RIDING FROM USHUAIA TO BA AND THEN MOTO THEFT
From: "Ricardo Rocco" <aroundforpeace@hotmail.com
To: Tynda
Subject: Southern Rebound: end up in Buenos Aires
Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2001 04:51:29 -0000 Buenos Aires, Argentina March 10, 2001
Ricardo Rocco completes the first leg of the world tour for Peace
The Ecuadorian former rally champion, who is pursuing the objective of traveling around the world, spreading a message of Peace and against drug abuse, flew from Buenos Aires to the city of Quito, Ecuador.
Ricardo Rocco said after his arrival: "I had to take a plane and return home for family and work reasons. I left my motorcycle in Buenos Aires, where I´ll be back by the end of April to ride to the province of Cordoba, to be present at the World Championship Rally race, then travel to Bolivia to visit the Altiplano and the Salar de Uyuni. In Cordoba, I will make some contacts for my possible participation in the Paris - Dakar rally and also write a couple of articles about the race for a newspaper and a magazine in Ecuador."
Rocco left Buenos Aires felling pretty sad, particularly because the motorcycle theft of one of his north American riding partners: "Long distance motorcycle overlanding certainly has its dangers and undoubtedly, crime is one of the greatest risks us motorcyclists have to face. It makes me very angry that my adventure partners Matt and Ed, can not finish their trip riding through Brazil and Venezuela, but I know they will be back to do it, real motorcyclists rarely get beaten by adversity."
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Dear Friends and Sponsors:
I´m sitting in my small apartment in Quito, Ecuador, in front of the brand new computer I was forced too buy when unidentified thieves broke into my former apartment, stealing everything. I´m facing, once again, a blank screen. I´m also facing a new operative system, which I haven´t finished to descifrate yet. I breath deeply, hoping for the ideas to flow: Nothing.
Pretending to grasp some inspiration from the "mate", I drink some of the bitter beverage, bought during last Sunday touristic stroll in the Tigre zone, just outside Buenos Aires. Yes, I ended up in Argentine´s capital, a crazy final destination for an even crazier ride. How does a weekend trip to northern Peru ends up being a ride to the end of the world? The last part of this trip, from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires was..... exhilaratingly boring. Six days of the most totally straight road is too much. On top, they put small side road signs, showing EVERY kilometer ridden. Every ten kilometers, they put a bigger sign indicating the distance left to the next major towns. After days of watching the digits descend one by one, with the same landscape over and over again, the sanity of anyone gets evidently diminished.
My 650 Honda "Dommy", ("dummy" under the rain) which showed efficient competency in the mountain dirt tracks of the Peruvian cordillera and the Chilean south, here shows its shortcomings. The cruising speed of 100 kph. fells like slow motion, although it is a safe speed to keep the single cylinder, air cooled "thumper" engine intact. In this kind of terrain, I miss my other bike, the mighty Super Tenere 750, but considering all the hard facts, the 650 has much more versatility than the 750, allowing the use of more alternative routes: more dirt fun riding.
While crossing for the last time the border from Chile into Argentina, one of the custom guards gives us magnificent news. Today`s weather forecast predicts strong winds of up to 150 kph. across the Pampa. Sorry, no rain, so the fun I was having with my bike quitting under the rain may be over! On the road again, the fun starts. The wind blows constantly from the interior of the continent. When it blows from the side, well, it is a matter of "hanging there" with some body English, even though the neck muscles soon begin to get tired and hurt. Even worst, when there´s a head wind, the bike doesn´t want to go, it makes a huge effort to penetrate the invisible wall of a tenacious wind. When a truck comes the other way, it fells like you´re hitting an invisible rock wall, the small bike feels smaller, vibrating and rattling. This is better than Disneyland! Even though I have to confess that when riding all day in such straight roads, it comes a moment when you don´t know in what else to think. In what the hell am I gonna think now?
On the third day of this great fun, we make it to Puerto Madryn, close to the Valdez Peninsula. There we take a side trip to visit the "loberas" and observe the large quantities of sea Lyons in their natural habitat. After camping for the last time in the beach, we head towards Bahia Blanca, 800 km. short of Buenos Aires. I´m waiting for my friends, that are riding even slower than me. I park under the shade of some trees in front of a gas station, and prepare some coffee. They ride by, while looking in direction of the gas station, of course. I try to catch up with them, but there are 3 huge bypasses next to the city, where I loss sight of them. Ironically, after 2 months and 10.000 km. of riding together, we get lost from each other and make it to Buenos Aires separately.
During the last hundreds of kilometers, I have to "nurse" the bike, riding it very carefully, the front sprocket is going bye bye, braking teeth every time I accelerate too hard. I make it to the big city by 6 p.m. The traffic of the Pan-American Freeway and the northern Access take me to the Belgrano neighborhood, When I get of the freeway into the Cabildo avenue, the vibrating city greets me with its sidewalks full of pedestrians, the billboards, the traffic, the shops. All this excitement contrasts gaudily with the thousand of kilometers of the naked and wild Pampas. A sensation of happiness mixed with tiredness feels me in. I make it to my friends Juan Jose Barufaldi`s home without getting too lost. He welcomes me with a huge hug and some bitter mates, great friendly conversation and motorcycling camaraderie.
Next day I ride to Motor Bikes, a nice shop and garage in the downtown area, where Armando, one of the riders I met in Cuzco, about a month ago, works. There I find my missing children, Ed and Matt, who made it into the city on their own (without getting lost, they might learned something after all, I guess). After organizing the bike R&R, we go to the French Fries Palace, a classic Argentinean restaurant to celebrate with a fantastic steak.
At night, while we where in the Recoleta neighborhood, checking out the action at the many cafes and bars, Ed´s bike got stolen from its parking spot. It was a hard blow for all of us. The bike was locked and they stole it anyway. I have to underline the solidarity of the motorcycling community of Buenos Aires, everybody we knew and even people that we didn´t, began the search of the bike, that became the most wanted, but with no happy results. Feeling very sad I said so long to my for ever friends and riding partners of this trip, whom saw their trip to Brazil and Venezuela suddenly halted. Note: Ed Tarleton e-mail: bigetarleton@yahoo.com Matt Stockpole: satck11@juno.com
I want to thank one more time, to all the persons that have e-mailed me, from Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, countries I visited in this trip and from the rest of the countries of Southamerica, which I visited last year and also from USA, Europe and Australia. My e-mail lists have been growing fast and I had to open a second hotmail address at aroundforpeace2 to be able to send my road stories to all my friends. I will be using also a personal e-mail at: ricardoroccopaz@ecuabox.com, great service provided by on of my sponsors, SATNET.
I want to send a word of encouragement to my friend Ivan Vallejo, the first and only Ecuadorian to climb Everest, who is starting a new adventure in the Himalayas. Good luck and the Energy of the center of the Universe be with you!
Another word of encouragement and a wish of good luck, they gonna need it, to a group of Ecuadorian riders going to the Tunisian Rally, specially to my friend Gabriela Acosta, the best woman rider of Ecuador.
Finally, a big salute full of camaraderie to my moto traveler friends around the world overcoming the obstacles of the road and enjoying every minute of it:
Chris Bright, England, BMW Around the World in Tierra de Fuego www.horinzonsunlimited.com/chrisbright
Simon Milward, England, Hand made Rotax engine, in Asia, Around the World: Millennium Ride, www.millenniumride.com
Greg Frazier, United States, Royal Enfield en la India, Around the World (3th. time) www.horizonsunlimited.com/gregfarzier
Peter and Kay Forwood, Australia, Harley Davidson, Around the World in Africa (230.000 – 110 countries) www.ozemail.com.au/~forwoodp/
Eric Haws, heading towards Europe, www.rio.com/~tynda
Noah Maltz, Southafrica, KTM, Around the World: www.globeride.com
Greg y Matty, Australia, BMW riding the Americas in Argentina
Richard y Chritine Mather, England, BMW, Around the World in Southafrica
Lars y Tina, Germany, Alaska – Ushuaia, Honda Africa Twin.
and to all the riders that are out there, back home or about to start the adventure of their lifetime.
Ricardo Rocco Paz
Alrededor del Mundo por la PAZ
Around the World for PEACE
www.andesmoto-tours.com
PHOTOS in: http://communities.msn.com/AroundtheWorldforPeacePhotos
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APRIL 2001