RTW on a thumper...KTM - LC4 Round the World ADVenturization

[rtwpaul]

Originally Posted by C-Stain

Good to see you're still having fun...great pics. If only the World would allow me to ride along beside you instead of from behind a keyboard! Keep the shiny side up!

C.

surely your world is freeing up a little by now, you must have signed a deal by now for your freedom and sanity

[rtwpaul]

it was strange leaving maracay and its crazy traffic, we expected to have the same for the rest of the day, but no, in minutes we were riding thru banana plantations and down a quiet country road with virtually no other traffic




even though there seems to be a lot less mopeds and motorcycles here, probably due to the low cost of gas most we saw were new...hence the delivery trucks full



within an hour or so the mountains were on our right, the very northern end of the Andes, but no way to get up there yet



skipping in and out of little towns you are always reminded that things are just done differently south of the border



our last big town for a while would be San Juan De Los Morros, then it was into the Savannah's and the heat of midday



a short break at a road side bar in the middle of no where and the owner served us with honey dew melon juice, very refreshing...it didn't last long enough to take a photo of, a big glass full was 90 cents



then back to more Savannah's, it was very similar to scenery of places near where i used to live in Kenya





as we closed in on a big town the trucks started to appear but when they are 1960's Mack trucks thats kind of cool especially when they are in this condition...the driver was looking at me strange wonder why i would want a photo of his truck - dude its bitchin, that why...



riding down a steep hill we spotted a great view thru the trees of the Savannah's below, stopped the bikes and ran back up the road to get the shot



traffic was coming down the hill at crazy speeds as seems to be the way everywhere in Venezuela, and then we saw these, we were on a deadly bend where more than one driver had missed the turn and plummeted to there death down to the valley below...time to get out of the way before there's a monument with name my on it

[JDowns]

Hola Paul,

Really enjoying your pics and commentary.

Just a quick note of thanks for posting up pics of Matilda's surf camp here in Nica. This place is bitchin'.

Thanks to you, I found the way to this little slice of paradise.

Muchas gracias amigo,
John Downs

[salcar]

Merry Christmas Paul!

[Eagletalon]

I'm simply impressed at the price of gasoline. I have a Venezuelan co-worker and he told me it was about $.25 a gallon a few years ago but damn your pic of the prices is just insane. Very inexpensive to travel in Venezuela. Enjoying this RR a lot! Stay safe out there as that is where Mr. Throttlemiester had his mishap.

Later
John

[GRinCR]

"

so it reads basically...you do not dare reveal their taste...what the fu@k does that have to do with a wrestler and two ostriches? any one from Costa Rica wish to answer that one?"

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but it appears that Trident has contracted members of the Lucha Libre and a gang of moody ostriches to protect the recipe which creates this "Mega Mystery" chewing gum.

Hope you don't mind yet another virtual ADV'er riding your coat tails of fun! Thanks for all the great memories Paul! Wish I had stumbled upon this one earlier and gotten a change to cross paths along the way.

[jimmyx]

This shot is Awesome! Makes me want to quit my job, sell my house, climb on the xrr and go. Oh yeah ....I'm married.Great RR

[GhostRiderFC]

I am thoroughly enjoying your ride report and look forward to reading more. You and I will definitely get that ride in, soon. Be safe and enjoy the holidays on the road. Keep the photos coming!!

Cheers!!
CJ

[Teeds]

Paul:

Thanks for the effort of putting together such an entertaining thread. Your efforts are over the top between the photos and prose.

Wishing you and all that are following your thread a Merry Christmas.

[rtwpaul]

Originally Posted by jimmyx

This shot is Awesome! Makes me want to quit my job, sell my house, climb on the xrr and go. Oh yeah ....I'm married.Great RR

thanks Jimmy, let me know if you want the full size version emailed to you?

so here's my christmas present to you....directions to that spot http://goo.gl/maps/Bxx2k

and a map...no excuses i want to see your version, its only 7 hours away from your front door, tell her you are going out to buy a newspaper

[rtwpaul]

Originally Posted by Deadly99

hey Ted, knew you'd get here sooner or later, merry christmas, have a few CC's for me ....

[rtwpaul]

Originally Posted by Meatn'taters

Been in, still in, caught up. Great RR! Pics, narrative, all of it. Thanks for the effort! Will significantly add to my Holiday time off from the grind.

good to still have you along, you do know if you lived down here your handle would have to be changed to pollo y arroz (chicken and rice)...

have a great holidays

[rtwpaul]

rolling thru the lower parts of the Northern Andes heading to Merida for Christmas







we crossed the Andes at around 11,500 feet in rain and fog with visibility down to about ten feet and rolled in a little village called Mucuchies and for whatever reason strawberries and cream were for sale everywhere




eventually getting in to the town and looking up at the mountains



life here moves at a noisy crazy pace




over the last few days just wandering around the town you see some interesting things, fruit stalls everywhere and other stalls selling brightly colored????








the real thing and the bronze thing




the occasional custom truck, that looked so out of place



health and safety...whats that?



cowboy boots with rubber color matched soles



golden retrievers for sale from the trunk of a car for $80



graffiti, but its more art like, political or propaganda, look at the last one, statue of liberty holding a missle and the stars in the flag are skulls...





scooby doo and the VZ version of the mystery machine



...and last of all, Merida has a very famous ice cream shop in the Guiness book of records for having the most flavors, 836 of them



and here they all are...on the wall but not in stock, not surprised!



so bubbletron and i ventured in and ordered, can i have a...no, no, no, no, no, no

so this is what we ended up with, on the left strawberry, which was supposed to be black cherry but almost ended up being beer flavor and on the right is avacado and i think chocolate, (she'll correct me if i'm wrong)



and i know you are thinking beer flavored ice...WTF, well when you have to come up with 836 flavors you end up with things like: crab/ mushroom/ tomato/ salmon/ beef/ rice/ ham and cheese/ black russian/ beer/ sangria and what the hell tostones is???





so in a few days normal service will be resumed and it'll be time to get back on the bike once everything has opened back up, like shops, gas stations and border crossings

in the mean time to all you riders and readers out there if you are stuck in the snow




Merry Christmas




.

[CarlosDBG]

Great ride!! Keep going!

Merry Christmas!

[West Isles Foo Foo]

Merry Christmas from Chocolate Cove, Paul.
Been really enjoying the pic's. Thank's for taking us all along.