Fernweh Travels

Skiing in Zermatt

2010-12-09T10:41:00.001+01:00

My mountain hide away!

2010-02-06T16:11:00.001+01:00

Crateing the bike

2009-11-30T19:36:00.001+01:00

On the Amazon

2009-08-08T18:41:00.001+02:00

On the Amazon

Pantanal

2009-06-08T16:31:00.008+02:00

Never heard of the Pantanal? Don’t feel bad, I think most people haven’t, including me for all that matters. Everybody seems to be too occupied with the much flashier Amazon. The Pantanal is the world's largest fresh-water wetland system, a giant swamp the size of France basically. Well, at least half the year, when it floods because of rains in the surrounding mountain ranges. Then vast lagoons appear and fill with squillions of fish, shellfish and mollusks. During dry season, the water begins to recede very slowly but not all the fish make it to the permanent rivers. Some get stranded in the disappearing pools and present an open buffet for other animals. This time normally starts around June and last until October and is naturally the best time for a visit.

Visiting the Pantanal is like being in your very own documentary about wild life in Brazil. There are no tracking skills required. The wildlife is practically parading in front of you and doing its best to completely ignore you. Only exception being the mosquitoes that far from ignoring you seem to think you are actually the main dish!

Mostly you go to the Pantanal to do animal watching. Hard to miss are the birds. They are everywhere. I am not a birdwatcher, but it was hard not to be fascinated. The beautiful Macaws could always be heard long before you actually saw them. Kingfishers and hawks were a dime a dozen and even a greenhorn like me recognized the stunning Toucans with their big beaks. The Jabiru, the symbol of the Pantanal, is a stork easily recognized by the red band around his neck.

Apart from the birds, the animals you come across most often in the Pantanal are the Jacarés (Caimans or Pantanal alligators) and the Capybaras. The latter is the world’s biggest rodent, basically a gigantic guinea pig!

Other animals are a bit more elusive, but in my short visit to the Pantanal I also saw an anteater, a tapir, an ocelot, marsh deer, a fox, river otters, monkeys and last but not least a Jaguar!

I was very lucky to see a Jaguar. I saw it while on a night safari on Fazenda San Francisco in the Southern Pantanal. It was an amazing sight. This beautiful cat lay on the bank of a canal a stone throw away and did not mind us in the least. It was fantastic! There used to be a healthy population of Jaguars in the Pantanal but their numbers were dwindling because of farmers killing them to protect their cattle or by poachers who were after their skins. Now hunting is illegal. A sure way to see a Jaguar is the Jaguar Research Center in the Northern Pantanal. I would have loved to go there, but being a long term traveler my budget did not allow it.

Since the wildlife is so abundant and seemingly completely unafraid of humans, driving through the Pantanal is a good option for a visit. But to really explore the Pantanal, I would recommend a stay on a Fazendas or a boat trip.

There are two tracks through the Pantanal: In the South the Estrada Parque do Pantanal is 117 km of track with 87 wooden bridges to cross. It begins in Buraco das Piranhas and ends in Corumba on the border to Bolivia. It is possible to catch a ferry from Corumba up the Rio Cuiaba to Puerto Joffre in the Northern Pantanal. As I have heard, it is supposed to be a three day trip on the river, which you will share with a lot of mosquitoes. It should be arranged in advance, as there is no fixed schedule. Mirjam in Miranda can help with that. It will save the long, boring and very stressful drive around the Pantanal between Campo Grande and Cuiaba. There might be less mosquitoes on this road, but instead a lot of trucks! Puerto Joffre on Rio Cuiaba marks the end of the Transpantaneira. This is a 149 km track with 118 wooden bridges which has been cut into the very heart of the Pantanal. It was supposed to go all the way down to Corumba. Fortunately this project was stopped. There is nothing in Puerto Joffre, except a very expensive hotel, a very basic campground and a lot of fishermen. But along the Transpantaneira there are a lot of Fazendas and Pousadas which offer a bed, food and trips into the Pantanal. I stayed at the Araras Eco Lodge. It is a lovely place and the viewing towers are a great way to watch the sunset and sunrise and of course visit with the monkeys.

There are actually huge cattle ranches in and around the Pantanal. They are called Fazendas and some of them have recently discovered eco tourism as a source of additional income. They offer rooms, food and tours into the Pantanal. Some of these Fazendas are very big operations who mainly raise cattle and grow rice. They are typically on the edges of the Pantanal. Staying there has very little to do with ‘Eco’ tourism, but they can easily be reached and are a quick, easy and fun way to explore the Pantanal. Other, smaller Fazendas in the heart of the Pantanal are harder to reach but offer more intimate visits. Strangely enough, I kept running into Swiss people who helped me with my visits to the Pantanal. Miriam and her husband Marcello run the travel agency Explore Pantanal in Miranda. Marcello is of the Kadiwèu Indians and grew up in the Pantanal. He and Miriam can recommend Fazendas or organize tours into the Pantanal.

Near Aquidauana lives Anne Lys, another Swiss lady who runs a little farm. She also has a few lovely rooms where she welcomes guests and she will personally guide you on any excursions you would like to make.

Summary Travel Information:
Best time to visit: June - October
Where to go: Miranda-Buraco das Piranahs-Corumba-Puerto Joffre-Pocone-Cuiaba
More info: Mirjam and Marcello in Miranda: Explore Pantanal

Brazil First Impression!

2009-06-07T17:30:00.002+02:00

The only thing they seem to be doing small here in Brazil is the bikinis! Everything else is big! For starters the country in itself is huge and so are the portions in the restaurants! The cities are gigantic and so are the distances between them and the pot holes in the roads! The giant anteater, the giant river otter and the giant armadillo are all found here, as is the biggest snake in the world, the anaconda and biggest rodent, the Capybara. The Amazon boast the world’s biggest rainforest and on a completely different subject Blumenau boasts the biggest Oktoberfest outside of Munich! I suspect this list is far from complete.
Coming from Argentina, getting used to Brazil took some time. For one thing I was robbed of my ability to communicate properly. Portuguese is quite different from Spanish. The officer at the customs office in charge of filling out the temporary import permit for the motorcycle only spoke Portuguese. He apparently also didn’t have a clue as to how to enter the information into the computer. So he did the only sensible thing and rebooted the machine a couple of times! Obviously that didn’t help and so he was forced to call someone to come and help. To my surprise this officer spoke German! It took two hours, but eventually I was handed a big stack of papers! Welcome to Brazil! Actually, things here in general, seem to be very well organized and usually work. Traveling in Brazil is a breeze.
Brazil is not what I had pictured it to be. But it is very distinct, different from any country I have been to so far. There are certain things here that I will now forever associate with Brazil: For example being afraid of getting electrocuted every time I get into the shower where the hot water comes from a 220 Volt water heater often precariously installed! How green everything is, but also how hard it rains. And I am just amazed at the incredible variety of fruits and vegetables. Thank god the Brazilians love buffets! This is a great way of sampling all unknown dishes without having to bother trying to decipher a Portuguese menu!
I have been here two months now and I love it. I have been far too busy to write any blog updates, but right now I am spending some quite days in Lencois and maybe I will get around to it after all. By now there are quite a few stories to tell......

For those following my tyre tracks....

2009-05-31T12:28:00.003+02:00

April - May 2009

Argentian: Rosario-Iguazu-Brazil:Foz-Cacador-Lages-Florianapolis-Lagoa-Ingleses-Pomerode-San Francisco do Sul-Curitiba-Maringa-Campo Grande-Bonito-Miranda-Chacara Anis-Coxim-Cuiaba-Puerto Joffre-Chapada dos Guimaraes-Barra do Garcas-Brasilia-Gurupi-Palmas-Dianopolis-Ibotiranma-Lencois

For those more interested in pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/ceciliarojas/collections/72157618765480092/

Un cortado doble y dos medialunas, por favor!

2009-04-17T01:25:00.010+02:00

I left Argentina a couple of days ago! How sad! I have come to like Argentina very much. But I went out in style. My last days in Argentina were spent at Iguacu, a wonderful place. I am adding some pictures to give you an idea.
Actually about Argentina, I fell in love with that place on my very first day there. I had come over Paseo de Maule from Chile and after a spectacular ride ended up in Malargue. There, while looking for an ATM, I had my first of many encounters with ‘The Natives’. A family stopped me because they were impressed with the bike. We chatted for a while and on saying goodbye they all kissed me ‘Argentina’ style on the check and we parted like we had been friends for years. That same night I was taken in by a family of musicians. During winter they play up at ‘Las Lennas’, a ski resort. To my surprise they knew more about the Swiss National Ski Team, than I did. Turns out, my compatriots come here in ‘our’ summer to practice on the slopes of Argentina in what is 'their' winter. Within hours I had been integrated into the family and we were sitting around a campfire drinking wine!
There were days, when the curiosity and hospitality of the Argentineans could be over whelming. After all, how many times a day can you answer the ‘where are you from’ question? And I was asked that a lot! While stopped at traffic lights, while driving down the road, while having lunch, while fixing a flat, while looking for a place to stay to name just a few. But to tell you the truth, I never got sick of answering that question because I just have to love the people here!
Almost without exception right after asking you where you are from, they will go on to tell you how much they hate their government and that the current crisis is just awful. But then in the next sentence they will rave about their country and its natural beauty: ‘Ah que precioso, que lindo, que bárbaro!’ And they are right! There are wonderful places in this very, very big country: From the highest mountain in South America, Aconcagua, to the Southern Most Point on the American continent in Ushuaia there are more than enough natural wonders to gaze at. Some are overhyped, like Routa 40, but others like the Perito Moreno glacier live more than up to their expectations.
But still: natural beauty can be found in a lot of places on this planet. What makes Argentina special are the people and their way of life. They seem to always have time for family, friends and strangers.
In today’s globalized and standardized world, Argentina is refreshingly different. Why drink coffee at Starbucks, when there are local coffee shops where you can meet over cortados and medialunas? Or maybe skip coffee all together and share a mate instead. Why put peanut butter or marmalade on bread, when there is Dulce de Leche? Why eat at McDonalds, when you can have an asado with friends instead? That is not to say, that there is no McDonalds and no Starbucks here in Argentina. Unfortunately they are. But somehow it is still different here. Maybe this can be best explained with 'Malbec'. Malbec is Argentina’s typical wine. The name comes from 'Mala uva', which means 'bad grape'. In any other part of the world this bad grape is worthless. But in Argentina it is turned into wonderful wine!
There also seems to be a different rhythm to live in Argentina. Nothing goes between 13:30 and 17:00, dinner before ten o’clock is unheard of and the party does not start until two or three in the morning! How do they keep this up?
I have grown very fond of Argentina and even fonder of the people I met there. It wasn’t easy for me to leave and that is why I am writing this maybe over sentimental blog post.
But I am taking a lot of unforgettable memories with me: There is waking up in Cafayate to birds singing in the trees outside the window. There are wonderful evenings in Rosario with people who feel more like family, than just friends. There is working on the bike in Carlos’s shop in Mendoza and afterwards having a well deserved glass of Malbec (or two…) with friends. There is the overwhelming joy after many, many boring kilometers of finally reaching Ushuaia at the bottom of the continent and thinking: ‘I did it! I really did it!’ And then there is time and again having a cortado and dos medialunas for breakfast while watching Argentina!
Thank you!

Buenos Aires

2009-04-03T12:36:00.005+02:00

I just got back to Buenos Aires after a three week vacation in Switzerland. I had gone home for my brothers wedding. The wedding was smashing and done in true Nudi&Heidi style!

I have now spent a year in South America. I explored the continent all the way down to the tip in Ushuaia and as far North as the Cordillera Blanca in Peru. There have been a lot of problems with the bike last year. Which is not surprising considering that Stybba now has more than 350'000 kilometers her back. Talking about back: I did end up replacing Stybba's frame in Mendoza a couple of months ago and she has been almost good ever since.

I know I have been a very lazy blogger of late. I will try to do better this year. I plan on driving through Brasil and Venezuela up to Colombia in the next couple of months. Should I not live up to my blogging promise, try following my journey on facebook. In the meantime, I am leaving you with some pictures of Buenos Aires.

Sola? Revisited!

2008-10-01T02:58:00.004+02:00

I just can't resist writing another entry on the subject. If you have been following this Blog, you might remember me telling you about how big a deal it is over here in South America, to be traveling alone as a woman on a motorcycle.

It still is. Not a day goes by without the question: 'Sola? You are traveling alone? Really?!?' So I am getting a lot of attention. I am not complaining. I kind of like it, I think it is nice to get noticed.

And then I traveled with another motorcyclist for a while. A guy. And you know what? I disappeared! People stopped noticing me. They even stopped talking to me! For example we went shopping for tires. We walked into a shop and I asked the attendant for tires. He looked at my companion and asked: 'Street or Enduro?' I answered by telling him: 'Neither, I am looking for dual purpose tires.' Again he turned to my companion and said: 'Ok, I will go see what I have.' Do you get the picture! I was suddenly invisible woman!

Once I was back to traveling alone, guess what? Yes, I reappeared! Just the other day I pulled up to a hostel to ask about a room. The owner almost had a heart attack when he heard I was traveling alone. 'Really, alone? Aren't you scared? And with a motorcycle, dios mio!' His wife was standing behind him and couldn't believe all the fuss he was making. Finally she had enough and exclaimed: 'And why do you think a woman cannot drive a motorcycle alone? She has got two hands and feet as well! That is all it takes!'

But there is the other side to traveling alone. Like today: I went into a repair shop and wanted to by some gear oil for my bike. The guy behind the counter asks me what kind of car I have. So I tell him, that I ride a motorcycle. He informs me, that therefore I don't need gear oil, I need motor oil. 'Well yes', I tell him, 'I need motor oil for the motor, but I also need gear oil for my gear box.' He doesn't think so and he flat out refuses to sell me gear oil unless I show him the manual for the motorcycle. I give up and walk away. Outside the store I ask another guy if he could please go into the store and buy some gear oil for me. No problem, the guy walks in and gets the gear oil without the 20 questions!

I am not sure what I am to make of all this. I do agree with the wife of the Hostal owner. It should not be a big deal for a woman to be traveling on a motorcycle alone. There really is no reason why that shouldn't be possible. But on the other hand, it feels good and it is tempting to think that it is a big deal after all.......

Cusco, Machu Picchu, friends and cheescake

2008-09-29T01:59:00.007+02:00

It has been a while since my last entry. Sorry! If you have been following this Blog, you will remember that I was having some problems with the bike (broken frame) and that I have lost my tent.

After a long wait, the tent finally made it to Cusco! I was ecstatic! Now I could finally take off up North to Huaraz to do some mountain climbing! There was a big celebration that night at Paddy's in Cusco and I was sure I was almost out of there. I should have know! To quote a good friend of mine: 'Never count your chickens before they've hatched!'

To make a very long story, as short as possible: the next day, while trying to fix the oil-leak on Stybba's cylinder with new gaskets that had arrived with the tent, I noticed that I had far bigger problems! The upper, right engine stud was coming loose. I wanted to fix it using a helicoil. Unfortunately there are no helicoils to be had in Cusco. So another long wait for yet another package, only to find out that the helicoils were not doing the job either! In the end the problem was solved by 'bush-mechanics' at a little back-alley 'tornero'. Not pretty, but I think it will hold!

Once I was ready to finally leave, I was amazed to realize that I had been in Cusco for more than a month! What did you do all this time, you might ask? Well, for starters there is a good crowd at the campground in Cusco. Almost everybody ends up staying longer than originally planned and so I made some wonderful new friends and met back up with some old ones. Even met Esther and Peter a couple from Lucerne, my hometown! Turns out we had to travel all the way to Peru to meet, even though we grew up in the same neighborhood.

Camping Life in Cusco is really relaxed. There is a cozy little living room with a gas-heater and lights. Perfect for long nights drinking and talking, but just as good for movie nights, courtesy of Douglas and Stefanie who carry a projector and tons of DVD's with them. A luxury we bikers can only dream of. There were barbeques at the campground but also nights out in town at Paddy's or Norton Rats.

Then Katharina and I went to Machu Picchu together. Machu Picchu is a very well preserved pre-Columbian Inca site spectacular located on a mountain ridge way above the Urubamba Valley. Even today it is hard to reach, since there are no roads there. There is a train from Cusco to Aguas Caliente, a village down the valley from Machu Picchu. Every day more than 2000 tourists visit Machu Picchu and it was a bit of a challenge securing a seat on the train. Nevertheless I am really glad we went. It is a spectacular site. The city was built around 1450, but abandoned a hundred years later. And as everybody here will tell you, it got rediscovered by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. By now I am sure there is millions of photos from Machu Picchu, but for all it is worth, if you want to check out mine here they are: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ceciliarojas/sets/72157606477699190/

Back in Cusco the bikers from the campground all went for a Sunday ride together. It was Thomas and Katharina (globusbiker.de) which I had met for the first time at the hot springs of Fiambala. Then there was Carola (easyri.de), from whom I had heard a lot but now finally met. And there was Rupert on his Tenere. We did a loop from Cusco to Urubamba and by ways of Pisac back to Cusco. We had lunch in a nice little restaurant in Urubamba, with a Peruvian musicians who was playing not just Peruvian folk tunes, but also the title song of Titanic on his pan flute. Then we crashed the market in Pisac. Helmie had recommend a cafe in Pisac for cheescake. Unfortunately the cafe was in the middle of town where the sunday market was in full swing. Still we managed to get through with our bikes. The Peruvians loved it, but we got really told off by some French tourists.
And so the days in Cusco went by rather fast. Still I was super happy to be back on the road again, once the bike was running. However my Peruvian Visa had almost expired and so instead of heading up north I went South back to Bolivia. But that is another story and will be told later.

Everything can be fixed, right?

2008-07-27T15:31:00.007+02:00

Hello everybody! Yes, I am still alive and I am still out there traveling on my motorcycle Stybba. Right now we are in Cusco, Peru trying to recuperate from a streak of bad luck!

We got to Peru a couple of weeks ago at Lake Titicaca. Then we ended up in Arequipa for two weeks, where I took some Spanish classes. It was a wonderful time with good company, good food and a movie every once in a while. But after two weeks as a city dweller it felt great to get back up on the bike and do some riding. And the ride up to the Colca canyon was great for that. After Arequipa the road starts climbing and there are great views of the volcanoes Misti and Chachani. Before getting to Chivay, the city at the entrance to Colca canyon, it gets a little chilly on top of a pass at nearly 4900 meters. I had decided against staying in Chivay and wanted to drive the 58 Kilometers to the end of the canyon in Cabanaconde. I was hoping it would be less crowded there.

Sure enough there is hardly any traffic on the way there. It is a good dirt road and we were cruising along just fine. Then I thought I had a flat. At least the bike felt like I was having a flat. So I pulled over and checked the tires. But no flat. Strange? Must be the road or me not being used to dirt tracks anymore. So I drive a little further. No, something is defiantly wrong. I barley manage to stop without crashing and check the bike again. No flat tires, but the frame is broken and not just a little fracture, but seriously broken in more than one place right underneath the steering wheel. No way can I ride the bike anymore. It is still a good 10 kilometers to Cabanaconde and more than 48 Kilometers back to Chivay. And of course not another car in sight.

But then two Swiss guys showed up: Stephanie and Tobias. They were on a walk back from the Viewpoint. They said they would go to Cabanaconde and send a truck back. So I settled down, put all my clothes on and waited. It got dark and cold and the moon was just starting to come up behind the mountains. I had almost decided to pitch my tent when I heard a truck coming. Sure enough it was Tobias and Stephanie with the local police in a tiny Toyota pick-up. By moon-light we heaved the bike on back of the pick-up. It did not fit of course, but we tied it down as good we could. I stayed on the back of the truck with poor Stybba and we were in for a bumpy, full moon ride down to Cabanaconde. To my surprise we did actually make it. I was frozen solid but nothing had fallen of the back of the truck. For now there was nothing else to be done, but unload the bike, find a place to crash and wait for tomorrow.

Next morning I had a look at the bike and was convinced the trip was over. There is no way this can be fixed! Funny thing happened at that moment: I had been feeling kind of blue lately. Unsure as of what to do next and feeling sorry for myself, because I was traveling alone. But now confronted with a possible end to the trip, it was crystal clear to me, that I did not want the trip to be over. There had to be some way to get back on the road again!

Cabanaconde is a little place out in the middle of nowhere. There is not much there, but people dancing and singing in the street. There always seems to be some party going on. But I did find a welder and he was willing to come have a look at my bike. Nevermind all the parties and the fact that today was Sunday. He was convinced he could fix it, but he said the problem was binding everything back into a place so that he could start welding. In the end it took a big crowbar and tree men but eventually we did manage. At least it looked like it just might hold. I gave it a try. The bike still felt a little funny, but nothing I couldn't get used to. Things were looking up. I am still worried though. This is the second time the frame broke and not because I crashed, but because of metal fatigue. No telling how long it is going to hold this time and where it is going to break next. Having to worry about breaking the frame every time you start down a deserted dirt road, kind of defeats the purpose of the trip. So I think I will have to see about putting a new frame on my bike. But for now I think I can make it to place like Cusco, where this might be possible.

I stayed a couple of days in Cabanaconde to hike into the canyon and have a look at the condors before heading of in direction of Cusco. I had decided to take the direct backroad instead of heading back to Arequipa and the paved road to Cusco. But of course I was still worried about the bike. I can’t remember how many times I stopped to look at the welding to see if it was still holding. No problem there, but when I stopped on top of a pass with a good view, for once not to check on the frame but to get an orange out, I noticed that the bag with my tent was missing! No telling if it had fallen off, or if somebody had stolen it in Chivay while I was out shopping. The bag was gone! Shit! I drove all the way back to Cabanaconde looking for it, but of course in wane! No more tent!

Next day was a long day riding. I did make it to Cusco and was super happy to have made it here. On the campground I ran back into Thomas and Katharina, two bikers I had first met at the hot springs in Fiambala, Argentina. Also Helmie, the owner of the campground let me borrow his tent, until I can figure something out. Live is good! I hope for now my streak of bad luck is over. And after all, everything can be fixed, right?

Full moon, Atacama

2008-05-20T04:10:00.001+02:00

¿Sola?

2008-04-03T21:37:00.006+02:00

La Suiza, originally uploaded by Fernweh.

I finally left Valparaiso. I was very much looking forward to getting out of the city and into the outdoors. I am a little worried about Stybba though. She is leaking oil from the gearbox into the drive shaft, which makes for a big mess. The leak is a lot worse now, even though I have changed the seal on the output shaft twice now. So I think there has to be some other problem, I am not aware of. Khim has offered to have a look at it. I am planning on meeting up with him and Katharina in Mendoza. But they are still quite a bit further south and will not be in Mendoza for a while. This leaves me some time to go exploring. I want to avoid driving a lot, but instead hope to do some trekking. A good way to get to know the place and loose some of the weight I have put back on in Switzerland.
From Valparaiso it is a fairly boring ride down to Talca. But there I head up into a very pretty part of Chile. First towards Lago Colbun and then past the lake and a place called ‘Suiza’, I take a little detour into the Melado valley. I ended up spending a couple of days out there with the Chilean cowboys. I helped clear the potato fields, eat wild blueberries and went trekking. It was great, just what I had been looking for. At night there were a lot of stars to admire and a very bright moon was shining. And just like Matz had predicted, but wasn’t a 100% sure of, the moon is ‘the other way around’ down here, if you know what I mean (a ‘z’ for waning moon and an ‘a’ for a growing moon). So Matz you were right all along, sorry for the confusion!
Eventually I dragged myself away from this paradise and headed back to the main road which was going to take me over Paso Pehuneche to Argentina. In ‘La Mina’ a good 50 kilometers from the pass and the border I had to check out of Chile. I am not in Asia anymore. There no matter where I went, the bike was always the big attraction and I forever had to answer to same questions: ‘Diesel or petrol? How many cc? Mileage? Double-engine?’
Here there is really only one question: ‘Sola?- Alone?’ Never mind the bike! What strikes people as strange here, is the fact that I would be travelling alone. They just can’t get over that. Especially here at the border they seem to think that it is way too far and way too dangerous to drive over this pass alone. They almost had me worried, but a look on the map shows, that it is really only one hundert and odd kilometers to the other side. So I dismiss all their concern and tell them that it is going to be alright. Which invokes a lot of head shaking, but they let me go.
Unfortunately I don’t get very far. A big rusty nail, probably the only one around for miles, ripped a big whole into my rear inner tube. All of a sudden it is not just the gravel that makes for an unsteady ride. I just barley manage to stay upright. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all to attempt this alone? Nonsense, there is a trickle of traffic of Chileans heading up to the hot springs or the Maule Lake for fishing. They all stop to ask if I need help. So I get a hand in putting the bike on then central stand, which proves to be impossible by myself, since the gravel is very deep and makes handling the heavy bike difficult. Getting the rear tyre of was easy, but getting the tyre of the rim, turned out to be more of a problem. No tyre wallahs around here! But what do you know, up pulls a 4x4 campervan from Austria! Till lent a hand and in no time the tube was changed and the wheel mounted again. I even got treated to coffee and cake as well as a routable Argentina map for my GPS! Thank you very much Till and Gerlinde!
What with fixing the flat and chatting with Till and Gerlinde it had gotten late. So I decided to spend the night up on the pass Pehuenche on the border of Lake Maule. The Austrians had warned me that it was going to get cold, this being above two thousand meters. I was more worried about what the Argentineans would say, if I showed up at the border a day after having left Chile. But that was for tomorrow. Today it was difficult finding a spot to camp. It is Saturday, so it is hard to get away from Chileans having ‘assados’ and a rowdy time. Takes a little away from the impressive landscape and remoteness of this part of the Andes.
The next day made for a great ride over the pass and into Argentina. I have the road completely to myself and the landscape is just breathtaking. Reminds me both of some of the mountain passes in Tibet and later further down about places in Nevada and Arizona. At Las Loicas, a long way down from the pass, I finally get to the border checkpoint of Argentina! They are very surprised to see me: ‘ You came from Chile, today? Alone?’ Apparently the road was supposed to be closed today, because they were doing road construction and were planning on blasting the way in a couple of places. Once they got over just how lucky I was, to still be alive, it was back to the subject of me travelling alone. That and my last name: Rojas. ’Are you sure you don’t have any Spanish ancestors? There are many, many Rojas around here.’ I am not about to explain that Rojas is not really my maiden name. That would really make for raised eyebrows, me being married and not travelling with my husband! Best leave them to believe that somewhere in my family-tree lurks a Spanish ancestor.
So now I am in Argentina. It is still a long drive through the Pampa Diamante to Malargüe. I treat myself to an ice-cream and a phone call home. It is Sunday after all.

Melado valley, originally uploaded by Fernweh.

It is here!

2008-03-20T13:21:00.002+01:00

The 'Mol Supremancy' was in port last Saturday. So on Monday Enzo and I went down to TPS (Terminal Pacifico Sur) the guys who run the Container Terminal here in Valparaiso. To my great relief we were told, that the container with my motorcycle in it, is here. However it had not been opened yet, so there was nothing we could do about getting the bike just jet.

I am starting to feel at home here in Valparaiso. I am staying with Martina&Enzo in their guesthouse Villa Kunterbunt. Every once in a while a couple of backpackers show up, but mostly the other guests are also motorcyclists. This way I get all the news from the road. This of course makes me want to go out there as well. But it is getting kind of late in the year to head South to Patagonia where everybody is coming from. I think I will head North form here first.

This is not Asia anymore! You have to be more careful here. A lady who was staying at the guesthouse got mugged in full daylight walking down a fairly crowded streets. Also I have heard from travellers who had their bike stolen, even their shoes. So I have to be more careful again. I find that this bothers me a lot.

While I was here Ruth and Tom, friends of mine from Switzerland, came by. It was great to see familiar faces and talk in Swiss German. Funny how things work out sometime. They are travelling around Chile and Argentina for three months and were here just in time to meet up with me. Great, isn't it?

On Tuesday Enzo and I went back down to TPS. We got the release papers from them which we had to take to Customs. This took a couple of attempts, because of misspelled numbers and missing copies, but eventually we got it right. Then we talked our way into the Container terminal. It was quite scary finding your way around all these big machines lifting heavy containers!
We were hoping to just get the bike out of the box and then drive out of the port. That would have been easy. But it was not to be. They made us hire a truck which had to transport the whole box to the other side of the port. There finally we got to open it. In it, just as I had left her, was Stybba, my trusted motorcycle!

By now, as you might imagine, there were a lot of spectators. Which means there were also a lot of men wanting to help. So a great many hands helped putting the bike on the central stand, mounting the front wheel and reconnecting the battery. But I got to start her again by myself and sure enough, no problem the bike is still running.

All that was left to do, was got customs to check the bike. They had a quick look at the chassis number and then that was that, I was out of there and driving through Valparaiso back to Villa Kunterbunt.

All in all it went pretty smoothly. It took a whole day and we did a lot of running around but it was ok. Still I think, it would have been much more complicated had I tried this on my own. But with Enzo's help it was easy. Enzo who has done this for a lot of other motorcyclist before me, so he knows his way around and does not get spooked by all these bureaucrats. So really it was a piece of cake. Thank you very much Enzo!

Waiting in Valparaiso Chile

2008-03-11T19:39:00.002+01:00

Mural in Valparaiso, originally uploaded by Fernweh.

On the long ride through Tibet in October and November of last year I had plenty of time to think about the next leg of the journey. Since I have already been to Southeast Asia and Australia on my last trip I decided that once having reached Bangkok I would continue on the American continent.
So the motorcycle got shipped from Bangkok to Valparaiso in Chile. A long journey for the bike: it got put into a box and then loaded on ship destined for Hong Kong. There are no direct cargo connections between Bangkok and South America, which make this transshipment necessary. In Hong Kong the container got transferred to the 'Andes Bridge' sailing under Honduran flag for Chile. Or so I was told. On Saturday I saw the 'Andes Bridge' here in Valparaiso’s port being unloaded. I was really excited and very much looking forward to Monday when I would be able to pick up my trusted ride.
For me the journey from Bangkok first brought me back home for a visit with my family. It was great being back home again and the days were packed with fun stuff to do, people to see and things to take care of. Only too soon I had to leave for Valparaiso so I would get there a couple of days ahead of the ‘Andes Bridge’. This I did last Tuesday after a long flight from Zurich via Madrid and Buenos Aires and finally Santiago the Chile. My luggage was not so lucky. It only made it to Buenos Aires. Seems at the Check-in the lady from Swiss checked my bags in only to Buenos Aires. By the time I finally got them to Valparaiso someone has had had plenty of time to go through them and pick out what they liked! Not a good start, but I learned two things about air travel: Always check your luggage tags, just because they use a computer to check your bags in, does not mean they actually know what they are doing. Second, never put anything you really like in bags that you check in. Not even if they are locked!
Anyway, back to the interesting part of the story. Today is Monday and first thing in the morning I go down to the port to pick up the bike. I had already paid for all the port fees on Friday and had them check the ‘Bill of Lading’. So I was all set and confident that I would be out of there come lunch time. But there was a bit of a problem: the container with my box and therefore my bike in it is not here! ‘What do you mean the container is not here? Where is it?’ Nobody knows, but they all seem to think that the number of the container on my papers is probably wrong and that I should check with my Forwarder. A visit at my Forwarder and several phone calls later it turns out my container somehow is now on a ship called ‘Supremacy’ which is supposed to get to Valparaiso on the 13th of March, three days from now. Or so they think and I hope! They do not yet know where and why the container ended up on the ‘Supremacy’, let’s just hope it gets here on Thuersday!
So keep checking this blog by the end of the week I should know more. In the meantime have a look at my pictures of the lovely port town Valparaiso and of the ‘Andes Bridge’, the ship that did not bring my motorcycle here to Chile!

Thank you Dutch BMW driver

2008-01-06T12:05:00.000+01:00

The other day I had to get to my toolbox. I am still having problems with an oil leak from my gearbox into my drive-shaft. Long story best told on another occasion. Anyway as I got to the toolbox I discovered a note and 20 Euros in cash! Seems a Dutch BMW driver slipped this under my seat. Since the donation did not come with a name or an e-mail address I am choosing my blog to say thank you. So if you are reading this: 'Thank you very much and drop me a line by e-mail!

Riding the Mekong

2007-11-28T07:24:00.001+01:00

More than a month has passed since my last post. Incredible how fast the time goes when you are having fun! I have now left Tibet and China and made it to Laos. A warmer and a more relaxed place! But the journey through Tibet and China has been spectacular. If I don't get too used to the lazy life here in Laos, I just might post a story or two about Tibet and China at a later date.
I love Laos though! I am having a great time. The other day me and took a little boat ride down the Mekong. Thought I use this to share a short video of this adventure with you all!

Leaving Pelbar, gateway to Everest Base Camp

2007-10-10T05:32:00.001+02:00

Leaving Pelbar to Everest Base Camp, originally uploaded by Fernweh.

I made it to Lhasa yesterday. Travelling here in Tibet has been fantastic so far. I love it here! There has been some great riding on the bike, beautiful scenery, interesting monasteries and fascination encounters. Unfortunately I am on the move a lot to make to best out of my time here, so there hasn't been a lot of time for Internet. I managed to upload some of my pictures, so for a first impression check them out at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ceciliarojas/sets/72157602340070198/

I am in Tibet!

2007-10-01T10:37:00.000+02:00

After almost a year of preparations, I finally crossed the Friendship bridge between Nepal and China and made it to Tibet! I am now in Nyalam only about 30 kilometers into Tibet but I just have to tell you all that I am super happy!
The last three days have been at times stressful but also filled with lots of hours waiting for paperwork to get processed and traffic jams to clear. The waiting had started in Kathmandu. On the day of our departure we didn't get going until four in the afternoon, since we had to wait for the Chinese visa to be issued. Also as it turns out monsoon was not quite finished! It rained the whole way and as we got closer to the border the road got a lot worse. Also it got dark. Riding in the rain and the dark on muddy roads and through rivers was a first one even for me. But we made it to Kodari, the border town on the Nepali side.
The next day we left Nepal, which was the easy part. We drove across the Friendship bridge, but the Chinese made us push the bikes across the last couple of meters. From the Friendship bridge it was a very steep and muddy drive up to the actual border at Dram. This is where the waiting started. As it turns out it took more than 24 hours to get our paperwork processed. Which makes this the longest border crossing for me ever. Not even the lenghty process in Turkmenistan took this long!
While waiting we were talking to a lot of tourists who were coming back to Nepal after having done Jeep tours in Tibet. They were all saying that the road between Dram and Nyalam was not doable on bikes, as it was very muddy and there were two very deep river crossings. So naturally we were a little worried. As it turns out it wasn't all that bad. The road was muddy and potholed but quite manageable. Apart maybe from the traffic. You haven't seen traffic jams until you have tired to drive out of Dram!
Tomorrow we will leave Nyalam for Tingri and then Everest Base Camp. I hope that I will be able to post some pictures once we get to Lhasa.

Ama Dablam

2007-09-25T18:28:00.001+02:00

Ama Dablam, originally uploaded by Fernweh.

Ten days ago my friend Rainer from Germany arrived here in Kathmandu. He will hopefully tag along to Tibet and China. In order to aclamatize for Tibet we flew to Lukla and spent a couple of days in the Everest Region. We were very lucky with the weather at least in the mornings we always had good views of the fabulous peaks. My favorite is stillAma Dablam as seen in the picture above. It is just such a beautiful mountain. The trekking season here in Nepal is definitely heating up. We saw a lot of trekkers going up.
Now I am back in Kathmandu. The day after tomorrow we are supposed to leave for Tibet. But there are still problems with the arrangements and so I am holding my breath. Hopefully the next update to this blog will be from Lhasa!

Long overdue update

2007-09-15T04:29:00.001+02:00

It is mid September already and it has been a really long time since my last blog entry. I promised someone to do this more frequently and this is a start. I guess it makes sense to bring you all up to date to what I have been up to these last couple of months.
After my wonderful trek in the Khumbu and the climb of Island Peak unfortunately I had to leave Nepal. The plan was to head to Spiti and Ladakh and do some more trekking there. On the way out of Nepal I stopped at Bardia National Park in Western Nepal to visit the Elephant breeding centre. There were quite a few baby elephants there and I had a great time playing with them. Tourism in Western Nepal is not doing very well which is very obvious in Bardia National Park. I was almost the only tourist there. They are all hoping that this will improve next season.

Cecilia & Baby Elephant.

By the time I got to India monsoon was starting and I had a couple of extremely wet and hot days on the road which I escaped once I had made it to Shimla. But the place was packed with Indian tourists and so I soon moved on. I had decided to drive to Leh from Manali and do the Spiti valley on the way back. The ride between Leh and Manali was great and me and Stybba set some new personal records as far as heights of motorable passes were concerned: we crossed the first one Rohtang La (3'978 m) in pouring rain which did not stop until after the second pass Baralacha (4'892 m). But on the third day the weather improved and Lachulung LA (5'059 m) and Tanglang LA (5'325 m) were mastered as well and brought us safely to sunny Leh.

Stybba on Leh - Manali road

The summer was then spent in Leh where I met a lot of people and did two great treks. On one of these treks I climbed Stock Kangri (6'120 m). I hope to do a blog entry about the treks a little later this week.

Sunset on Stock Ranges

Also during my time in Leh a solution for the long planned trip to Tibet and China finally presented itself. Which meant I had to get back to Kathmandu by mid September. In the end it was very hard leaving Leh and I kept post phoning my departure until that was just no longer possible if I wanted to make it to Kathmandu in time. Which meant a couple of days long riding and leaving out Spiti.
So now I am back in Kathmandu and here I am getting ready for my trip through Tibet. On that leg of the journey I will have some company. Yesterday my friend Rainer showed up here and we are hoping his BMW will make here as well. We will find out in a couple of days. Also along for the ride are Peter and Gilles, two bikers I had met in Leh. I am really looking forward to Tibet not the least because it has been so much work and so much trouble setting up this trip. But that is another story......

Cecilia on top of Renjo La

2007-07-16T15:04:00.001+02:00

Cecilia on top of Renjo La, originally uploaded by Fernweh.

Yep that is me and this beautiful mountain in the background is Everest! I have just come back from the most amazing trek in my life! Not only have I seen Everest from almost every possible angle, but I also climbed Island Peak (6189 meters), witnessed Bear Grylls world record flight in a powered paraglider high above Everest, cheered on the runners of the Everest marathon and in general had a wonderful time! I hope to post more pictures and the whole story in details shortly! Until then .........

Thorong-LA: 5416 Meters

2007-04-26T13:25:00.001+02:00

207.03.30.3182, originally uploaded by Fernweh.

Just a quick update! Middle of March saw me leaving India for Nepal. I love it here and immediately went on a 25 day trek around the Annapurna's and up to Annapurna Base Camp. It has been a wonderful trek and I will write in more detail about it later. Here is a picture of me up on Thorong LA, a mountain pass and with 5416 meters the highest point I have ever climbed, at least so far........

Made the newspapers in India, again!

2007-03-14T10:49:00.000+01:00

Pushkar Ranjan was kind enough to mail me an article that appeared in Jamshedpur. It is such a nice gesture from him to mail this to me, because I would have missed out on it otherwise, as I left Jamshedpur very early in the morning and did not get a chance to check to papers. So here thanks to Pushkar the latest news on me:

Swiss biker on world tour

- Jamshedpur, a one-night home, for 42-year-old engineer

NILANJANA GHOSH CHOUDHURY

Swiss biker Cecilia Rojas. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, March 12: At first glance she looks like a foreign tourist taking refuge for the night at a city hotel. But she made enough heads turn the moment she rides her power machine.

Meet 42-year-old Cecilia Rojas, a Swiss national who arrived here after globe-trotting half way across the world.

An avid biker, Rojas was in the city as part of her world tour that began from Switzerland in October 2005. She stopped at a city hotel to avoid the night journey and left for Nepal early this morning.

"I started this journey in 2005. I have been in India for five months and it will be two more years before I go back home," said Rojas, who travelled along the Western coast and the Coromandel Coast to reach the steel city. In the past one-and-a-half years, Rojas has travelled through major parts of Europe, Egypt and Libya in Africa, Middle East, Turkey, Mongolia and Pakistan before coming to India on her BMW R100 GS.

But has this been a pleasurable journey? "Mostly, apart from a near-fatal accident in Pakistan," she quips. Her next destination, is Nepal from where she moves to Ladakh and China before moving to the Far East.

She managed to get some time to see the city. Rojas, who is a qualified system engineer designing high-level surface systems for leading banks in Switzerland, started riding 20 years ago.

"I do this completely out of passion and there is no sponsorship from any agency," added Rojas who along with her brother Khim, runs the Fernweh Adventures Club in Switzerland.

Made the newspapers in India

2007-03-12T14:43:00.000+01:00

As a nice follow up to my newspaper post. We made the newspapers ourselves this time. For people who know us it will be easy to pick out everything that is not quite right in this article! That much for the quality of the news here in India. This article was done based on 2 minute talk I had with a reporter while a tire walla was changing the tires....

The Times of India, Bhubaneswar-National Saturday, March 10, 2007
Wanderlust drives them around the world.
Debabrata Mohapatra - TNN

Puri: They say when the travel bug bites, it makes you do the most craziest of things to satisfy your wanderlust.
Ask Cecilia and Kim Rojas of Switzerland, they have sold off all their belongings and are using their lifetime savings for a trip around the world on their giant motorcycles.
The couple in their late thirties, have traveled across 12 countries covering nearly 31,000 km on the road. They reached the shores of Puri last week after traveling to various places across the continent for the last five months.
"We chalked out out plan for a world tour on motor bikes in 2004. Since then we started saving money for the purpose. We also raised some money from our friends and relatives," says 35-year-old Cecilia. The couple began their journey on October 10, 2005 from Lucerne in Switzerland.
They entered India from Pakistan at Amritsar through the Wagah border.
"We chucked out jobs and sold our belongings before starting this adventure. It was a dream come true for us the day we set off on this daredevil journey on two motorbikes," says Cecilia, a computer engineer like her husband.
"We decided to take two bikes because one bike is not enough for two. There's hardly any space left for the pillion rider after all the stuff have been loaded.
We've brought everything required for us on the bike, which forced us to go for two bikes," says Kim.
The couple are clear about what they want from the journey and spreading any message or creating a record is not on their agenda, they just want to enjoy wandering across the globe.
"We want to cherish our dream of visiting around the world on a motorbike.
But during our we have got a chance to learn the art and culture of different places.
We are really enjoying that," says Cecilia.
Kim and Cecilia do their best to keep their two BMWs in shape for the journey.
"We ride for nearly eight hours a day.
If we ride harsh, then the bikes cannot fulfill our dream.
Till now we have managed to sort our whatever small technical faults we encountered on our own," she says.
Kim says they have not faced any hurdle so far while crossing the borders of various countries.
"We have all the valid documents like passport, identity card and motorbike papers with us.
We found India pretty safe, though we never ride after dark," says Kim.
He says their journey will continue for another two years, but did not divulge their future destinations.
Talking about their experience in India, the couple say the hospitality they got at various places speaks volumes of the kindness and generosity of Indian towards visitors.

Newspaper reading in India

2007-02-28T12:01:00.000+01:00

I am staying in one place for a while, waiting for tires for the motorcycle. Indians love newspapers. And so do I. I get one every morning and I really get a kick out of reading it. Somehow the news here just gets presented in a way I find highly amusing. I thought I share some of these articles with you:

Spirit of times: Beer, there and everywhere
Recent studies point to India having some of metrics in the world, particularly when it comes to children; worse than sub-Saharan Africa, if you can stomach that. The adult population is not in great shape either. Word is getting around that South Asians are more prone to heart trouble at an earlier age than any other ethnic group. Not good news for rising, shining, poised, incredible India. But since we are intoxicated by our demographic dividend for the moment, lets not rain on that party.
Instead, mull over the imminent arrival in India of Budweiser and Burger King., calorific exemplars of American haute cuisine. As the humorist Dave Barry once wrote,"Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer... the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza." Now that both American beer and pizza, or its cousin burger, have arrived hand in hand, expect hale and hearty Indians to protest "India Pois-on-ed!"
However, look at the bright side. Alcohol is avoidable, but if you are going to drink at all, wine and beer in moderate quantities are probably more recommended than harsher liquors. It's a travesty that liquor outlets in India are called wine and beer shops but they sell little of the said drinks. Instead they are stacked with hard stuff like whisky and rum, some of it of industrial grade that can test a cast-iron stomach.
Our beer consumption is piddly, which is why Budweiser and Heineken are hurrying to open the tap. India's beer market was worth an estimated $764.9 million in 2004, compared to China's 8.5 billion. Per capita consumption: China 20.3 liters; India 0.7 liters. Good news? Well, here the bad news: India is the world's biggest whisky market, 20% higher than second placed US home to Jack Daniels and Jim Beam. As someone observed, more scotch whisky is consumed in India than produced in Scotland.
On the other hand, our wine consumption is so negligible that one report put it at half a teaspoon per person per year. We probably drink more cough syrup than wine. By comparison, Canadians drink about 12.8 liters a year and the French soak up 55 liters.
Since foreign beer is here wine can't be to far behind. If anything, given the health benefits, it should be ahead. Already wineries from California and Washington are tripping across to get at the small but growing market.
So should we despair? The remarkable thing is Indian wines and beers have already made minor inroads in the west even with their limited production and exposure.
Beer barons took the easy route and bought breweries abroad, but our vintners have sweated it out to produce modest quantities of wine that are actually exported, even as domestic demand rises. In the US, Indian niche restaurants, such as Miami's Imlee and San Francisco's Dosa, pair their atypical menu with American And French wines. It would be in the spirit of the times if their American clientele got to drink Indian label, even as you imbibe theirs.

Cooker arm in brain, woman lives
Doctors remove 7-inch handle after five-hour surgery, repair fractured skull
On February 19, T. T. (40) was cooking the afternoon meal at her home when the pressure cooker burst. The enormous pressure flung the cooker lid at extremely high velocity at her face and the impact drove the handle through her right eye, up through the brain.
The velocity of the projectile was so high that the handle broke thorough the top of her skull and lodged under the skin. Referred by the local surgeon the Jehangir hospital T. was unconscious and barely alive, with the handle lodged firmly in her head and the lid prodtruding out of her eye cavity when she reached the hospital.
A group of surgeons undertook a five-hour-long surgery to save the lady. Rather astonishingly even for the doctors, T. has not only survived, but is recuperating and is able to move her limbs and obey commands to yawn or flick her surviving left eye open and shut.
The team of emergency staff was led by neuro-spine surgeon S. G. and assisted by plastic surgeon Sa. G. The initial emergency management was carried out by a team led by M. B., head of Jehangiri's emergency service.
G. and his team applied the time tested policy of airway, breathing an circulation or ventilator support to keep the patient stable. "Stabilising and rapidly creating a passageway for breathing were critical and a tracheotomy (surgery to create an opening of the trachea through the neck) was performed'" said Gandhi.
For conduction a CT Scan to find the level of penetration, the angle of gantry at the scan machine was changed to allow the patient in. The cooker handle had penetrated seven-and-half inches inside the skull.
Chances of long-term permanent neurological deficit ruled out any attempt to bring out the handle in one single attempt. Emergency craniotomy (or surgical opening of the skull to again access to the intracranial structures) was carried out by removing a portion of the brain scalp. " Swelling of the brain had led to continuous deterioration of the patient's condition", G. said, adding that after a five-hour-long ordeal, the team succeeded in removing the blood clots and the cooker handle and repaired the fractured skull.
T's right eye was completely shredded and restorative surgery was not an option due to lack of any visual potential. "The issue was to prevent any infection moving to the surviving eye. Now, there is chance of using prosthesis like a plastic eye as the damage has been kept minimal" said G.
After the surgery, the patient was moved to neuro ICU and monitored for 96 hours. She regained consciousness on February 23 and is now able to move her limbs and say short sentences.
Though baffled, G. suggested that T's recovery may be due to the fact that unlike a bullet the cooker's handle did not rotate once inside the body. " That might have reduced the damage to sensitive tissues," he said.

On driving in India

2007-02-26T10:45:00.000+01:00

I know this subject has been covered by everybody, but driving in India is such a big part of the experience I just feel I need to add my thoughts and comments as well.
There are no road rules in India! This was my first impression. Total chaos prevails. Now that I have been driving here for some time I have changed my mind somewhat. There are a few rules to traffic in India:

Everything is allowed. Drive down the highway in the wrong direction, drive on any side of the road, u-turn everywhere including highways and so on. I think you get the picture.
Honk your horn. This will guarantee you right of way. Hence there is no need to check for oncoming traffic when pulling into a road, just honk your horn first. Everybody else will then just get out of your way!

As you can imagine the topic of driving in India is always popular when I meet up with other motorcycle travelers. Some of them think that as with everything else in India, traffic is chaotic but in the end it works out just fine. I don't agree. I have seen a lot of accidents and I do think things would work better here if some simple rules were laid down and enforced by the authorities. But unfortunately this is not the case. So yes, chaos reigns and it is bound to get worse as the number of cars and motorcycles grows!
The worst breed of drivers are the motorcycle drivers. Here are some of the things that I have seen motorcycle drivers do:

talk on the mobile while driving!
write a text message on the mobile while driving!
talk on the mobile while driving down the wrong way on a highway!
talk on the mobile with a female passenger on the back who is also talking on the mobile and holding a baby in her arm!

I always drive with my headlights on. This seems to be a big problem for the whole male population of India. Everywhere I go very eager Indian males point out to me that my lights are on. They will pass me in hair raising maneuvers, come to a complete stop right in front of me only to point at my lights! Police will stop directing traffic to make the 'lights on' hand signal! So news flash to all Indian males: Yes I know my lights are on. I like it that way, because at least this way you will hopefully notice me!
Here is another thing I see every day: A lot of times I will be cruising along on my side of the road and then see myself confronted with an oncoming vehicle in my lane. The first reaction of this vehicle will not be to pull back or get out of the way, but to honk his horn! Yes, hello! You are in my lane and honking your horn is not going to improve the situation!
But then again I have to admit, it works. In the end I break or I get off the road. I guess I am not made out for this chicken game! But then judging by the number of car- and truck wrecks I see neither are a lot of the local drivers!
In the newspapers accidents are always referred to as 'mishaps'! Here is a typical newspaper article about such a mishap:"Seven dead in mishap: Seven persons died and more than 50 people were injured when the bus carrying them fell off a hilly road at Kalinga Ghat in Kandhamal district on Monday. The accident took place when the driver lost control over the bus while negotiating a downhill turn near Andharkota temple, about 13 km from G-Udayagirir, sources said."
When driving in India you get to see a lot of what is going on in rural India as well. Most roads will got through every village on the way. When you drive early in the morning as I do this means you will see a lot of man taking a dump by the side of the road, little pot of water for washing up afterwards in hand. But in plain sight of everybody who just so happens to drive by. Also during the course of the day, you will see a lot of men taking a piss all over the place. I have to say I find this pretty disgusting. Also I would like to point out, that you only see men doing this. No women! But I do assume Indian women have the same needs. So half the Indian population actually manages to do what is necessary while laking the proper sanitary installation without everybody noticing it. So what is wrong with Indian males?
While on the subject of disgusting habits: there is spitting! That has to be the worst! I hate passing buses, because you never know. Sure enough the other day I was passing a truck when a big, fat, slimy spat landed right on me! Disgusting!
All in all I find driving in India not a very enjoyable exercise. I love the fact that I get to see a lot of what is actually going on in India. But most of the time it is just a lot of work on a lot of really bad roads. And you never know what you are going to see next. You constantly have to be prepared for everything. The other day I was passing a bus on a two lane highway, only to come face to face with a big bull charging down the highway at full speed!

Catshit Coffee

2007-02-16T11:19:00.000+01:00

Just a quick note from the road. I have just spent two wonderful days at the Rainforest Retreat near Madikeri. This fantastic place is an organic spice plantation in the rainforests of the Western Ghats. The plantation is run by Sujata and Anurag Goel who are very gracious hosts and inspiring people. I enjoyed my stay there very much. One morning we went for a short trek through the rainforest. Our guide kept picking up these animal dropping that looked like coffee beans. Sure enough there is apparently a feral cat in these mountains that feeds of the coffee beans and after having digested the edible exterior shell gets rid of the hard beans through its rear end. Apparently the coffee brewed with these beans is called Catshit Coffee and is supposed to be a delicacies craved the world over! Sujata however told us at the Rainforest Retreat they collect these droppings to use them as fertiliser on the coffee plants in the plantation. The coffee at the Raiforest Retreat is excellent but I think I would have passed had it been Catshit Coffee!

Goa India: 'Just when you thought you got out, it pulls you back in!'

2007-02-12T18:30:00.000+01:00

Goa is a great place to relax and think things over. I got here at the end of October, which is really the beginning of the season. There are hardly any tourists around and the beach shacks are only just now being built. The beach is still nice and empty and every now and then there is still a little rain in the late afternoon. Leftovers from the monsoon which had lingered here longer than usual this year.
November brought visitors from Switzerland: my parents and later my brother showed to check up on me. We had a wonderful time. We went jogging every morning on the beautiful Varca beach, which is just perfect for that. Unfortunately my parent's jogging shoes got stolen and doing it barefoot proofed a little difficult in the end. The days passed way too quickly and soon I was alone again.
I left Varca beach and moved a little further South to Cavelossim. Same long stretch of beach but different crowd. Here I seemed to have landed in little Switzerland! With all the people I met I had trouble finding time to read my books. Nudi and my parents had brought lots of reading material and I was really keen on getting some reading done. I did manage to read ‘Der Weltensammler’. A novel by Ilija Trojanow based on the travels of Richard Bourton. I loved this book.
Beginning of December brought a halt to the leisurely beach life. I went back to Benaulim where I met up with Khim. The plan was to spend a couple of weeks doing maintenance on the bike and splitting up our equipment.
First thing on the list of maintenance work was taking of the swing arm and checking the kardan. The bike really sounds pretty bad and we were afraid the kardan might be going. But it was a false alarm. The kardan looked just fine.
Next we removed the gearbox. There had been a slow leak around the output shaft. We thought we might need to change the seal. But again, false alarm. A re-tightening of the screws did the job.
Next we wanted to have a look at the rear shock. It seemed to have too much play at the bottom socket. We fixed that by putting in a new bearing and we were about to remount the shock when we noticed that the spring was broken! Bummer! Where to get a replacement? While we were pondering this question we tried in vain to straighten out my front end. If you have followed our trip, you will remember that I run into a truck on the KKH in Pakistan. Some nifty workers straightened the front forks again and I was able to drive to India, but something was definitely still bent and we needed a more permanent solution. After bending and re-bending the steering wheel and the triple tree, we finally gave up and decided to just get replacement parts.
So with the rear shock, the triple tree, steering wheel and front forks the list of parts kept growing. Then there was the problem of camping equipment. I needed a tent, a cooking stove, cooking gear and a couple of other things, which we only had one of. Plus Christmas was coming up. So I decided to fly home for Christmas!
After Christmas I showed up in Goa with 40 kilos of spare parts in my luggage. I had been really worried about getting stopped at customs. But nobody looked. Ten days later the bike was like new: new front end, new back spring, new oil! I was ready to hit the road. My first stop was Patnem beach only 50 kilometers farther south. There I met up with some friends whom I had made on the trip to here. First there was Anders and Laurent, two bikers we had met in the Kyrgyz embassy in Almaty. Through them I got to know some other bikers who were also hanging out in Patem. It was great swapping stories and just talking. Also in Patnem were Ute and Andreas whom we had met in Northern Pakistan. Even though it was great hanging out I was keen on getting on the road. So one Monday morning I packed the bike and was about the ride off, when the handle for the front break just broke in lots of small little pieces! Bummer! My attempt at fixing it with liquid metal failed utterly and so I resigned myself to some more beach rest while waiting for parts. Finally another then days later I did make it out of Goa.
I managed to get two days of riding in and landed in Hampi. But the bike sounded really bad! This was really getting to me but there was nothing for it but trying to figure out what was wrong this time. It sounded like it might be the drive-shaft. This was unlikely, since as you remember we had just checked that. Nevertheless I took it off again and sure enough it was ok. This was actually bad news, because that meant it was probably a problem with the transmission. Draining the oil from there confirmed this suspicion. Hampi is a great place, if you are a tourist and want to see ruins from an old Hindu empire. It is not such a good place to be when trying to fix a transmission. So I decided to drive back to Benaulim in Goa, where Khim was still hanging out and where there is a lot more infrastructure. I can't tell you how glad I was when I made it there! Say what you will about BMW's, but they always get you there!
Khim did a great job on the transmission. Turns out the small bearing on the output-shaft had gone bad. On the second attempt we managed to fix it and now the bike runs really smooth. So guess what: Tomorrow I will try to set out again. I am really curious to see how far I get this time around.

Hampi, India pictures slideshow

2007-02-12T14:09:00.000+01:00