I suppose this should start with a brief intro, before trying to razzle dazzle folks with hardcore pictures of big cc bikes loaded to the gunnels, big mountain ranges and a pic or two of the bikes in the rain, mud & sunset with a eagle soaring in the background grabbing an animal, mid-air, in the moonlight......

Kath

Kath, Rob's Mrs, is awesome, and has completed a ride across most of Australia by herself in 2012. Her username, when she's on ADVrider (which is rare), is Spaghettilegs. She's put up with Rob for quite a while, and now she's quit her job and is ready to see where the road takes her.



Rob

Rob's writing this, and has been fortunate enough to get a year off work, to travel. He's happy on any bike, and pretty much anywhere away from major cities and highways.



Elisa

Elisa, aka travelbugblues on ADVrider, has joined up for the first leg of the trip. She also has a ride report (Americana in Latin America - ADVrider) of the trip, if you're keen to get her perspective (but if she says we have too much stuff and travel too slow, remember she's full of it)! We don't know how long she's riding with us, but we greatly appreciate her ability to speak Spanish, make us laugh and help us keep to a strict budget!



The plan

Back to work in 2015 for Rob and Kath, so the plan is to ride from Chile, up to the USA, but nothing is set in stone. We may look at Europe later in the year, but that's a way away.
Elisa is keen to see Patagonia, and southern South America, and maybe more.

We're all turning 30 this year, and are ex-school teachers. We've just bought our first brand-spanking new bikes in Santiago, and are ready to see further south.


The 'Gang of '84'

Join us! (will update on the road, when sufficient power, time and WiFi allow).









So, we flew into Santiago, Chile, as we heard it was the one of the easier South American countries for foreigners to buy bikes. Looking at prices, and the associated potential paperwork issues, we decided to buy new. Originally, the plan was to get Honda XR125s, but you could buy two Honda CG125s for the price of one XR, so the decision was made. Bikes, including paperwork (rego, insurance, plates etc) snuck in under $1500 USD each.



Our three beauties:



We all bought our own riding gear and luggage, and the bikes easily accepted the various constructs.

Rob's setup:



Kath's



and Elisa's.



We looked at our massive map of Chile, and decided to head for our first trip 'goal'; do the Carretera Austral on these teeny bikes.



So far, unsealed roads have lead to speeds of only around 30km/h, so it may be a long 1200kms!







So we left Santiago, ignoring those 'run-in' instructions so instructed in our wee Hondas' manual. We left down the Ruta 5, at around 80km/h, which equates to around 8000rpm.

We headed to Pichilemu, an apparently famous surfing sea-side village. To get there, once off the highway, we snaked through much pine forest at around 70km/h and didn't slow many travellers. Overtaking was done closer than I was used to in Australia, but once used to it, it was quite safe.





Myself and Kath were still getting used to the right-hand side of the road thing, and had a few errant wonders onto the left hand side.......lucky our little bikes are equipped with dual horns and we're riding in a group!




Once a hostel was found, we bunkered down and celebrated our first day on the road by going and watching the hordes of surfers crowd the left-hand breaks Pichilemu had to offer.




The next day involved a real coffee (most places just serve instant Nescafe) and cake with a friend of Elisa's, in Pichilemu. She too was a teacher, and we heard her tales from life in Pichilemu; batshit crazy-busy during the summer months and nice and quiet in the other months. Work is scarce, and most locals earn their entire year's living during the busy summer months, where surfers flock to the coast.



We covered a few miles, then stopped in a small town for another coffee top-up. I think we were a rarity, and when we requested it they gave us a brand new tin on instant coffee, a jug of boiling water and some milk. We foolishly asked the price after consuming, and consequently the lady pretty much made up the price. Lesson learnt; ask prices first!



The road took us along many great roads, snaking through pine forests. There were roadworks, where we got our first chance to see how our wee bikes would handle unsealed roads. They handled it ok, if going slow, and it's just a lucky in deep gravel – think happy thoughts!



Despite the fact our bikes only had a few kilometers on them, we had our first race – flogging them to over 8500rpm (9000 reline) and we nearly reached 95km/h! German hostel that night.



The German hostel was pretty swish, we were paying around $23 a night to stay, each, whilst others were paying $150 each to use the same facilities and receive the same free breakfast. We did some bike work in the morning, and everyone changed their own oil, checked their chain and put Slime in their rear tyre.




Great spot for maintenance


Post-oil change carpark test ride!


The day then disappeared with a mix of swimming in the pool, wandering around the grounds, a couple of s and some serious hammock loitering. Batteries recharged.




Still a bit behind - trying to catch up. Posting this here as homage to the folk who listed the 'how to' guides for buying in Chile. Greatly appreciated, and may not be here without them