Links
As we travel we meet people and use websites…these are just a few of the pages you may like to visit after reading our blog:
Cyclists traveling northwards (usually from South America)
– Stefan
– Mel and Chris
– Sean
– Juan Pablo
– Tauru and Christi
– Stuart
– Beat and Jacinthe
– Thomas and Baptiste
– Juliane and Marta
– Lloyd and his red rockhopper
– Matthew and Sylwia
Cyclists traveling southwards (usually from North America)
– Corinne and Joseba
– Angelique and Vincent
– Miguel
– Pietro the ‘Velo Pirate’
– Patrick and Janneke
– Jörn the ‘German Machine’
– Martin
– Alexis & Pauline, Samuel & Helene, and Flo & Francky
– Arthur & Jorge
– Damien and Thomas
– Dominik and himself
– Dave and Marnee
– Andrew and Aran
– Emilien and Xinhan
– Babs and Achim
– Nico Stavrakakis
Vehicles traveling in Central and South America
– Tom Deniss
– Oliver and Isabell
– Francesco and Barbara
– Matt
– Search for happiness (the Brazilian way)
– Stefan and Swantje
– Drive Nacho Drive
Other resources
– Andes by Bike
– Study Spanish
– On Your Bike
– Coffee Break Spanish
– Traveling Two
Cyclists traveling northwards (usually from South America)
Stefan: Stefan is a friendly German who we met in El Chalten and who told us all the information we could possibly ever want about the route South. He is traveling round the world and by the size of his camera, he must take good photos! He also fixed our computer and we look forward to following his travels as he heads North:click here
Mel and Chris:Mel is a Kiwi and Chris is from the UK. They’ve exchanged their old lives for new ones on bicycles, planning to travel from Ushuaia to Alaska. In many ways they remind us of ourselves when we started, and theirs is certainly one of the blogs we plan on following when we return home to avoid the black hole ‘no cycle touring’ will create:click here
Sean:Sean is from the UK and is going Northwards to who knows where. Resembling Geoff in build and hair colour, we’ll be following how he goes when we return to the UK:click here
Juan Pablo and Geoff just outside Cafayate
Juan Pablo: An Argentinian from Bariloche, Juan is a very overloaded cyclist who has no real destination, but would like to make it to Venezuela. Planning on slimming down his panniers, we’ll follow his progress Northwards on his facebook page: ‘Discubrien Do Mundo En Biciclata’
Tauru and Christi: Tauru and Christi seemed like a fairly normal couple on a tandem when we first met them in Cusco. However, it turns out that both are registered blind and have to help each other to see the way. Completely inspirational and lovely people, please look at their blog: click here
Little and large
Stuart: We met Stuart in Cusco. He is an Englishman, who lives in London and has been traveling North from Argentina encountering all the bad weather that could possibly be imagined. He’s recommended a few passes in Argentina and Chile, like Paso Sico, so we’ll definitely be getting in touch when we get there. Hopefully we’ll be able to meet up on the ride back from Dover! The amusing thing about Stuart is that he has exactly the same shoes, trousers and jacket and Geoff…little and large.
Jacinthe and Beat near Alausi
Jacinthe and Beat: A French Canadian couple travelling North from Ushuaia. Hope the hand gets better Jacinthe!: click here
Thomas and Baptiste: This young French pair have cycled from Ushuaia to Quito and we met them with only 10 days of their journey left. They were pretty sad to be finishing and had also had trouble with an ortleib pannier clip breaking: click here
Thomas and Baptiste on the road above Cajabamba
Juliane and Marta: In the midst of all this Falklands stuff it was reassuring to meet two Argentinians who didn’t want to kill us. Juliane and Marta are doing a clockwise loop from Buenos Aires. Sadly they started their trip with a pet dog, but it died shortly before we met them in Colombia. We hope they get another soon! They have a facebook group: ‘diario de bicicleta’
Lloyd and his red rockhopper: Lloyd was a volunteer at Casa Xaltava in Granada, where we stopped for a week to learn the last tense. He’s now cycling back to Mexico with two buckets as panniers and a rucksack for a handlebar bag. Sweeeet! Follow him here: click here
Matthew and Sylwia: Sarah and Nico met this couple whilst in Southern Mexico. They are travelling north from Patagonia on Thorn bikes too. A foretaste of some of the adventure to come?! click here
Cyclists traveling southwards (usually from North America)
Corinne and Joseba: Corinne (Swiss) and Joseba (Spanish) met on the road and have been traveling for the past four years. We met first in La Paz and randomly again in Foz de Iguazu just before all of us head home. If you want to see a World Bike Tour blog: click here
Angelique and Vincent: More French, more recumbent bicycles. Angelique and Vincent have traveled from Quito down to Ushuaia and are now about to start traveling through Asia: click here
Miguel: A light set-up will hopefully allow Miguel to zoom down all of Ruta 40 in Argentina in only 3 months. Him and Pietro matched speeds and quickly zipped away from us before we could meet this Argentinian any better. He has no blog unfortunately, but Pietro’s blog probably has quite a bit of information.
Pietro and Sarah on Ruta 40
Pietro: The original Swiss velo pirate, Pietro is making his way South from La Paz to Bariloche and then back up North to Brazil in the next six months…that is, when he isn’t fixing another broken flagpole on the back of his bike. Follow him on the high seas here: click here
Patrick and Janneke:We met this Dutch couple wandering the streets of Salta in Argentina. They are planning on cycling much of what we plan to bus. To see the route South through Argentina to Santiago from a cyclist’s viewpoint, check out their blog: click here
Jörn: We first met Jörn at the leaving dinner in Uyuni. Four days later and he walked into the same shop in Villamar after deciding against the more challenging Arbol de Piedra route through SW Bolivia. 2 and 1/2 hours to do 5km was a little too slow for Jörn. A strong cyclist, he put us all to shame as he joined us for the ride to the Chilean border. A two-time veteran of the Carreta Austral, he shared some great information on that route
Martin: We met Martin in the La Paz Casa de Ciclistas. His similar music interests and love of climbing especially in the Peak District reminde us of home. He had been in La Paz for 4 weeks already with rumour of a romantic tie to the City. If he ever gets back on his bike, this is his blog: click here
Alexis & Pauline, Samuel & Helene, and Flo & Francky: There were many French cyclists in the casa de ciclista in La Paz. These are a summary. All are traveling South and all made delicious crepes for the crepe party. For those interested in mountaineering, Flo & Francky are summiting about 10 Andean peaks per country.
Alexis & Pauline: click here
Samuel & Helene: click here
Flo & Francky: click here
Arthur & Jorge: A Frenchman and a Spaniard who´ve been traveling South together for some time. They have now gone separate ways, but are only just ahead of us. We hope to see them again soon.
Arthur´s blog: click here
Jorge´s blog: click here
Thomas proudly showing off their new pan
Damien and Thomas (a.k.a ‘The Bandavelo’): Some Germans we met early in Peru told us of the joys of a pressure cooker at altitude where in a normal pan rice takes 2 hours to cook. With our previous pan being too small and continuously overflowing and putting our the MSR stove, we invested in a 3L pressure cooker in Cusco. We were more than happy to give our 1.3L pan to a French pair cycling on recumbent bicycles as they only had a 1L pan. We have no idea how they managed to cook enough food before this! For a different view of the road, see their blog:click here
Dominik and himself: Dominik (and Dan) caught up with us as we reached the border with Ecuador, and many more chance meetings ensued until we left Quito where Dominik has finished his travels by bike (for now!). IF you like basketball and volleyball, then get in touch!: click here
Dave, Marnee and Sarah wait for a controlled landslide to be triggered
Dave and Marnee: Dave and Marnee are an Australian couple who eventually caught up with us (with their luggage) South of Ingapirca, Ecuador. We had a great fortnight riding with them across the border into Peru:click here
Andrew and Aran: The two A’s share a house with us in Choluteca and tried to update our map-reading by sharing GPS resources with us. We’re unlikely to meet again this trip, but maybe some other time. They end their trip in Peru: click here
Emilien and Xinhan: These two French cyclists are powering down from Alaska to Ushuaia on a similar timescale to us. Each time we’ve met we’ve managed to share our resources. They are also responsible for the facebook group all us cyclists are using to help us travel South. Once they reach the end of the World they’re going back up Africa, a great idea if we had the money and time! We also cycled most of the Lagunas route with them in Bolivia: click here
Babs and Achim: Barbara (Babs) and Achim are a lovely German couple we met whilst in Coban in Guatemala. There timescale is a lot shorter than ours however, so look at their blog for a tast of what is to come as we head South! Catch up with them here: click here
Nico Stavrakakis: Nico (Sarah’s brother) also had the same dream as us, but his dream ended up with Canada as its start point in May 2011. Nico travelled with Sarah from San Miguel de Allende to San Cristóbal de Las Casas whilst Geoff tied up loose ends back in Coventry. Follow him here: click here
Vehicles traveling in Central and South America
Tom taking a break while crossing the Andes
Tom Denniss : Not strictly a vehicle, but we didn’t think we’d meet anyone like this when we designed the contents for this page! Tom is an Australian who makes us look sane. He is trying to circumnavigate the world by foot in a record-breaking time. The day before we met him he nearly died by crossing the 3800m pass where the old road went on the Cristo Redentor route. Glissading down ice in trainers with fingers impersonating an ice axe is all in a day’s work for this nutter! See if he makes it: click here
Oliver and Isabell : These Germans have only just started their trip when we met them at the same thermal springs as Francesco and Barbara. Their Toyota Land Cruiser is aiming to arrive in Ushuaia a few months befor us. So look at their blog for an advance preview… click here
Francesco and Barbara : These Swiss Italians turned up at the thermal springs on the Lagunas route as we relaxed in the waters. They have a huge Mammut logo on the side of their vehicle and rathr excitingly, they plan to be in Ushuaia the same date as us…1st March 2013! Follow them here: click here
Matt : Matt is a coke stove veteran who we met in Cusco. Matt and his motorbike Suzi are traveling all over Latin America. Matt actually started on a bicycle but swopped in Medellin after his bike got rusty while kayaking over from Panama to Colombia! Follow them here:click here
Search for happiness (the Brazilian way) : Sarah first met these Brazilians in Semuc Champey. THey’re making a documentary on happiness. Since then we’ve helped push them up a road in Nicaragua and met them sight-seeing in Medellin. Who knows when our paths will cross again! They have a facebook group, but we can’t find it!
Stefan and Swantje: These two Germans have seen the light and bought a Land Rover Defender for their travels. We met them by Lake Arenal in Costa Rica, and assuming they have managed to get their car to South America they plan on heading to Ushuaia too : click here
Drive Nacho Drive: Brad & Sheena got married, got jobs, bought a VW, kitted it out, quit their jobs and are now on the road. We hope to bump into them again sometime. Their blog is particularly well-presented. Follow them here: click here
Andes by Bike: Useful route descriptions and sketch maps for off-road routes along the Andes: click here
Study Spanish: Brilliant for teaching us Spanish grammar. Learn it here: click here
On Your Bike: Jon taught us lots about bike maintenance, and they are providing advice as we find issues on the trip that we can’t deal with, e.g. when Sarah’s bottom bracket went: click here
Coffee Break Spanish: Free Spanish lesson pod-casts with a Scottish twist. 20 minute bursts of useful sentences and new vocab … “learning Spanish is dead brilliant”. Thanks to Jim, Harmeet and Rodney’s friend for introducing Sarah to this resource: click here
Travelling Two: Great online resource for cycle-touring. Go on, have a look, maybe you’ll come join us!? click here
Bicycle joyride 