Yeah... this has been a worry... I may be able to leave as early as October but I still would end up wondering what to do in December as I don't really want to head south to Chile/Argentina - I'm more interested in the north, at least to start with.

I guess I'm probably going to be better off flying into Bogotá at New Year and then exploring there and Venezuela. Ecuador in March (is that just stupidly wet? - some things I have read said it would be OK) and then Perú and Bolivia as their wet seasons end.

:rain:
:9898:

thanks again.

The one bike which is everywhere in South America is the XR250 / XR250 Tornado and parts are everywhere, no wait time at all. The Falcon is no longer in production I've been told, it's been replaced by a 300cc bike.

Regardless you should have no problems getting parts for your 650GS though you may have to wait a week or three at times, lots of people do this trip on that model of bike.

Things could still be wet/muddy in Peru and Bolivia in March. I heard a report from Drad that the Salar just stated to dry out a few weeks ago and was still wet when he was there. If the salar is even a little wet I would get the bike sprayed with diesel at the auto wash in Uyuni, then after the Salar instead of heading south to the Lagunas route, go back to Uyuni and get it cleaned off before embarking on the Lagunas route. If its totally dry, then you just head south on the Salar to link into the Lagunas without backtracking to get the bike cleaned off.

If you do go a little further south, do the Lagunas route (totally epic) to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, then you can cross the spectacular Paso Sico into Argentina, then head back up to Bolivia via the Villazon crossing which would make a nice little loop. That way you hit both sides of the Bolivian altiplano, see the atacama desert and do the very scenic altiplano pass (Sico) between Chile and Argentina. Just one possibility.

if you do that, remember this. Upon leaving San Pedro de Atacama, Chile for Argentina, make sure you check yourself and your bike out of Chile at the same aduana and customs you entered at in San Pedro because there are no Chile controls over Paso Jama or Paso Sico.

IMO the riding in the altiplano of Bolivia is the most epic stuff in the Americas so you might want to give Bolivia a good amount of time.

The bottom line is that time of year can be wet and muddy, December through March and possibly into April/May.