Update - 10/08/19: Finally some light in the darkness! Nicolas is now actively searched by the Bolivian police. He's also become a Bolivian TV and YouTube star - not sure he'll be ecstatic about this. We've started receiving reports of sightings in Bolivia, which we are still verifying. Our hopes are definitely up!

BTW We = a bunch of wonderful bikers and people from various places in Bolivia. Special thanks also to the Belgian consulate in La Paz, who have generously assigned a lawyer to accompany me to the police and the immigration office.
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Update - 04/08/19: Nicolas crossed over to Bolivia at Tilali and registered with Bolivian immigration at Puerto-Acosta on June 16.
There's no trace of Nicolas leaving Bolivia. We are now focussing our search on Bolivia. He should have gone through La Paz on June 17 or so.
Please forward this post to anybody you know who is traveling in Bolivia, or was traveling in Bolivia at the time
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Hi,

My brother Nicolas Holzem, who has been biking across South America since April, hasn't been in touch since June 15. He was in Cusco at the time and he was planning to continue towards Bolivia, and finally travel down to Buenos Aires. I've contacted friends and relatives, nobody has heard from him since then.


Nicolas is 44 and about 1.7m tall. He's a very experienced biker. His ride is a white Suzuki DR650 (registration Y34412) he bought second-hand in Vancouver August 2018. I've attached 2 pics of him as well as one of his bike.


Nicolas speaks Spanish fluently and is likely to have been in contact with locals quite a lot. His mother tongue is French. Apart from Spanish and French he also speaks English and Polish. He's a Luxembourg citizen and lives in Krakow, Poland.


We're obviously frantic with worry and would be grateful for any information that might help us locate him.

Catherine

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Catherine.
Fully understand your concerns.
The travelling community's will be on the look out and enquire for Nicolas no doubt.

I have been on the road a long time and also not reported "back home" at times and this concerns many.
Its easy just getting involved in something local and forgetting .

All will be well. We are on the look out.

Hi there,

I have send it to some friends in Bolivia.

More later.

mika

Hi!

Did you post it in http://www.advrider.com ?

It's another traveller community that may help. I'm from Spain, so please, just tell me if I can help you with translations to spanish or whatever...

Yes, I did. Here's the link: https://advrider.com/missing-person-...south-america/

Hi Pastourer, Are you maybe able to contact the border personnel at Tilali crossing and try to find out if they've registered his crossing? My Spanish is just too basic. Obviously we've alerted police and consulates but they are so slow - I just talked to the consulate in Lima, they're still waiting for some authorization to formally start the search.

I was in Peru and Bolivia in 2006, so this is old, but at that time I was often, but not always, asked for my passport number and nationality when checking in to a hotel or hostel that catered to foreigners. I assumed it was for cases like this, where a foreigner turned up missing. I doubt that the info goes to a database or anything, but his passport info is likely in some hotel registry somewhere, if there was a way to find it. Not sure if this helps, but something to think about.

Hoping for the best.

__________________
Andy Tiegs
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/ts...lsouth-america

Hi Catherine, I am also hoping for the best for your brother.

I have a couple of ideas for you if you have not tried them yet.

1. Did he use the website couchsurfing?

2. Did he use Airbnb?

3. What was the longest period he was out of touch before this on his travels?

4. Did he have camping equipment with him on this trip?

5. What time of the day did he normally ride at? Does he like to sleep in/ Go to bed early?

6. Have you contacted his last riding buddy? Maybe they had an idea of what his plans were.

__________________
http://www.journeyrider.net Latin America blog (07-8)

I will try!

We've just got confirmation from the embassy that Nicolas crossed over to Bolivia at Tilali on June 16

Hi, Grant Johnson:



does anyone here knows anyonw ridding at bolivia, right now??? How can I search at HUBB who would be traveling around there??


thks.

I was unable... I've tried to contact the mayor's office, local police... Finally I got a phone number but it was from a driving school

Police says that the border crossing is not operated by local police, and only gave a general info number from Border Police, who dind'nt gave me the phone number for the post.

Do you have a phone number for the border post???

Just readed it... So his crossing is confirmed, he must be at Bolivia...

Correct. Thanks for trying! We are now focusing our search on La Paz and on the Carretera dela Muerte. I'm trying to reach out to adventure cyclists as they travel slower and also because Carretera dela Muerte is a popular destination with them. If you've got any idea how to best reach South American adventure cyclists that would be really helpful!

Hi Nicolas' sister!
I've been posting some suggestions on the Facebook HU group. (Same first name and similar avatar.)

Just shared links to some Facebook bicycling groups you could try posting on.

Best of luck!

__________________

Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective