I know its a broad question, if you looking for an answer, however i just want opinions. I have never done a trip like this, and just looking for other peoples opinions. Things like the shortest time it could be done would be interesting, but tell me what you would like to do/not do.
My plan after entering U.S is get through there quick, and make a dash to deadhorse after some time in bc. What do you think would be a good time frame? I will have a 12 months from santiago to deadhorse, but my route is not direct, and thus flexible given time and money restrictions.
Have a look at my crude map and let me know what you think, have you done all, some, none of this route and troubles? really anything will help.

Cheers jessedylan


(p.s advice on writing a better thread/question would be helpfull too, no so good on the old computer)

Attached Thumbnails

 

just noticed how hard the line is to see.
route is Santiago-Ushuaia-Buenos Aires-Rio De Janerio (via Iguzcu)-Pantanal-Atacalma-Lake titticaca-Quito via LIma-French Guiana via Iquitos and amazon-Colombian coast- central america via boad- then more or less hugging the coast to alaska...
Comments, Good, Bad, Other?

Never been to South America myself, so I probably dont know what the hell I´m talking about... but just out of interest: in case you haven´t just drawn some lines on the map, have you sorted, how you´re gonna get from Peru to Manaus, BR (meaning: are there roads all the way, or you would need to go by boat)? And also French Guyana, Suriname & Guyana - can you enter those countries with your foreign-registered bike, as I remember reading, that this could be a problem. But that was some time ago, so things could´ve changed.

12 months in the Americas is probably more than most riders have, and I´m sure you´ll have a great trip!

Yes and no, they are just lines on a map but i have researched quite a bit. I plan on heading by boat from Ecuador down rio napo to Iquitos and then to the Peru/Colombian/Brazilian boarder. From the boarder to manaus and them to belem, the east end of the amazon has a few options so i am looking for the cheapest, quickest. I am unaware of troubles with foreign bike entry to guiana's i will have a good look into that cheers for bringing it up. Dont have an idea of where i can look for that boarder info, save me a little time?

12 months is heaps for just about any route. We rode from Dublin to Vladivostok in 5 or so month. The route is on my blog in my signature. More applicable to SA the route below took us about 3 months along just about all the common highlights . I have to say that we manage to get bored sitting still in 5 min flat, so we don't tend to have many breaks of riding. I underestimated the distance (about 18k km on our trip) because the roads aren't as straight as other continents such as across Asia or Africa. So doing a measuring check on google earth is misleading.



Budget is a real difficult to advice on. There has been a recent thread with a similar question and my sums ended up getting flamed even though in my view you can't really argue the maths.
Anyway, the conclusion was that is very much depends on what lifestyle you want when you travel. You can't avoid paying for fuel or tyres which you can calculate providing you estimate the rough distance accurately (which I didn't). Same for typical transport costs. From Australia is costs a mint to get to South America. And it's 2 way as well. Then is depends if you want to camp or stay in motels. In Arg and Chile prices for that and food are equivalent to Australia. Further north it gets cheaper as you would expect. Then you have the food costs. You can cook pasta meals every day and live cheap, or enjoy the local food which you can do in or out of restaurants. Same applies as with accommodation on local costs. The 'menu del dias' in Peru was a nice welcome on our trip. But in large tourist centres such as Cusco you're back to western prices unless again you cook or eat in stalls.

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If I was to estimate for myself then I'd say 6-9 months at $1500 a month, more if I were to drink myself silly every other day.

I am hoping $1500 a month for 6-9 months will do its what i am aiming for.

Jesse,

What will you be driving? From the looks of your route in SA you will need to put that thing in a canoe quite a few times!

Around the northeast side of SA... have you spoken to anyone about it??

UP the Amazon takes a LOOONGGG time! (in a boat... no roads there!)

Then I see you are wanting to go up the Napo river into Ecuador. That is REALLY lonely country with no roads, just Bora Indians...(friend of mine works up there). My recommendation would be NOT to go up the Napo River, but up the Maranon River to Yurimaguas, then to Tarapoto (paved now) and on to Chachapoyas and the Gocta Waterfalls, then turn south thru the center of Peru.

Bolivia into Chile route. That border crossing is pretty lonely (and difficult to find) as the road up there is really not a road. Get the crossing fixed in your GPS or you could miss it. :confused1:

Just trying to help...

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'We build the bike (in Peru) for your Epic Ride of South America.'

Hey thanks for your reply,
I plan to be on a mid sized dual-sport motorbike, the less canoes the better however i wish to go into Ecuador before getting onto the amazon river. I will be going down the amazon but i have put a few weeks side for river travel. Are there certain things i should be concerned about with the north east of S.A? I must admit i have not done a massive amount of research into fuel stop distances but i will hope to have a pretty long fuel range.
I am open to alternate routes, i would like to ride the east coast or Peru up to Ecuador. I will need to get a detailed map of the Bolivian boarders. Which boarder where you referring to Brazil-Bolivia, Bolivia-Chile, or Chile-Bolivia?
You are from peru? are there any areas you think i might want to change to include or exclude?
Cheers

I did a trip through the Amazonas many years ago. As I remember I caught a boat from Iquitos to Leticia ( 2 - 3 day trip) then changed boats in Leticia, crossed the river to the Brazilian side near Tabatinga and took a boat from there to Manaus. Back when I did the trip it took 6 - 7 days to get from Tabatinga to Manaus. I saw a recent posting on a travel forum, cost for the riverboat was ~ $90 US, that includes food and accommodations which is sleeping in a hammock on the open deck. Meals were the same for breakfast, lunch and supper, rice, black beans and mystery meat. As these boats are just cargo ferries, they will carry anything for a price. I got off at Manaus and took Hwy 174 north to Boa Vista and then into Venezuela, but you can continue on boat to Belem. From Belem you should be able to catch a boat to Macapa. Once there, follow the squiggly lines north and west across Suriname, Guyana, to Venezuela and Colombia. You have chosen a very ambitious route, but it can be done.

Thanks for your reply ride4adventure. Can I ask were you came from and how you got to iquitos? I am planning on coming down from equador. The guiana's will be tough and a bad place to ship parts I think I will need a little luck for that leg, I have given myself around four weeks to get from iquitos to macapa. I also planned around $1500 for boat travel through the amazon and from Colombia to panama any thoughts? Did you have much trouble on your trip? My Spanish is pretty poor and my Portuguese needs a lot of work.

Cheers again
Jessedylan

This guy travelled back up through Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname to Venezuela so it's doable.
No Fumar Español: South from San Diego - Page 109 - ADVrider. I'm considering that route myself.

Philip

On my trip I flew into Iquitos on a plane, I was working with the oil companies at the time and doing work in the area.
I took another look at your planned route, instead of trying to reach Iquitos from either Napo or along the Rio Maranon, a better route to get to Iquitos is via Pucalipa in Peru. I have talked to other people who have made the trip. I am told it takes 3 - 5 days depending how high the water is in the river. I have worked in Napo and Maranon areas and can attest that these are some of the most desolate and remote regions of SA. So to travel from
Pucalipa to Macapa giving yourself some time off in Iquitos, Manuas and Belem to recover from each of the boat trips, you are easily looking at 4 - 5 weeks to get to Macapa. After spending 10 days on board one of those riverboats I had had enough. Make sure that you buy yourself a good hammock before embarking on any of these boats.

From Colombia the usual route seems to take a boat from Turbo to Panama. There are lots of posts on this subject at HUBB or AdvRider. I am headed down to Colombia at the end of the month to spend a few weeks motorcycling around this mountainous country, I lived down there for 8 years when I was younger, one of my favorite countries in SA. The only trouble I can warn you about are the SA chicas, the 40 odd species of piranaha that live in the Amazon basin. Lastly I should forewarn you now before you venture into the Amazon basin, there is a fish species that lives in quite pools along the Amazon river called the candiru, this slim stealthy creature has been know to swim up a person's urethra (your dick) so swimming or peeing the Amazon river is to be avoided unless you are wearing a condom.

This would be pretty cheap on a bike. Most people spend quite a bit more. $2500 per month would be close to average, and more than that is common.

I've done most of your proposed ride. None of it looks too difficult logistically--this includes the Guianas, despite what you might hear. A year is a good amount of time, but certainly not excessive. Try to organize around rainy seasons, particularly where there's mud involved (e.g., Amazon basin, the Guianas, the Altiplano, etc.). This aside, you're already presumably scheduling around the two winter seasons.

Probably everything you can learn on line is already here on the HUBB, including stuff you'll never think to ask. The more research you do on your own by searching and reading old threads and ride reports, the better questions you'll ask when you post.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

Edit to add: my presumptuous comments about budgets above assume "normal" bike and rider. In this context, that means approximately a 650 single or larger. If you ride a Chinese 125 your trip will be cheaper...but the bike probably won't survive the journey to Alaska. A Honda 125 might survive, barely, but there are good reasons most of us don't do it this way. If you're one of the few, by all means carry on.

This guy bought a Honda 125 in Santiago last autumn (so 8 or 9 months now). He looped 25,000 KM through South America, and only recently crossed the Darien Gap into Panama.
From Chile to Texas on a Small Motorcycle | Ondrej Jurik

https://picasaweb.google.com/ojurik

I don't know what his budget is like, but he is living pretty cheaply and is riding a very inexpensive bike that is cheap for gas and parts.

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