From Estonia with love (Round the World)

Late but not too late - subscribed.

Amazing and excellent RR!!!

Perfect pics - I'm just lost for words.

Greetings from Austria,
Karin

@ driftwood... Party pooper!!!

But seriously, thanks for the update!

Looking forward to more!

If you need anything while in or around the Black Hills, just let us know
My Vanaema would have done the same. I'm looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip. I would also love to meet you guys(either here or when I finally travel to Estonia)

Ride Safe.

Amazing, Thats all i can say, i have been reading these epic rides and they just get better, keep it comin.

Some more analog-camera pics.

Patagonian nature, Argentina.










We rode decent scenery trail roads through Patagonia, Argentina.










Decent gravel in Argentinian Patagonia.










Penguins in Peninsula Valdés, Argentina.











Magellan penguins with chicks.











Beach filled with Magellan penguins, Penninsula Valdés, Argentina.










Aconcagua national park, Argentina.











Mountains in Aconcagua, Argentina.










A weird colour mix in Aconcaguan landscapes.











Cliffs close to San Juan, Argentina.










Smoking active Chaiten volcano, Chile.










Into the atmosphere, Chaiten volcano, Chile.











Primal trees in Carretera Austral, Chile.










River, Carretera Austral, Chile.










A stop on Carretera Austral, Chile.










A decent rail road through the cliffy mountains that lead us to Carretera Austral.










Lake in Chile.











Our good friend, Raúl. Anti-stereotype of an Argentinian.
His kindness is unparalleled and filled with positivism and enthusiasm.











Abandoned village of San Gregorio, Chile.











Abandoned ships in San Gregorio, Chile.











Rusted to the skeleton, San Gregorio.











San Gregorio, Chile.












Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.











Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the World, Argentina.











A ship in Ushuaia, Argentina.










Perito Moreno glacier in detail. Argentina.











Perito Moreno glacier.










Perito Moreno.










Perito Moreno.










Perito Moreno glacier from distance.













Chilean jungle.











A trail in Chilean mountain-jungle.











Waterfall in mountain-jungle, Chile.










Jungle in Chilean mountains.










A stop on Carretera Austral, Chile.










Santiago, Chile.











Santiago from above. Chile.










Valparaiso, Chile.











Colours in Valparaiso. Chile.











People living in old abandoned buses, Chile.










Nature aside the Pacific ocean, Chile.









Me, looking to the Pacific ocean. Chile.










Workers in the fishing village. Pacific ocean, Chile.










A dried out nature. La Silla European Southern Observatory (ESO), Chile.










3.6metre telescope, ESO La Silla site, Chile.











New Technology Telescope (NTT), La Silla, Chile.











Radio telescope, La Silla.











Reflections, La Silla, Chile.










A hand in the Atacama desert. The driest place on Earth. Chile.











Atacaman hand, Chile.











A road through Valle de la Luna ("The Moon Valley"). Chile.











Dramatic landscapes in Valle de la Luna. Chile.











Valle de la Luna - landscapes resembling the Moon.











Dunes in Valle de la Luna, Chile.

​

The pictures are simply amazing. Bravo. This is a most excellent ride report.

Chuquicamata copper mine: 3 miles long, 2 miles wide, 1 mile deep. Chile.











Bottom of the copper mine. Chile.











World's biggest - 600-ton lorries. One tire costs 20,000US$ alone. Chile.











Patterns vs colors in Chuquicamata copper mine. Chile.










Patterns vs colors in Chuquicamata copper mine. Chile.











Salar de Uyuni salt lake, at 3650 meters, Bolivia.











Salar de Uyuni in infrared, Bolivia.











Reflections, Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia.












Salar in infrared, Bolivia.










Kariina and GS on the Salar de Uyuni (in infrared). Bolivia.











Salar de Uyuni.











Patterns of salt cones, Salar de Uyuni.










"Road" onto the salt lake.










Salt cones in infrared. Bolivia.










Train boneyard in Uyuni, Bolivia.











Laguna Verde - Bolivian nature at extreme heights - 4600 meters. Water starts to foam.











Bolivian nature at extreme heights - 4700 meters.











Bolivian swamps.










Swamps on the highest parts of altiplano. Bolivia.












Laguna Verde flamingos. Bolivia.












A ride into Bolivian sunset...

​

Hope you liked them, Margus

I'll call FRONT PAGE for this one. I'm in owe. It's already on my work's computer background.
​

I will say it again:
Amazing photography.

+1

Having been in the mountains for most of the time we came down to sea level before Ecuadorian border and it became bloody hot! The first city on our way was Machala, a self-proclaimed banana capital of the World.



Over +30C and humid - something we had forgotten after Brazil. It takes weeks to adapt to, being in motorcycle clothing most of the time, not in shorts.

Thankfully we soon headed back into Andes mountains, back into "comfort zone" for us northeners (often a bit cold though, even if you're close to equator line!).

Ecuadorian natives are slightly different from the rest we've seen in South-America:











Unfortunately lot of wild dogs run around in South-America, and in Ecuador, in the mountains over 3500m one of them came to us. He was very shy, ill, underbred and weak. I started to pity him and gave away a pack of crackers. He started to eat like crazy and didn't even notice when we left:




We headed to Quilotoa lagoon, that's a lake inside a volcano crater.

Road there was surrounded by some decent scenery. Let me express it in panoramas (click to enlarge each one):




















And the road away from there was a decent offroad:




Also with nice scenery with volcano or mountain tops:













Slept in a motel, where usually clients can listen music while doin' the thing:




And then came the capital of Ecuador - Quito:


Quito old town panoramas































It's hard to explain, but we liked Quito - the smells, sounds and atmosphere was very nice there.




As you've guessed - Ecuador means equator.

The road through mountains was curvy and we crossed equator line 3-4 times. Without GPS it would be hard to know when you're directly on the equator line since in most of the places it isn't marked on the road, i.e. on this picture, the bike is directly on the equator:





Only in one spot on the road it was marked.


Before Colombian border we wanted to sleep somewhere and headed off into the mountain trails again. Some decent scenery there and cloud-movement was superb. I took a sequence from cloud movements in Ecuadorian mountains, the sound is exacly what you hear in the evening there:

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Bordercrossing to Colombia was straight forward. No hassles at all.

And close to the Ecuadorian border there was the famous Las Lajas Sanctuary. We chose a wrong time to visit it - on Sunday, so there were loads of people around, but I got some good shots nonetheless:




Endless number of thanksgiving plates for the virgin of Las Lajas:










And the military were everywhere - they have sort of "hidden" civil war in Colombia, so no wonder.



From Colombian mountaneous landscape:


(click to enlarge panorama)


we headed down to the lower grounds of Colombian jungle:



And cooked a decent regular meal for us:



While Kariina was cooking I shot some patterns in 10 meter radius from this spot:








(PS: this leaf was taller than me)



























Those worms had the thickness my forefinger and lenght of 10-15cm - big ones and loads of them in Colombian jungle:








And the Colombian capital Bogotá greeted us - we had friends in the city who welcomed us and their children enjoyed the "ride" on our GS:




One of the weird things in Colombia is the Zipaquirá salt cathedral that goes 200 meters deep into the mountain, used to be a salt mine, now a sanctuary:










Amazingly high holes and ceilings!








One of the domes.










This wall was over 3 meters thick for example.



We arrived just in time for Easter holidays. But instead of painting the eggs we chose to paint coconuts. They had to be grinded first to remove their "hair":













And painted them.




















Our coconut was inspired by travelling though.


That's it folks. We're currently in Bogotá still waiting for new tires and Brazilian visas. Will keep you updated if we can get out of Colombia w/o being killed or robbed by guerillas or cocaine-smugglers :)


Margus on Colombian beer

'


+1 :O)

What an incredible adventure. Your photography is fantastic. Thank you for sharing this.

No update from us for some time - been busy eating miles and "chewing through" all the collected experienc in our minds, obviously.

Before we head on to Central-America, let us give some insight to Colombia's capital, Bogota's gettho and how children live there:

Bogota's poor suburbs themselves look like this (click to enlarge panorama):
























In those pipes they have drinking water flowing...




The streets are abused by rain, rubbish, sun and winds.




That cross aside the big tree in the hilltop means lot of people have hung themselves up there, ending their life due to poverty, drugs or alcohol, or other problems.























This house is for sale. Interested?




Kitchen in the house. Poor, but clean.



A view to the street.




Men playing cards.










Some kids don't even have a table for doing their homework - she has to use a plastic chair as a substitute.




A boy from a slightly better education programme (see his clothing).




Children on the street.




















Bogota's ghetto gave us a reality-check, not every child has equal chances to start a civilized life...



We took a chance to visit Bogota's gold museum that had a decent set of made-from-gold fine crafts from the times well before Colombus discovered America. It's the art of the native american indians:

































































































































































































For me the museum was superbly inspiring - the raw details in their art and their way of life. IMHO, to me it makes all the overhyped and over-refined European art look like a posers and show-offers art (at least to some level).

Meanwhile we were planning to leave for the Brazilian Amazon and Guyanas through Venezuela. For that reason I sent our Ohlins rear suspension to the Colombian official Ohlins dealer to be serviced - just in case, because it was supposed take a lot of abuse in Amazonian and Guyanan mud roads. So I sent them the shock and got it back, put it on, and off we go! We had a booking for attending a rocket launch in European Space Station in French Guyana, and the Amazon was waiting! Woohoo!

...yea right!?

...after less than 60 miles of smooth tarmac road riding - the freshly serviced Ohlins shock was leaking.

...arse.


That was it for the Amazonian loop - the only way to get a reliable shock was to send it to USA where there are REAL Ohlins specialists. To get it repaired we needed more than two weeks there-and-back time with post.

Thus our long planned Amazon plans went down the drain with wet season already starting - we were too late after we got the repaired shock back from the US (costed us crap loads of money to repair Colombian dealers errors indeed).

Had to mount it on:
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And Panama is our next step.

WOW. Neat video !!!

The dog absolutely MAKES it a masterpiece

Wow! The Photos you take are simply mindblowing!

Have a good trip.

What an adventure!!! Excellent pics, great writing,...fantastic!!!

They have a different rear shock for each camera lens. It really is an incredible amount of photo gear. I carried their tripod around lower Manhattan for a few hours and I needed a nap. The end result is obviously worth it, though.