a few of the reason we initially decided not to come to Colombia. It was too risky. But then Nick showed up, he told us us there was only one US kidnapping in 2005. A little more research and we find out that the government had ended talks with the guerillas, who were taking advantage of the cease-fire, and driven away from most of the major cities and roads. We found that folks that have visited here, have had a wonderful time. And guess what, we are here and it doesn't feel that bad. The place is super clean, the feeling of the constant hustle from Central America is gone. The average joe on the street seems appreciative that we are here. Ok, so the average joe REALLY appreciates that Erin is here, but it's all good. The military presence is everywhere, random searches are the norm (Nick's been frisked twice). But if you're doing nothing wrong, it's no big deal. So far, this has been a lesson in stereotypes. The government war on drugs is real, the guerillas are real. But those two groups make up an extremely small percentage of Colombians. For the most part, folks are just like in the US. The walk the park on Sunday. Men and women hug and kiss each other. They ran a 10k in downtown today. Yesterday we rode from Medellin to Cali, almost 10 hours from start to finish. Going through the mountains of Colombia was some of the most beautiful country I've seen so far. I think it's just a taste of what we'll see farther into South America. We did have a bit of a scare. We got stopped by one of the police roadblocks, not uncommon. After all our paperwork was checked out, they proceeded to tell us they'd had problems on the upcoming section of road. What we think we understood was 'not everyday, but for many days.' It didn't sound like kidnappings, just robberies, but the prospect of losing our bikes in Colombia was not a promising one. And there were not really any other options for us. An hour later we were out of the dangerous section. It was a bit more risk than I expected we were going to have to take. All behind us now.
Our last night in Colombia was in a mountain city, Pasto. Bogota and Medellin were large cities so other than turning a few heads, we didn't cause much of a stir. Pasto was a different story. Two minutes after pulling into the square we had a huge crowd around the bikes. Cameras came out. Welcomes and handshakes and questions. People started handing Erin babies for photos. It was really cool at first then got uncomfortable. Just too many people. So we mounted up and found a hotel. Just walking around later that day, we had a couple ask us if they could take our picture.
It's been tense riding the last couple of days. It's gotten harder to find a good compromise so all three of us feel good on the road, and that's a significant part of the trip. There's a ton of variables: times, speeds, aggressiveness in traffic, where to stay. I've had some off days, mood wise, which has added to the tension. So we think it's time for a split. Nick's a great guy, hopefully we'll hook up again with him for a while, but it's time for us to go our separate ways for awhile. We got to Quito, Ecuador yesterday. Looks to be a beautiful city. More to come in Quito." Help support the Horizons Unlimited E-zine - visit our sponsors!
Peter Baird and Jason Homewood, the Americas, in Argentina, KTM 950s,"Finally I'm in South America! 3 years after deciding this continent would be the next I'd explore I'm tucking into my first Asado (bbq) out the back of Dakar Moto's with Javier and Sandra, woo hoo!
Jason Homewood and Javier Kaper A few months ago my mate, Jason Homewood, decided to come along and retrace some of the places he visited on a similar trip a few years back and to explore some more. The plan is to head down to Viedma for the HU meet on Dec 8th, then on to Ushuaia then North with no real plan for most of 2007. ...Last Wednesday was a big day for us, we got the bikes out of the port and back to Dakar Motos. There's a load of paperwork to do and money to pay, luckily we had the help of super Sandra from Dakar Motos doing it for us and any problems that cropped up (for future reference, 2 bikes on 1 bill of lading is not recommended!) were swiftly dealt with. How you'd run the gauntlet of customs officials/import papers and warehouse workers by yourself I do not know.
Peter at the warehouse picking up the bike The Argentines we've met so far have been a great bunch, from the crew at Dakar Motos to shop keepers to commuters jammed into an early morning subte (BA equivalent of the tube, though a Jubilee Line tube in rush hour is a picnic by comparison) everyone appears friendly and happy to help out and have a laugh with you (or in my case, at you, when trying to use my disjointed Spanish). There have been plenty of other overlanders coming through here too. They all seem to make it out to DM to check in and either stay for a few days, as we did, or get their bikes seen to by Javier. So far we've met Germans, Cypriots, Australians and Luna, an Austrian on an Enfield who's ridden from the States over the last 18 months or so. Having spent a fair while on Enfields in India my hat is well and truly off to her. All have a tale to tell and an experience to share which is going to be invaluable to us on our way north. ...I finished up school on Tuesday, sorted out some bike insurance (5 quid a month!) then on Wednesday headed out to Dakar Motos to pick up my bike and... well, hit the road! I reckon I'll learn loads of Spanish on the road and may do another week in Mendoza or somewhere else. Luckily Dakar are really close to the the motorway heading north so I didn't have to navigate through BA. To be honest I was quite nervous about getting on the bike, don't know why, just a combination of riding on the right, not knowing the traffic and well... the unknown! By the time I was in second gear all these fears where gone and the feeling of this being the start of the trip took over, woo hoo, Iguazu Falls here I come! It was stinking hot and once I was off the motorway onto single carriage way I just cruised along at 70mph, passing the odd truck and taking in the scenery. The road I was on, RN14, is notorious for cops looking for bribes but having read so much about it I was kind of looking forward to being stopped and checking out my technique for getting away with not paying (playing dumb appears to be the general rule, not hard with my Spanish!) I saw the first group of cops on the left side of the road. Just at the last minute they saw me and I heard a whistle then saw an arm indicate that I should pull over . I pretended I hadn't seen them and carried on, checking behind every once in a while to check they weren't chasing. Phew, first cops successfully avoided! Wasn't so lucky the next time. I'd just passed a truck on a really open left hand turn (okay, so I did go over the double yellows but it was hardly unsafe), and there they were... about half a mile down the road. I had to stop for these guys. They first tried to tell me I'd passed on the dos lineas, I pretended not to understand and he drew a picture. I then drew another picture showing me passing on the dotted line. He then tried to tell me that I was doing 140kph, I protested that I was only doing 100 (which I was, surprisingly) and figured there was no way they could have a picture of me as the only 'speed detection' equipment they had was a pair of binoculars! By this point I knew they just wanted some money but I was still surprised when he asked me outright for cash. I pulled out a packet of cigarettes and indicated I'd spent my last pesos on them and that I used credit cards. Eventually he got frustrated, shook my hand and wished me buen viaje! Pete 2, cops 0." Christian Burrows, Central and South America, in Mexico,"The ferry ride from La Paz to Topolobampo was not your average boat ride. It was a nonstop party, the whole 5 hours. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take my camera because it was at night and I assumed there would be no opportunities for good photos. WRONG! First of all the boat was huge and modern. Giant semi-tractor trailers back into the boat, the boat probably held about 20 large trucks, 50 cars and my motorcycle. I got to park the bike right next to the exit. I took my Lonely Planet, journal, banana and water up 3 flights of stairs to find a very chic restaurant (dinner was included), bar, store and a quiet salon for movie watching. This was no boring ferry ride. They had entertainment; a guy who sets up a loud speaker system and walks around the bar area with a microphone singing along to mexico's current hits. There was a real festive mood, guys drinking beers, kids running around and playing the arcades. On the observation decks men watch the goings-on down below as the semis get backed into place, perfectly next to each other so as not to waste an inch of space. It's like watching the baggage handlers, air controllers and airport employees from a bay window at an airport. There was a lot of commotion, tying down trucks with heavy chains, passenger-car alarms being set off from the rumblings of the giant trucks and the shriek whistling and fervent hand waving of the orange jumpsuit-clad men who assist the truckers as they back into place.
...After about an hour of the professional singing, the real fun started- Kar-e-oke! This is when I regretted leaving my camera below the hull. There was a large book of songs to choose from, spanish, english and even Portuguese ones. By this point, I had made my way to the bar and was befriending the truckers and young men that made the bar their permanent seats for the duration of the trip. Three Tecates later (with generous amounts of 'limon' and 'sal' - a nice addition to beer I must admit) and the whole bar wanted me to sing. I perused the book and decided Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' was a fun one to do. By the end of the song I had really gotten into it, reaching all the high pitched notes just like Michael, and even finished with a little moon-walk. The audience went crazy, they wanted more...
...I was tired (I had managed to escape the debauchery of the bar and found a bench on which to take a cat nap). When I got off the ferry in Topo it was 3am, cold! and very foggy. Leaving the city to find somewhere to stay (there were no hotels in Topo), it immediately got very foggy and provided for dangerous riding. Trucks were flying by me and I tried to keep up so I could follow their taillights, but I couldn't maintain their speed. Finally, one of the truckers must have noticed I was struggling to survive on the road, and he thankfully slowed down enough for me to follow. As we passed some lights on the left side of the road, he switched on his left indicator but didn't turn (usually in Mexico this means it's ok to pass, but in these conditions I knew he wasn't suggesting I pass him, so I took the signal as a sign to stop and seek out the lights on the side of the road). What a friendly soul, an angel sent to guide me, because it turned out to be a motel, El Topo Viejo. I turned into the lot and a garage door opened and beckoned me to enter. Turns out this was a 'motel de amor', where each room has a private garage and there's hardcore porn on the TV! It smelled of disinfectant, the sheets were probably stained (I purposely didn't make a close inspection and slept with my clothes on), but it was cheap and I was thankful to be out of the dark, cold fog." Help support the Horizons Unlimited E-zine - visit our sponsors!
Richard Lindley, RTW 2006 -7, in Russia, Triumph Tiger,"So, how did I come off? The first reason, without doubt, was pilot error. I had taken to riding very close to the verge constantly seeking the best route through the rough roads. There is often a gravel build up on the edge of the roads. It was the end of a gruelling day, sun in my eyes...
Thousands of miles from anywhere, with injuries and a broken bike. When I hit the gravel build up I knew I was in trouble. When you're riding solo, the immediate reaction is to standup on the foot pegs. When you're riding two up, maneuverability is impaired by the dead weight of your passenger. I had two choices. I could keep going off the road into a tree, or I could try to maneuver back to the road. I chose the latter of course, which made the front tyre 'snowplough' into the gravel, loosing valuable traction and BAM! down on the flinty Russian mountain road at 35 mph I was fine thanks to my ARAI helmet. Always wear a helmet kids! We got a cheap hotel room, bought some food and champagne and cheered ourselves up. At this point, there was talk of putting ourselves and the bike back on a train to Khabarovsk and call it a day. There is a shock period that always accompanies an accident. Compound that with being so far from home, the uncertainty of the damage to the bike and being in an unfriendly Russian town. Thank heaven's for Nikolai's good humour and companionship.
Nikolai Deb and David Welton, RTW, in Argentina and Chile, F650s,"We left Canada in mid-November and flew back to Mendoza, Argentina to pick up our motorcycles. Our friends Juan Pablo and Juan Luis were both out of town but Juan Luis made arrangements to have his girlfriend Ampora take us to pick up our motorcycles at the cement company where they were stored. Mendoza had a 6.2 magnitude earthquake in September so we expected that they might be sitting at the bottom of a pile of rumble. Instead, the only sign of disturbance was the arm of a mannequin laying on the floor between the two motorcycles. We took the covers off and found them exactly as we had left them. Deb's battery was completely dead and Dave's headlight came on but the bike wouldn't start. We rolled them down a ramp made of cement bags from the room in which they were stored into the larger building where Ampora pulled in her car and jump started Dave's bike. Deb's bike would only run when connected to the car battery so we had to leave it there and Dave took his bike to the BMW dealer, removed the battery then took a taxi back to put the battery in Deb's bike. Luckily the dealer had a new battery.
Andes Mountains outside Mendoza, Argentina ...The ride down from the pass was a series of about fifteen 180 degree turns with trucks moving at about 10 mph or less. It went like this - pass a truck, take the curve, pass a truck, take a curve, pass two trucks, pass the third one in the turn... We didn't want to go to Santiago right away so we spent a several days riding around north and west of Santiago. On one road, we were on our way to the coast and just before getting there saw a sign that said 'Dangerous Curves' for the next 2 kms. No big deal, we see them all the time, then we saw the sign 'End of Pavement'. Deb hates steep dirt roads but managed to make it to the bottom where the pavement picked up again. The road ended right at the ocean. I (Deb) was very concerned about getting back up the steep hill but Dave told me, 'it's much easier going up'. I thought if I could just get through the first two turns, I would be ok. Just as I was coming around the first turn the road had several whoop-de-doos (hills and troughs). I let off the gas to go over slowly and my bike stalled. 'Oh crap!' just when I was ready to bail off, the bike came to a stand still with the back tire sitting a trough. I was upright so I started it up again and gassed it. While Dave in front of me was using the skills we learned in our dirt bike course, (standing up and moving his little butt from side to side to shift his weight) I was flailing all over the place, afraid to let off the gas and cussing the entire way, almost certain that I was going to crash in every turn. Was I ever happy to get to the top of that hill!" |
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Adventure Motorcycling Handbook, by Chris Scott  by Sam ManicomSam's plans frequently don't work out as they should... new challenges and surprises... jailed in Tanzania ...lives in a remote village, canoes a dugout in Malawi, escapes a bush fire and much more. Get it here!
Into the Den of the Bear and the Lair of the Dragon on a Motorcycle. Werner, 66, was born in Germany and worked in Canada until his retirement. He has authored a number of books since getting bit by the motorcycle travel bug, including -8 Around the Americas by Motorcycle, For details on his books see here.
The Producers of Mondo Enduro present Terra Circa, Around the World by Motorcycle (6 x 20 minute episodes). Regular readers of this newsletter will remember Terra Circa's adventures around the world, and especially the Zilov Gap. Now's your chance to see it in video. Austin Vince is a very funny guy and the video is hilarious, as he leads his intrepid crew through misadventure after misadventure. "This is adventure motorcycling" says Chris Scott, who wrote the book, so he ought to know! Contact Aimimage for the PAL video or all format DVD. Don't forget to tell them you heard about it on HU, we'll make a bit, and it won't cost you any more. Looking for a travel book for someone special?Go to our Books pages, where we have listed some of the best motorcycle travel books, as well as a number of BMW books, general motorcycle books, and travel guides. There's links to Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, and Amazon Deutschland, so no matter where you are - you can order books at great prices, and we'll make a dollar or a pound or a Euro, which goes a very little way to supporting this e-zine. There's also links to search Amazon sites for all their products, books, CDs etc., and yes, we get a tiny piece of that too. We really appreciate it when you start your book search from our website! Thanks for the support! NOTE: If you buy a book starting with one of our links below, we get a little bit to help support the website!
Book suggestions please!If you have a book or want a book that you think other travellers would be interested in please let me know and I'll put it on the site. Thanks, Grant Help support your favourite website! Here's how!Please be assured that we will NOT under any circumstances, rent, lease, sell, or give out our mailing list, and/or your name and e-mail address, to anyone for whatever purpose. Your privacy is assured, and personally guaranteed. See our complete Privacy Policy here. Grant Johnson, Editor Please note that you are receiving this newsletter only because you requested it! We are 100% opt - in only. To subscribe or UNsubscribe to this newsletter. Reader commentsAll comments and suggestions are carefully read, and where possible will be acted on. Your help will make this a useful service for all travellers. Please use the Bulletin Board for questions and suggestions. If you would like to advertise your product or service in this newsletter or on the website, please contact me. Ad rates are very reasonable. Details at this link. ISSN 1703-1397 Horizons Unlimited Motorcycle Travellers' E-zine - Copyright 1999-2004, Horizons Unlimited and Grant and Susan Johnson. All rights reserved. Redistribution - sending it on to friends is allowed, indeed encouraged, but other than the following requirements, only with permission. You may forward copies of the Horizons Unlimited Motorcycle Travellers' e-zine by forwarding it yourself by hand. You must forward the issue in its entirety, no fee may be involved. Please suggest they Subscribe! Legal gibberish: (particularly for those in countries that have more lawyers in one town, just for instance, New York, not to name any names, than some whole countries, as another example, Japan. Again, not naming anybody specifically you understand) Recommendations are based on positive or negative experiences of somebody, somewhere. Your mileage (kilometrage if you insist) may vary. We are not responsible in any way for any product or service mentioned, and do not warrant any such mentioned product or service, and are not responsible for any bad things that may befall you. You are responsible for yourself! Act accordingly. We check all links and information given as close as possible to publication, and all info is correct as best we can determine at that time. |
Jeremiah St. Ours, USA, to South America,"I am now in Bolivia. In the past couple of weeks much has happened. I have been run down by a truck, I've broken down in the middle of nowhere, and last night I was robbed--big time. Stories to follow.
Riding the hand built cobblestone road to Santa Lucia Here are a few photos from Bolivia taken prior to the above mentioned fun and games. Thanks for your patience- Jeremiah"
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