For those that are interested, the plan for the next few days is:
San Juan today (17th)
Ride to Mendoza (18th and 19th)
Spend a few days in Mendoza (20-22 maybe)
Ride to Santiago de Chile, over another pass (23, 24, 25)
Spend some time in Santiago – maybe as much as a week (26-next year). A few things we need to get there.
So it looks like I’ll be away from chaos for Christmas.
Well, a bit happened in the last few days – so much I haven’t even been on the net.
I spent a morning with John looking for motorbikes in Quito. As I’ve said before, this is a strange town. There is a complete absence of a second hand market in motorbikes. The few that I could find were ridiculously overpriced (not much less than new and beaten up terribly). So after an hour or so of helpful phone calls John, I decided not to buy a cheap Chinese import (if a dealer tells you the brake master cylinder is dodgy, and the bikes are not put together well over the phone you should reconsider getting one to ride across the continent). So the bike was out.
John then took me to a Land Rover repair guy who had a few Series 3 ´Rovers for sale. Considering these are early ’80’s cars, they were is remarkable condition. I was sorely tempted, I had even sussed out the paperwork required, and it was all possible. What a change that would be, from a bike to a car in an hour or so.
After a few minutes consideration, I decided that that is a trip I would love to do, but not this time. So it was back to a motorbike or buses. Until I met a Dutch cyclist who had just come from Ushuia. That was rather unfortunate. I started talking to him about the route, etc, and complaining that I couldn’t find the panniers, racks, etc here otherwise I might do the return leg of his journey. I got seriously keen again on the bike idea (and much to my mothers disappointment I’m sure) changed my mind again. I bought his front panniers, and his bike computer, and stole a few of his ideas re route. Meeting someone like this was a serious coincidence (I later found out that a Swiss couple going from Ushuia to Canada had passed through 2 days ago – I saw them ride past me, but didn’t stop them to talk. I also met a Belgian couple who had finished a Buenos Aires to Quito tour yesterday – perhaps there are more cyclists than I thought.)
Well, to cut a long story short (anyone who has been shopping with me will agree that it a long process) I eventually bought a new Orbea bike. I found some pannier racks after a great deal of searching. I’ve bought the best saddle and gloves I could find – hopefully this trip doesn’t destroy me.
And yesterday I rode to the equator, only 25km north. The trip has to at least start at the equator. I didn’t take all of my gear, but a fair portion of it. And I can tell you now – the hills / mountains will be all sorts of fun 
And today I may or may not leave Quito. It’s 10am, I haven’t packed and I don’t really know which route I should take. Perhaps I’ll just go a short distance.
It’s a damn long way to Ushuia. 12000kms. I´ve come 25. Perhaps 6 or 7 months. To be honest, it is a little daunting. But hey, I’ve got nothing else I should be doing. This is going to be a hell of a trip
I have a few mins to kill this morning – my lovely Scottish friend is on the phone at the moment trying to track down a motorbike for me. He’s still trying to convince me that a car is the better option and it probably is (it is definately safer). But it’s less like what I wanted, so I’ll keep looking for a motorbike. By the end of today I reckon I’ll either have a plan to ride a motorbike or be getting ready to catch a bus (and continue on buses until something better comes up). Unless I fall over a good quality second hand bike with panniers on my travels today (that is not going to happen).
So I thought I’d upload some photos. Plugged in my USB stick. And nothing. Try again. Nothing. Different computer. Uh oh. All my emails… all my passwords… photos… It appears I was relying too heavily on one device. Did I make a backup somewhere… I hope so and I’ve just forgotten. I know for sure that the photos on there are with Ol and Jess (please tell me the DVD is ok Jess ).
Life goes on. Somehow.
Quito is a very strange place. Three nights I have now been here and I’m struggling to work out where the hell everyone goes during the day. I know yesterday was a Sunday, but really, why are none of the shops open duruing the day, or for that matter, any of the night? It is frustrating my attempt at pricing a motorbike or a pushy. Although today, I am preferring the motorbike idea. The car idea has fallen away – maybe if I had a travelling companion it’d be a goer, but solo I only need two wheels.
We’ll see.
Dillemma of the day… I met an ex-Scottish bloke today who is looking for a cheap 4wd in Quito. So he got me thinking that maybe that would be a better option for me. I’ve been in buses now for a fair chunk of Peru and Ecuador and i am a bit surprised at the amount of desert and pretty dull country I’ve been in. There has been good places, don’t get me wrong, but spending days at a time slogging through desert or up a freaking big hill is looking less entertaining.
Options are:
Join the Gringo trail and stay on the buses
Get a cheap car
Get a motorbike
Get a pushy.
Hmm. I’ve still got plenty of time to decide. I’ll look around Quito while I mull it over.
For someone who is deliberately not planning very far ahead, you’d think I’d have nothing to do, except maybe cool my heels before I left. Right? Well, I seem to be busy doing stuff every day. Ok, it’s not much stuff, but at least I’m keeping busy.
Otherwise I might have to entertain myself. In this weather that could get very chilly (it is really really cold here – after Queensland I’m wearing a beanie, two woollen shirts, jeans, etc, and the heater is on).
Now I have travel insurance. For 9 months (seems like a good starting point, I expect to be extending the policy). I have been rejected in a credit card application (it looked good with no fees, but the application was lacking a certain ‘oomph’ when I had to say I was unemployed 
). I have new cards from the accounts I regularly use. Tonight I noticed that my backup credit card is going to run out of date this month… New one will have to be ordered tonight. (doh!)
Vaccinations sorted. International drivers license sorted. Talked to the banks a few times (they like to know what you are doing in more detail than I want to know right now).
When I look at the list of things I’ve done (and still have to do), I probably could knock it over quicker than I have, but then… What else would I do for the next week? Sit outside in the cold?
Only 11 days until I fly out. Still plenty to do.
The end of work countdown was a bit of an anti climax. I was able to finish the job quicker that expected, and have since flown back to Adelaide to spend some time with family and friends before leaving for South America.
This weekend has been the first time I have been unemployed in my adult life. Well, no – I didn’t work for all of the final year of my degree. But other than that.
So that is that. No more work for me until I get sick of travelling. And with careful financial management, that may be a while Hopefully a year.
Oh goodness, dial up is slow when you get used to (even slow) broadband.
Just watched The Motorcycle Diaries. Story about Che Guevara and a trip with a friend across Latin America (on a motorcycle). It made me realise that I didn’t know anything about the man, and have since spent a few hours on the Internet. Now I feel much more informed. I’m going to miss the instant on knowledge that the Internet can provide.
One scene in the movie (especially) made me think. A couple were basically fleeing for their life to find work and food, and encountered Che travelling. They asked why he was travelling. After giving their account, Che had no answer. I guess I’m going to be in a similar situation. I’m about to go travelling because I can – there is no government stopping me, or starvation to deal with. All it takes is a flash of inspiration or desire and I can go, where so many others have to break their backs every day to simply survive.
<delete rant on the inequity of the world. also delete rant on capitalism. – it’s too late (at night) for me to make any kind of sense on these issues>
I got a package from Canada today. It contained my latest camping gadget – another single man tent. This one is a bit different though – it’s a hammock (from Hennesy Hammocks). I thought I’d try one out as a possible replacement for my Macpac Ultralight.
The hammock is pretty small (when packed) and probably about the same internal area… of course I set it up in the backyard after dinner! I think the best part may be saving weight and volume by not having to carry a thermarest, but the obvious downside will be needing to find trees each night I want to camp. Casting my mind back, there have been very few campsites I’ve stayed at without trees, or at least without trees within a few minutes walk. So hopefully this wont be a major problem until the Altiplano (Bolivian highlands), where, to all accounts, there are no trees. For days. Oh well, sleeping under the stars might not be so bad for a while.
I suspect that gringo travellers of any kind will cause a stir as they pass through villages in SA, but one who carries a hammock might be a bit more of a novelty.
I wonder if camping with all of this single person gear is contributing to my relationship status?
The training climbing / surfing trip didn’t happen on Sunday. So I read, moped around, juggled, slept, walked and… well I guess you could only call it relaxed.
Climbing tonight was on though! Except the people I expected to be there, weren’t. But others were, so it’s all good.
A few days ago I decided to start my holiday proper (after climbing, messing about and having fun near Lima with Ol and Jess) in Ecuador. I have no special reason why there exactly, but it makes a lot more sense than starting in Terra del Fuego in August. Yesterday I decide that flying from Lima to Santiago to ski for a week, and then flying right back on my way to Ecuador, and then travelling back down the country overland didn’t make a whole lot of sense. It would be great to ski with Ol and Jess, and I hope that by piking now I’m not ruling myself out of future trips (although I might be). C’est la vie.
I got an electronic copy of my passport photo from my housemate (who is a pro photographer if you are in Brissy and need a wedding taken). I thought I’d place it on Flickr. Yes, it’s me. See?
Tonight was a failed climbing night. I rocked up full of enthusiasm and sweat only to find the people with the ropes had already had enough and wanted to go home. So we watched the state of origin instead. Qld won, I guess that means ‘we’ won. Yay. Clearly not enough enthusiasm.
So I think something just went click in my head. Actually, it probably went crash! And probably long ago… I have had this grand plan of riding the Americas. I don’t know why. It probably comes from the same place as riding form Oz to UK came from. Since I’ve done some research, it doesn’t sound half as challenging going by motorbike – only cycling will really count. For some reason, I wanted to start at the southern tip and go north. This has been troubling me as July/August practically in Antarctica doesn’t sound like heaps of fun. Today (or rather late tonight) I stumbled across a blog of someone who has cycled from Ecuador south. That sounds like a much better plan.
Current plan:
Climb / Walk in Peru
Ski in Chile
early August, get back to Peru, get a bike
Get to Ecuador
Ride to Ushuaia
hmmm… could work.
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