Literally. Since riding into Patagonia, both Chilean and Argentinian, the temperature has plummeted. Our first clue as to the coming change in climactic conditions was during a border crossing, where as we climbed up across the Andes once more, the rain began to turn to snow, and the temperature gauge on the bike dropped to 1 degree Celsius. Not great on a motorbike. At least we had changed our now bald road tyres for full on knobblies in advance of the dirt roads ahead, affording at least some modicum of grip in the thick snow. Since then, the weather has been [View Full Entry]

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Since Peru, we have spent the last week riding down through Chile and Argentina, traversing the Atacama Desert, and crossing the Andes a couple of times in the process. In all we have been moving for 7 straight days, and have covered around 2,000 miles both on tarmac and various kinds of dirt road, finally arriving in Santiago, Chile. There's been an awful lot of wide open spaces and mountains, so expect a few pictures of us and the bike in picturesque settings in this episode... Standout features: Atacama desert Unsurprisingly, it's big, and it's sandy. Apart from the odd [View Full Entry]

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Entering Peru was a bit of a shock after the varied and generally colourful landscapes of Colombia and Ecuador. As soon as we crossed the mountainous border into the north, we dropped down to the coastal desert, which stretches all the way down the country to the West of the Andes. Frankly, it's a bleak, sunblasted and windblown place, the monotony of the endless sand landscapes being livened up only by the frequent piles of landfill at the side of the Pan American Highway, and the occasional semi-ruined shack or building. The towns in this region, which are well off the [View Full Entry]

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Short for two reasons: a) We only stayed three days, swiftly despatching the (rather twisty) 700 or so miles from the Colombian border to the Peruvian border. b) The people. They're tiny. Even smaller than the Guatemalans. Not much else to report, except we crossed the equator, so I suppose in some sort of strange way, we've reached the half way mark, again. Also, temporarily suspending twenty years of vegetarianism, I ate a mouthful of Guinea Pig. Frankly, it's not tempted me back to full time meat-eating. Next stop, Peru. Adios! [View Full Entry]

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'Nuff said - simply being able to come and ride through this fantastic country is a major result, as up until recently, there's no way that Foreign Office advice would have allowed an overland bike trip like this to take place (insurance etc). Here's the story since Panama... Crossing the Darien Gap This is one hundred miles of swamp and jungle that separates Panama from Colombia. For economic/geographical/logistical/political reasons (choose one or more of the above), no-one has yet built a road through it, so we had to park ourselves (and our bikes) into planes for the one hou [View Full Entry]

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Ah, my favourite palindrome of all time, and now I get to use it as a blog title - result! We arrived in Panama City yesterday, and thus came to the halfway point of our journey, in terms of: Miles - we have covered over 10,000 miles of the 20,000 (ish) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Ushuaia, Argentina. Time - we are nine and a half weeks in, with nine and a half to go. Symbolism - Panama, and the canal in particular, represents the meeting point between the northern and southern parts of the continent, as well being a bridge [View Full Entry]

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Excuse me while I dust off the old 'you couldn't make it up' cliche, but that really is the name of the (ex) President of Honduras, who was unfortunately (for him) removed by military coup a few months ago. However, it wouldn't have felt like an authentic trip through Central America if there wasn't some kind of large scale political turmoil underway, so hats off to Honduras for stepping up to the plate and giving us a good old fashioned military backed junta-state to ride through. Apart from being stopped at army checkpoints every now and again, and having to negotiate [View Full Entry]

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It's three days since we officially made the transition from North to Central America, via Mexico into Guatemala. And what a change. The whole country is going bonkers in the run up to independence day, which is the 15th of September. They managed to kick out the Spanish in 1823, and it was obviously such a big relief that they celebrate it each year with a massive party lasting two days. It's a very poor country (the lowest GDP in all of Central and South America), but the friendliness of the people, the colours, and the subtropical volcanic landscape make it [View Full Entry]

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Contrary to the assurances given to us by most people we met north of the border in the USA, we have survived a week in Mexico, and have neither: a) Been struck down by a vicious mutant form of the swine flu virus. Nor: b) Been riddled with machine gun crossfire after being caught up in a savage battle between the military and the narco-terrorists. Furthermore, I have been trying out my Spanish on the locals, and have thus far managed to avoid (as far as I'm aware) asking "would you mind if I fondled your wife's breasts?" whilst seeking directions. [View Full Entry]

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Greetings, guns 'n ammo fans! We started our journey through the US with the antics of the Alaskan Machine Gun Association, so it seems fitting that we should leave the place with one final display of the instrumentation of mayhem and death courtesy of 'The Boneyard', or the Aircraft Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) as it is properly known. Located in Tucson's South East quarter, this is a massive area of desert dedicated to the storage, recommisioning and decomissioning of over half a century's worth of airborne military hardware. There are over 4,300 planes here in various s [View Full Entry]

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