Two Moto Kiwis Arctic To Antarctic May 2012...

Heya Jeff

Of course she is she has her own chair to sit on

Chairs Andi (wishing he was her chair) :eek1

Yes definately mounatains and lookin like no jungle

Sorry we are not home yet and I realize it is selfish of us so we promise to be home next August , apologise for you having to do this in your own time

Great news on your trip too, epic does not matter it is all about enjoying it and anyone who turns a key in a foreign country is worthy as it is more difficult than home, enjoy it mate, are you going to do a RR?, would like to follow on with you if you are

Cheers Andi

I know you Andi, so I'm pretty sure your bro is the nice guy, specially if he's a bastid ! and you're the evil twin.

Awesome pics as always, you managed to make Bolivia a good looking place, maybe your pics encourage other riders to go there, try to insert some kind of water mark on them with a warning.

Loved your Bolikiwian plate !

Heya Jaime......he musta be a good guy if he is a bastido

So you finally found me out :eek1

Yes I am the evil twin on an evil pumpkin, no worries sending other riders to Bolivia as I have writen my "across the board" sumup of Bolivia, it is not glowing bar the few places which hold it from dropping off the earth.

The plate, guenuine fake and worked well, doesnt take much to trick neandarthals

BTW, stator working perfectly, used the heated grips yesterday with pleasure and comfort

Good to hear that! If you ever need any other KTM part just let me know, BMW will deal with the transport

Ellen under that waterfall = a real fairy <3

Hats off to the BMW network mate they work very well and their support seems to be very good.

Even tho I ride orange I have to admit to a big liking for the F800GS and particularly the 30 year anniversary ... don't tell anyone tho or it will blow my cover

Heya Blue Icebreaker

Great compliment thank you

Cheers Andi

It is that time where I speak my mind on events that have unfolded, good, bad and all, no sugar coatings.

Bolivia ......Deceit, Robbery, lies, distrust, arguments, more lies, bullshit, wrong doings, these are the good days, Bolivia is not for us.

All the time there are riots, blockades, strikes and other stupid bullshit, these guys really want to do nothing and get paid for it with expectations that everyone else will support them. I have to say without being a whinger that Bolivia really fucked me off and while I respect their culture I DO NOT respect them for being lazy bastids and everything is someone else's fault and I certainly DO NOT respect someone that disrespects us blatantly and for no prior reason.

Never have I felt so much anger each day in one country. :huh

In Bolivia there is a whole lot of not a lot happening and until they pull their head out of their arse and wake up they will remain in the same predicament, their wonderful corrupt government slowing sinking the place into a big hole along with corrupt everything in which you deal with daily.

They insistently want all the westy toys but have no want to earn it but to have it handed to them, they want foreign money but will not serve you at petrol stations and when they do they want you pay 3 x the price, for a country trying to move forward supposedly they are seriously heading backwards with their attitude.

Everything and I mean everything there is an issue and just needlessly hard work and 99% of the time involves pissed off long faced Bolivianos not wanting to serve you, I have to admit I struggled with the place given it is (was) the country of most interest to me.

Since Ellens robbery and beating I have gone very dark on the Bolivianos as this was pretty much the last straw and I had revenge on my mind for everything we did so anyone who tried anything against us got the full blast of "get fucked", not a nice way to travel but when a country backs you into a corner of this amount of crap then that is the game.

Some good, we saw one girl in Sucre who smiled, we caught that picture, she is beautiful and has a beautiful smile, she made our day.



In a small town called Morochata we found two more girls that smile, actually the whole town was friendly which was so unBolivia, although shy they were interested and yes I had my picture taken so that was three smiling people we found in total.



Indigenous people in the higher land seem to be the main contenders for anti white faces and they have no bones about sticking it to you, we then adapted and pulled that attitude too, in Santa Cruz they tried to charge us $50 Bolivianos to park our two motos for 15 hours, the going rate was $30 Bolivianos for a day.

When it came time to pay a different guy was there and we told him we had been quoted $25 Bolivianos for two bikes and he was not sure so I just reinforced it with a raised voice and he agreed, now if they had been normal and charged us the $15 Bolivianos it should have been they would have been better off so I just stick it back to them with no qualms given they start the game of screw the white face.

While Bolivia has some nice parts they are few and far between and at least for us the amount of bullshit and torment you have to go through to get there we believe all of their neighbours backs yards are superior, easier to travel and you can actually enjoy the people which forms a huge part of the trip.

Sorry for the non shiny report but being a Kiwi is my downside as I say it like it is and don’t try and sugar coat shit.

The Heart Speaks

Related vary much to the above but after Ellen was robbed and beaten I really wanted to damage someone, if I had found the robbers it would have been pretty bad for them, most probably I would have served some time too.

The anger I had inside is something I had not felt before and I was having serious thoughts in my mind as to the way I felt, I had doubts that I could contain myself if presented in a shitty situation which seemed to be on a daily basis.

For some strange reason we were not double crossed for a couple of days which left some essential cool down time for me.

When someone you love gets attacked and injured it places your (my) heart on defense mode and I would stand to the death, it came to a slight head when we struck the blockades, we went through and the fat lady nearly became traction only her arse was too be to be fast enough, that was her saving grace.

I hated that aspect of feeling the way I did but it was brewed and made in Bolivia by Bolivians.

To finish, without sounding racist (which we faced everyday towards us, my white face particularly) the main problems we had (baring the fuckwits in the petrol stations) were in the higher land with the indigenous people, once down in the amazonas and the peoples colour changed so did their attitudes and all for the better.

So not to offend anyone, my general sumup of Bolivia is fuck it and fuck them, go to the neighboring back yards where you will be treated normally and more fairly and sometimes even outstandingly.

While Bolivia was not a total waste of time I would not set foot there again, to me it went from the place of most interest to a shithole full of neanderthals who don't give a shit, if there is such thing as 4th world they are heading there.

Now to Brasil ... onward and definitely upwards

Soooo Andy....Tell us how you really feel!!
I think in light of your experiences in Bulshittia you present a truthful and unbiased view of your time there. Too bad they SUCK. I know I will never go there because of reading your ride report. Good job for telling it honestly and perhaps preventing someone else the same hardships.
NOW! Onward to better places!!
Regards....justjeff

At least Paceña beer is pretty good. Oh fuck, you dont drink beer

I think I can hardly imagine all the rage that you felt afte Ellens robbery, and I can't even try to think how Ellen felt. And then all the other shit.
But after reading a few The Heart Speaks I know this is just a sum up, you left all that shit behind and now are enjoying your faulty camera and Brazil
GO KIWIS !!!

Funny how perceptions spread - I've always equated Columbians with drug dealers and civil war, and Bolivia as one of those bucket list destinations.
Not now. Particularly Columbia, which is a possibility next year. Skip Bolivia I think.

Last day of my working life tomorrow, and then on to bike prep, a BMW F650GS. Yes I will do a RR, but for much of the ride I'll be a long way out of any reception, and I'll be updating via my android in a tent somewhere. What I'm aiming to do is to 'bag a confluence point', part of the Degree Confluence Project, where you visit the confluence of a full degree of latitude/longitude, photograph it and upload a report to confluence.org. For example 23 South 50 West is only 11km from you in Ourinhos, but all such points in the south of Brazil are already gone, but Paraguay to the south as quite a few yet unvisited.
My confluence point is in the desert, but i'm not saying where yet, in case like Scott of the Antarctic, I get there and some sod has driven a stake into the ground a week before me!

You see all this geographic knowledge is what qualifies me to asses the Brazillian on the previous page was all mountains and no Jungle

On to Braziiiiiil!

Exactly this.

Heya Jeff

I was gonna let lose but stayed restrained

Yes this is only our experience and what happened to us, pretty much happens to everyone except maybe Ellens robbery which can happen anywhere given shitheads in the wrong place.

My failing in life is a don't sugar coat stuff a some people find that hard as they only want to read/hear the glossy side, we just write it/say it as it is then others can make up their mind but I would not send anyone there especially ADVers and the like who will suffer the same of similar BS, there are much better places to go.

Cheers Andi

Heya Jaime

Beer

Yeah it was a shitty feeling mate, never felt like it before, hopefully don't feel like it again.

Camera looks like it will play up a bit round here ..... hopefully

Off to Sao Paulo tomorrow, picked up a shitty batch of fuel somewhere so will have to sort that out, hopefully won't have to lift the carbs cos that is a biggie, need some carb cleaner or similar

Cheers Andi

I hope your last working day was satisfying knowing now what you are in for, must be a great feeling.

Colombia is still the undisputed best all round, if I could not live in New Zealand I would live there in a heartbeat.

Bolivia through our entire travel on this trip plus everything prior is the worst hands down and we have been to some shitty places, at least we know now

Awesome doing the confluence point, that will be a lot of fun, will be sure to see how you are getting on.

Re the mountains ... will have to see more I think to compare and confirm but I think you are right .

Cheers Andi

Heya Naomi

Yes we are pleased that bit is finished, was certainly a trial to say the least.

I guess sometime you have to suffer the shit to appreciate the greater parts, Brasil so far (although expensive) is very nice.

Cheers Andi

Heya Trane

Yes there are plenty of better places to go, travel and moto riding is about enjoyment and seeing what is around the next corner and Bolivia took that spark away from us.

Any of the neighbouring countries are simply superior in every way, the nicest thing about Bolivia is leaving it

Welcome to Brasil, the border crossing easy and painless, in fact even enjoyable.

With no TVIP required we were in and welcomed..... what an incredible change just a few meters makes from their neighbours.

Getting our feet on the ground we took to the streets exploring the new territory and seeing what our new currency wouldn't buy us knowing that Brasil is expensive, we also purchased a pipa string cutter (kite string cutters as they like to dog fight with motorists)

As evening claimed the last of day we watched the sun go down over Bolivia for the final time ....kinda relieved feeling came with it.





A local bird sat and watched us with a welcoming chirp



Our first day into Brasil was very hot as we made our way to Bonito, arriving at Bonito we set up per usual, that night the skies erupted with a lighting display and thunderstorm that put all previous storms to shame, as it turned out this was to be the beginning of what turned into a cold and wet week.

The road side was a huge wash of thousands of hectares of swamp and waterlands



After three nights of waiting out rain, fog and thunderstorms we set off toward Bela Vista as all the clear water attractions had turned brown so that was that, these pics are what we should have seen.







This is a crackup, Brasils on version of Red Bull ... yes Red Horse



Bonito is famous for its fish and clear waters, they are featured in the main square



Paraguay was in our sights to pick up our new stator as the Bolivian rewind of the rewind was dying so down to Bela Vista was the choice and it was cold and wet, arriving there at the border wee were told there was no immigration there and we needed to go 130 km south east to Ponta Pora:eek1:eek1:eek1.

Tanking up we hit it to Ponta Pora, the weather caving in soaking us in rain and thick fog which bought the temperature down to 6 degs.

On arriving at Ponta Pora we were shoved from pillar to post trying to find immigration to clock out of Brasil, finally the police where the ones to give us an exit stamp, off to the Paraguay side we found customs, they said we needed immigration first so we then found the immigration building and two fat ugly ladies who couldn't be bothered with us...felt like Bolivia again

Now, we read on an internet site we did not need a VISA for Brasil or Paraguay however the two fat ladies insisted we needed VISA and were laughing at us saying we had to go to Iguassu Falls to apply, they took pride in being bitches despite our polite approach to asking for help.

Realizing they were not going to help, it was late in the day, we were wet, we were cold and we had had enough we decided to can it, find a hostal, bunk down for the night and forge Plan B

Finding a hostal with a hot shower, parking and wifi saw us settle in, warm up and breath and allow us to find out our options

It was not looking good with our stator on the other side of the country.....