Our friend Larry from Nova Scotia, Canada, sent us some photos of his recent ride on his BMW R100GS motorcycle down through Central America and into South America. It turned out to be a completely hair-raising experience. Larry's trip report continues with Section Two: Buenas Aires, Argentina, to Uruguay, Brazil, Venezuela to Bogata, Columbia, and then on to Miami.

Well, I figured I had better write a more or less final trip report for this current journey lest people think I succumbed in the jungle...

I begin this update as I am waiting to ship my bike to Miami from Bogota, Colombia having finished my loop around South America. I may have to finish writing this narrative in Miami while waiting for my bike to arrive there, after which I will get a bit of service to calm its old-age contankerousness and head on home to Nova Scotia.

Ferry from Buenas Aires, Argentina, to Montevideo, Uruguay

I was originally going to end my trip in Buenas Aires, Argentina, and ship me and my bike back to Canada from there. Well, I decided I wasn't through riding yet and hadn't seen the east side of the continent. It was too cold to go further south in Argentina (and unlike other folks who haven't seen as much snow and ice as me I did not count that as a motivating factor). So, I canceled my travel to Canada and headed off to Uruguay from Buenas Aires on the ferry after getting a visa for Brasil (first one I had to get in advance of arriving at the border).

Uruguay was nice but I gave it short shrift as I dashed through it to get to Brasil. I only stayed two nights in Uruguay, one in Colonia (nice little colonial-style town as the name suggests) and another in a little beach village on the coast where I stayed in the hostel-home of a fisherman. Once, when I stopped to get my bearings in the capital city of Montivideo, a biker stopped and asked me in Espanol if I needed assistance. He was head of the local bikers group under the nombre of LAMA...Latin American Motorcycle Association. He invited me to his home to stay but I had to go. I was to learn that there are lots of enthusiastic bikers in South America who are very supportive of other bikers traveling through...just great people and I was fortunate to meet some of them.

It was still cool in Uruguay after Argentina, with some rain thrown into the mix, but the weather warmed up as I headed north again into Brasil. I stopped in a little town called Curachiba and stayed with a biker/policeman named Reginaldo who invited me through the very helpful biker website Horizons Unlimited (run by Canadians Grant and Sue Johnson and much acclaimed by international overland bikers). Reginaldo's mechanic friend rebuilt my windshield and found me a new mirror which had succumbed to my spill in Bolivia. Great people.

Vladimir, 67 year-old Russian motorcyclist in Rio de Janerio, Brazil

Then on to Rio de Janerio, Brazil, but first I had to get past Sao Paulo which sounded too big and crazy for me to visit. So I skirted it to the south and headed for Rio. I stayed in a hostel there and met some interesting types including a 67 year-old Russian biker who had been on the road for twenty years, and he was deafer and dumber than me! I also met three Aussie bikers with whom I met up again later in Belem, Brazil. Rio de Janerio was big and interesting. I checked out the beach babes at Cococabana and Ipanema, and took the cable car to top of Sugarloaf Mountain. I pigged out at eateries where you drew from a large buffet and they weighed your plate...lots of seafood and bbq meats and stuff.

Larry on Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janerio

Cable car on Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janerio

After a couple days in Rio de Janerio, though, I needed to get out and headed up the Brazilian coast for the smaller city of Salvador. I rode some beach roads and did the last part on a little ferry and a fellow biker guided me to a hostel off a neat little square where I wanted to stay. I had a couple relaxing days there and I liked the lively but friendly atmosphere of Salvador, and I wouldn't mind going back some day. Carnivale in March/April is supposed to be pretty special.

Brazilian girl working at my hotel in Salvador, Brazil

Larry with motorcycle mechanic, Romeo

Then it was time to head northwest to Belem at the mouth of the mighty Amazon River, the river with the most water flow of all the world's rivers. I met up with another biker named Alex who also ran a bike shop...got my carbs cleaned by his able mechanic Romeo. Residue from some bad gasoline had really clogged up my jets and made my engine run rough. Alex also heads up a biker group and they spearhead a number of charitable activities to help the indigenous Amazon people in the area...a very committed and amiable group of men and women. I went to one of their meetings and promised to help write up their efforts in English to get wider support.

Translation: Watch out for critters!

  

This feature originally appeared in June 2010 - Updated: 06/17/2010

All photos courtesy of Larry S.