From: "Erwin Thoma" <erwinthoma@hotmail.comSubject: from Erwin
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 20:49:31Reply Reply All Forward Delete Previous Next CloseHola amigas y amigos,
As I have not written in a long time, I received a couple of letters
requesting a report (at least I know that some of you are reading the
articles, and a few of you are even waiting for them).
At this moment I am in Santiago de Chile -- I'm enjoying a modern city
with a nightlife and washing machines.
While I was swearing in front of motorcycle shop, a Yamaha rider stopped and
invited me to his house. So, I am spending two weeks in his guesthouse.
Incidentally, I was swearing at the local BMW dealer. My battery needs
replacing, and the dealer asked for $160 US. I thought he was joking, but
no, he was serious. I didn't like this BMW dealer -- all the staff were
wearing ties. In my dirty motorcycle gear, I always feel out of place.
Traveling is great. You never knew what will happen next, not even in the
next moment, and mostly the surprises are nice. Again I was lucky: Erwin,
the Yamaha rider, and his family are very nice -- plus I have the
comfort of a house to enjoy by myself. Last week I even got some German
sausages and prezeln -- sorry, I still like German food.
For a long time I did not sleep in a bed. The weeks I traveled through
Argentina, I camped rough. Hotels are too expensive there, but it was a
good trip. It is a mixture of desert and altiplano, the Alps and tropical
jungle -- all within one day. By the way, I was very happy that when the
battery gave up in Argentina, it was in front of a gas station. In the
desert it could have been quite dangerous.
Before I crossed the border into Argentina, I spent some days in San Pedro
de Atakama. This is an oasis, and a good place to relax after a hard trip
over the salt desert of Uyuni in Bolivia (the largest salt desert in the
world). It was a pretty tough ride with deep sand and washboards. The
windshield repair and the turn signal are broken again. If you plan to do
the trip to Uyuni, Laguna Verde, take gas for approximately 400 miles. The
salt desert was easy to cross in October -- it was like a German Autobahn so
I left the beaten track and flew 100 miles over the hard, white salt -- an
experience of freedom. To become disoriented is pretty hard, as I could
always see something
(mountains, and an island also).
Let's take this step by step. From Panama I flew to Columbia (wow, I have
not written for a long time). To make a long story short, Columbia was
great. A family in Bogota invited me to stay with them so I spent a couple
of days in the Colombian capital. My hosts constantly reminded me to be
careful, but I never had the feeling that Bogota is any more dangerous than
other big cities I have visited. Traveling in Columbia WAS GREAT: I only
met nice people and had good experiences, but I tried to avoid dangerous
areas, traveled only in the
daytime, did not rough camp, and used mostly main roads. I would like to go
back again.
Crossing the border into Ecuador was a problem. At customs the officer
(not at the border, I had to go to Tulcan) only gave me a permit for two
weeks. He offered to let me stay longer (up to 3 months), but I would have
to deposit $2,000 US. As I was planning on leaving Ecuador to go to Peru, I
decided not to pay the deposit. I think it would have been very hard to get
it back at the border to Peru. So I had to cross Ecuador pretty fast, but
it is a small country, only 600 miles to cross, but I missed the coast and
the jungle. On the other hand I was very late anyway, as I plan to join the
long distance travelers' New Year's party in Ushuaia. By the way, will I
see some of you there?
In Ecuador I traveled mostly through a beautiful mountain region. The
highlight was hiking up the volcanos. The Cotopaxi was an especially good
experience. The Panamerican Highway in the south is a different kind of an
experience. There is a very bad gravel road to Loja. At the Peruvian border
when I complained to the customs officer about the short permit for the
bike,
he was astonished -- he said that he would have given me a permit for three
months without any problem. I like travelling, you never know what will
happen.
I arrived in Peru with mixed feelings. A lot of tourists had told me
stories about unfriendly people, and that they had been horribly
overcharged -- but I had only good experiences. The country is not nearly
as touristy as Ecuador, and with the Beemer I could easily leave the beaten
path. Again I met nice people, and I had the best experiences far away from
the
highlights mentioned in the guide book. I first crossed the desert in the
north (on a perfectly paved road), and then I saw the Andes again. I drove
over huge dunes, and a couple of hours later I was at 9,000 feet -- for a
European, a great experience.
I spent more than a week in Lima, picking up some tires. It took some
time, but the Continental TKC 80s are worth the wait. Without these tires I
would have been stuck much more often, and the deep sand in Bolivia would
have been a nightmare, not an adventure. It was a lot of work to get them
through customs in Lima, and very expensive (thanks go to Continental for
paying the cost of shipping). Without the help of the guys at Continental in
Hannover (Germany), Andres at BMW in Bogota, and the local BMW dealer
(thanks again, Alexander), I would still be in Lima. A nice city, but after
staying there ten days, I had seen enough.
Highlights in Peru were Lake Titicaca and Cusco. In Cusco I met some very
nice Israelis, and I spent most of my time with them. As a German, I still
find it awkward to meet Jewish people. I am always wondering what happened
to their families under the Nazi regime, and whether they truly like to have
contact with Germans. After travelling so much, this was the first time
that I had close contact with Israelis -- I think made friends with them,
and maybe one day I will visit them.
I spent two weeks in Cusco. I visited the sacred valley, Machu Picchu, and
a lot of other places which are all worth seeing. The Inca trail was
shocking. Small Peruvians climb steep trails carrying huge loads of stuff,
and prepare luxurious meals for tourists in tents (it all looks like the
pictures I have seen of the colonization/conquest). The tourists are hardly
able to make it up the passes, so even their daybags are sometimes carried
by the guides. I carried over ten kilos of stuff, and the tourists looked
worse than me -- and I did not look very good sweating and panting -- some
of them were ten years younger than me. I did not want to know what the
porters thought of them. By the way, the porters were paid $3 US a day for
their hard work.
At Lake Titicaca the BMW broke down. The choke and the clutch cables
severed the main electric cable serving the ignition. It was a strange
feeling, in the middle of nowhere, with the electrical
something failing totally -- but after a couple of hours I
found the failure, and made an emergency repair which lasted until La Paz in
Bolivia. By the way, there is just one BMW dealer in Peru (in Lima), and
there is no BMW motorcycle dealer Bolivia (however, the Honda dealer in La
Paz is a good place to go if you have problems -- Walter is a nice guy).
The ride from Lake Titicaca to La Paz was thrilling. The farmers
(campesinos) blocked the roads to protest the high prices for water
and gas, and some other reasons. Broken glass and stones covered the roads
for miles, and sometimes wired fences and barricades blocked the road -- it
was an adventure to pass through. It took three days to go a distance of
100 miles. I hope the photos will turn out OK. It was an experience to
pass by demonstrating groups, as you never knew how they will react toward
passing tourists. On my way I meet a walking backpacker (no bus could be
used), and a peddle bike rider. We traveled in a group (I took the
backpacker on my bike) to avoid big problems, but no one threw stones at
us -- only one group was aggressive and tried to break off my signals, but I
shouted at them and went around as fast as possible.
Now I am in Santiago de Chile and relaxing a little, washing me and all my
stuff, which by now is absolutely necessary. After weeks in deserts and
woods, I enjoy being in a big city -- I met some very nice people here.
The prices of spare parts are horrible, but to have them sent from Germany
is even more expensive. After servicingt the bike I will leave for Tierra
del Fuego.
If you want more information or want to contact me use
erwinthoma@hotmail.com.
Erwin
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