South America by XRV750 Africa Twin & Ural

The black art of moving from A to B on foreign soil
Whippet
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Re: South America by XRV750 Africa Twin & Ural

Post by Whippet »

Great photo's and ride report Mark, keep them coming, always wanted to do S. America . Looks like your having a ball, enjoy :D
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mark vb
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Re: South America by XRV750 Africa Twin & Ural

Post by mark vb »

Spike941 wrote: Tue Jan 23, 2018 10:46 pm Thanks for the update. Sounds like you’re having a trip most of us can only dream of. Got me thinking of how I can turn it into a reality.
Honestly, most things are possible if you put your mind to it and are determined enough. A bike trip such as our may seem daunting at the outset but, for example, you could rent your house out to part fund a trip; take part of a pension as a tax-free lump sum if over 55; take a cheap-ish but proven older bike rather than a totally unnecessary, big, newish bike; and sea-freight the bike rather than air freight it. One way that's crossed my mind which would have cut our shipping costs would've been to ride across Russia to the Americas but unfortunately we haven't the time for this (at least on this trip!). We've met a number of people over here who've been travelling for years on bikes, almost all of them on fairly modest (but eminently sensible) bikes - 250cc trail bikes, little V-Stroms, KLR650's, old Africa Twins and so on. Having said that, the chap whose place we're staying at now rode a GS1200 260,000km over 6 years with only 4 minor faults which were mainly electrics-related! Just to get the juices flowing, imagine yourself riding along and over the Andes, maybe along some ripio (unpaved/gravel) roads with the warm sun beating down over a beautiful lake such as below........start planning now! :)
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Re: South America by XRV750 Africa Twin & Ural

Post by mark vb »

An update further to my previous one of Jan …..we’re now in the Atacama desert, having headed north on the Pan-American Highway from Pucon in the Chilean lake district to the sweltering capital, Santiago, and then on to the Elqui Valley, home of the Chilean national drink, Pisco (grape brandy), and a number of astronomical observatories. More lately, we’ve continued on to Bahia Inglesa, a sandy bay located to the southern fringe of the Atacama, where English pirates found a convenient spot to lie low from the Spanish navy in the C17, hence the name ‘Bay of the English’. Then onto Pan de Azucar National Park further along the Atacama coast, onto Antofagasto and now San Pedro de Atacama, a small town in the middle of the northern desert.
Highlights have included:
Spending some time in a bikers’ hostel, Casa Matte, in central Santiago. It’s a large, comfortable, old house located in a beautiful residential part of the city, only 10 minutes’ walk from the city centre. We intended to stay a day or two but ended up staying a week! It was interesting and relaxing chatting to like-minded motorcycle travellers who were constantly coming and going, some of whom have been on the road for years. A pleasant chap from Wolverhampton, John, had been on the go for over ten years, currently on an XT660R. We also got to see some of the Formula E Grand Prix which was being held on the city centre. The owner of the hostel is a Yamaha fan, so much so that there is an XT500 and XTZ600 Tenere permanently residing in his living room, which all are welcome to use to relax in.
Exploring the Elqui Valley, a few hundred miles north of Santiago. We camped for a week in the corner one of the many vineyards, close to the town of Vicuna. Our vineyard had an observatory in its grounds, so late one night we joined one of their star-gazing sessions, which was fascinating. We attended a tour of the a nearby Pisco distillery, with the good fortune to have an English-speaking guide all to ourselves. With added lemon juice, the Pisco Sour is a delightful drink. We also had lunch at one of two solar kitchens – the tenderest goat meat and potatoes you can imagine, cooked purely by the sun’s rays in what looked like mini-greenhouses.
Camping at Bahia Inglesa next to the Pacific Ocean. Rather than erect our tent again, we decided to give ourselves a Valentine’s Day present and hire a Dome for three nights, complete with small kitchen and shower room.
Riding through the Atacama Desert, the driest place on earth. The massive, rocky sand dunes are totally awesome…..everything is now rock and sand, and even the cacti now seem to have largely disappeared. We rode past an open-cast copper mine at one point, with dumper trucks the size of an average 3-bed house.
Riding the outfit in the heat. I bought an open-face lid for the trip, and it was certainly the right decision. Shorts and T-shirt are also the order of the day when things get too hot…..with almost no risk of falling off, contrary to the case with two wheels. Factor 50 sun cream is, however, necessary!
Some photos -
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Re: South America by XRV750 Africa Twin & Ural

Post by Flintlock »

Brilliant. What a trip.

Keep it coming.
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Re: South America by XRV750 Africa Twin & Ural

Post by mark vb »

We’ve now crossed the Andes at the Paso de Jama, from the north of Chile to northern Argentina, rising to almost 5,000 metres (16,000 ft). The Andes are quite wide at this point so we were at high altitude for a hundred miles or so, before descending to around 3000 meters at the end of the day’s ride. The descent along Ruta 52, into Argentina, provided more stunning landscapes, and the opportunity to take the many hairpin using the sidecar and bike’s rear brakes to steer to the left and right, respectively.
The salt flats at Salinar Grande, located just into Argentina , were stunning – thirty miles of salt, which could easily be mistaken for snow at distance.
After a day sightseeing in Salta, the main city in the north of Argentina, we pressed on to Cafayate which is from where I type this post. Again, more stunning scenery and continued sunny skies and warm air.
We had a puncture on top of the Andes, and to coin a phrase, it was truly in the middle of nowhere. The tyre was in perfect order. The cause transpired to be the failure of a manufacturing imprint cast into the Heidenau inner tube. The square section tyre, of the same make, was a bit of a chore to get off the wheel rim, but much easier to get back on. While we were doing this, a local chap on a 125 pulled up alongside us claiming to be nearly out of fuel. We gave him some from our jerrycan – he offered no payment, but gave us a handful of Coca leaves!
Some photos -
Salt flats at Salinar de Grande
At the top of the Andes - we saw many llama
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Re: South America by XRV750 Africa Twin & Ural

Post by mark vb »

More photos -
We stayed in this shack the other night - £8 for two complete with en-suite & kettle!
On the way to Cafayate.
Decent tyre levers save the day when tackling a stiff, square tyre!
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Re: South America by XRV750 Africa Twin & Ural

Post by mark vb »

Sidecar alert!
Sitting having lunch at a restaurant yesterday in Cafayate town plaza, we got talking to 2 U.S. guys on GS1200's who were riding Columbia to Ushuaia as part of a Globe Riders 61-day organised tour. The tour leader, Helge Pedersen (of Darien Gap fame), and another guy rode in 2 hrs later both on superb outfits, a 1150GSA+Ural & a 1200GSA+Ural lookalike with glassfibre body.
Out of curiosity, I later googled Globe Riders website.....the cost is staggeringly huge, but you do get a back-up truck 😊
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Re: South America by XRV750 Africa Twin & Ural

Post by diggermanbob »

Great stuff looks like a fantastic trip , I'm into my sidecars so very interested. :D
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Re: South America by XRV750 Africa Twin & Ural

Post by Nico-D »

Great write up and pics, keep 'em coming and thanks for posting !

S America has been on my 'to do' list for far too many years...
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Re: South America by XRV750 Africa Twin & Ural

Post by mark vb »

Nico-D wrote: Mon Mar 05, 2018 8:25 pm S America has been on my 'to do' list for far too many years...
Argentina & Chile are wonderful places.....mindblowingly beautiful scenery ranging from glacial to arid desert, roads ranging from excellent to challenging, much emptiness, exceptionally friendly & helpful people, no need for visas, and much more. The dozen or so world bike travellers we've met over here all rate the south half of S. America among their favourite places. We still have to check out Uruguay and hopefully southern Brasil too, over the next few weeks, and the reports we've had on both are good. Sadly, we won't get to Columbia on this trip - all the folks we've talked to who've ridden there rate it very highly.
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