A bit of background: Between mid-1999 and early 2002 I rode around the world, that is UK through the Middle East and trans-Africa followed by New York to the Arctic circle to Tierra del Fuego, including about 9 months in South America. The bike I rode then was a 1989 BMW r100gs that had various names: Janis (too nice a name, allegedly), Helga (German and functional), the Wife (An Ethiopian policeman at a checkpoint upon demanding to know the make of vehicle for his ledger said it stood for “Be My Wife”), Ex-wife (we developed a rider/ridee relationship: She promised not to break down and I promised not to fall off…) and finally Goaty (as in “Old Goat”). The story of that trip is at my website at Round the World TBSdotCom

In mid/late 2015 I was at a bit of a loose end and with less than a week of planning and prep I flew to Brazil, bought a pre abused 2005 Kawasaki KLR650 and set off. The trip was meant to last only 3 months (budgetary constraints), but took 8 (helped by creative accounting)… The guy who sold me the bike had called her/it “Klarissa”. No guesses why. As she/it already looked so cosmetically beaten up, Klamidia seemed a suitable new name. On a Facebook post, a spelling bee corrected the spelling. I wonder how he knew?

So, the thread title is becoming clearer… Many things have changed in the world, in South America, in the “adventure” bike market niche, and of course, with me. I’m more ruggedly handsome, have gone grey, put on a bit of weight and am still bald. In this RR I want to compare the sights, sounds and experiences from the trip on the Wife to Chlamydia’s safari 15 years later. I revisited lots of places, saw many new sights, met old friends and made new ones. I also travelled to/through places like Antarctica and Colombia that I missed last time due to timing and security constraints.

My 2015/16 route was rather haphazard with several places visited more than once. I’ll explain the route in the following posts. I’m going to have to present it chronologically as any other way would do my head in. I want to show images from the Millennium trip and compare what I saw and how I felt then and 15 years on.

Please do ask questions and make comments. Hope you like the pictures and words. Here is a selection from the 15/16 trip.



End of the road in Argentina. 3rd visit, February 2015





Antarctic yacht





Mt Fitzroy, Patagonia, Argentina





Chlamydia and friend, Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia





The ultimate wildcamp? Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia





Toby Price, 2016 Dakar winner, Stage 6, near Turpiza, Bolivia





The podium, Rosario, Argentina. I had sneaked into the VIP area





Flamingos, Lagunas route, the long way. Bolivia to Chile





The "so called" Death Road into the Yungas, Bolivia. Not so dangerous these days





Bemused Peruvian lady





Girl and sister, on a slightly longer detour around a landslide, northern Peru





Is he taking our picture? Dunno, bald git... Coffee triangle, Colombia





End to end done... Santa Marta, Colombia

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Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective