Hi everyone out there. Since I have been looking at this site for years now, I thought it might be nice to share a few stories and media from our trip to Argentina from the States on BMW F650GS (and G650GS) bikes.
We are currently in San Cristobal, Mexico studying Spanish for a month but will be back on the road to Belize and beyond next week. Here is a taster of a movie, but I have a complete blog about traveling on the road. The blog has more movies and some fun accounts of some of the amazing riders and non-riders we have met.
We plan on boating around the Darien in early April if anyone has any up to date thoughts on how we should go about that.

Thanks to all who post on this site. It really is a fantastic resource.

The Indulgent Adventures of Bubbs and Bubs

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Marshall Balick- Traveling south on 2001 BMW F650GS
http://indulgentadventures.blogspot.com

Hey Mabalick ,welcome to the site.
Now about your video.... SCARY STUFF.!
After looking at this site for "years" has it not quite sunk in yet about being a little carefull when on the road.?
In the first sampler video ( and I am loath to look any further after what I've seen here) you have either speeded up the replay rate or you are travelling grossly over the safe posted speed limit.
But worse is the undeniable fact that the camera carrying bike and the lead bike are repeatedly crossing over the center line in curves . And BLIND curves at that! After one such infraction you actually show an oncoming gravel truck you just missed.
I really don't care if you might have had another bike way ahead communicating the presence of traffic or if you were first familiarized with the road before pulling these camera stunts. Tell that to the cops and ambulance crew who could be scraping your bits together if you keep crossing the center line like that.
You should learn to ride using ONLY your half of the road.If you can't round a corner within that lane limit you are going tooo fast.

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http://advrider.com/index.php?thread....207964/page-5 then scroll down to post #93

Thanks for the advice. It is definitely good to be reminded about mortality when out there riding.
And yes... we are busted. For the sake of entertainment I sped up most of our riding 2 times or even 3 times. Us cruising around at 60-80 km/h (we rarely go faster than that) just isn't that fun to watch therefore I took the liberty of speeding it up during the editing.
The camera we are using is a Gopro Hero cam with a 120 degree field of vision which makes it extremely wide angle. On top of that, I have it mounted on the left side as far out as it can go. This seems to make more exciting video as it looks like the oncoming cars are about to hit me. It is kind of a fun perspective but certainly not the perspective of a rider in the middle of a bike with a standard camera.
With that said, picture us riding the same roads at half or one third the speed and you will see that the times when it appears that we do cross the centerline is when we can see ahead, going very slow or not actually crossing the line at all.
However, there are times when the line is crossed when it shouldn't have been. I can remember 2 times specifically on this trip when a quick loss of focus put me somewhere potentially dangerous and being quite scared of my stupidity.

Overall, I would consider myself to ride conservative, safe, and with the perspective that I have a lot to learn (don't we all). It is good to reminded of the precariousness of our situation as riders as often as possible.

Hopefully you will find our other videos and stories entertaining.
Thanks,
Marshall

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Marshall Balick- Traveling south on 2001 BMW F650GS
http://indulgentadventures.blogspot.com

Heya,
I for one appreciated the entertainment value I've got from the video!
Loved it mate!

Cheers

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One Crowded Hour of Glorious Life is Worth an Age Without a Name.
Thomas Osbert Mordaunt

Marshall,

I lived in and around San Cristobal de las Casas, Tuxtla, and Ocosingo for 3 years. Believe it or not, I recognized some of the exact curves on the road between Tux and SCC. I didn't have a bike when I lived there , but drove hard in my pickup .

Keep going north a bit and don't miss Palenque and ESPECIALLY Aguas Azules. I could do a "pilgrimage" there every year and not get tired of that place!

Toby (Charapa)

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http://www.aroundtheblockmotoadventures.com/
'We build the bike (in Peru) for your Epic Ride of South America.'

Yeah, San Cris is a great place. Perfect temps, great roads, and an active moto scene. We keep bumping into local BMW riders around the city. We leave next week for Belize and will miss the place.
Here is another short movie of us in Oaxaca. It is more centered around rock climbing, but there is some riding in it.
Marshall

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Marshall Balick- Traveling south on 2001 BMW F650GS
http://indulgentadventures.blogspot.com