I started my trip on the 1st December 2009 by flying to Cancun, Mexico. From there I backpacked, by bus, to Belize then Guatemala (where I took some Spanish language lessons), Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and across the isthmus to Columbia by cargo boat. I always intended to buy a motorbike in Columbia or Ecuador (and continue South on it) but was defeated by high importation taxes (which largely “pushed up” the second-hand market). In Lima, Peru I bought a cheap chinese motorbike. On the 6th July 2010 I started the motorcycle part of the trip, this is the “Motorcycle Diary” ! I want to ride the length of the Andes to Ushuaia, Argentina.
If you are interested in the first part of my trip, from Cancun, Mexico to Lima, Peru, then the salient parts are contained in these 3, long, emails;
The first email sent from Central America - Xmas 2009
The second email sent from Cartagena, Columbia - Easter 2010
The third email sent from La Paz, Bolivia - Summer 2010
Why a motorbike trip ?
Well it all started in 1984 when I read Ted Simon´s "Jupiters Travels". I´ve wanted to do a long solo motorcycle trip ever since ! But not the whole world ! I thought South America might be the best section to do. Buses in Central / South America are mostly excellent and take you very efficiently, rapidly (and cheaply) between towns but you miss so much in-between, and it´s not easy to get off in-between bus stations.
My thinking was that I would be a "Backpacker biker" rather than a Motorcycle tourer. A small bike would be economical, easy & cheap to repair, easy to find a repairer (in South America small bikes are the norm, you rarely see anything bigger than a 250cc), light enough to lift into Hotel reception rooms, which is usually fine, often they let you leave it outside your room ! I thought the roads would be sufficiently bad that low speeds (50 - 70 kph) would be all that was achieveable anyway, though I´ve been mostly wrong on that point. At the end of the trip I can hopefully try and sell the bike (if still working), or give it away, but I did not have to transport it from Europe, or will have to return it there.
Web photo albums (in order of time)
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mark.g.blackburn/CentralAmerica2009Album1#
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mark.g.blackburn/CentralAmerica20092010Album2#
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mark.g.blackburn/SouthAmerica2010Album1#
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mark.g.blackburn/MotorcycleDiary2010Album1#
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mark.g.blackburn/MotorcycleDiary2010Album2#
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mark.g.blackburn/Antarctica2010#
and finally..
https://picasaweb.google.com/mark.g.blackburn/SouthAmerica2010Album2#
and some short movie clips from my whole trip are here (hit "see all" for all !!)
http://www.youtube.com/user/fribblefribble
contact me: mark_gb@hotmail.com
