I think it would be a mistake to ride straight through brcause you will miss some of the most interesting part of South America. I did that mistake. Everytime I wish I could have more time I thought I will have that more time on my way back but I fooled myself obsessed to make back to Cartagena in time to cross the Darien Gap.

Maried to a Colombian native, I lived some years in Colombia. I had the opportunity to ride the Andes of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and their part of the Amazonas. I realized I didn't took the time to connect with the locals.

My beloved wife just lost her fight against Cancer, I'm obsessed to go back to South America and ride the trip we planed to do together. I don't think I will ever want to come back to Canada.

Not planning on riding straight through - just trying to co-ordinate my departure from Colombia so that I arrive in Tierra del Fuego for the summer (Dec-Jan)

On my way back to Colombia I have no time constraints at all, so once I start heading north again I can take my time to see & do all the things in Peru & Ecuador that I might have missed on the way down.

Still need some advice on whether 6 months is adequate on the way down...

Firstly, I am sorry that you have lost your good lady. Doing the trip you had planned with her would be, IMHO, a good tribute to her and to you both as a team.

Secondly, to often we set timescales that we regret in hindsight - hindsight is, of course, done with perfect vision. To take the opportunity to go more slowly seems wise - we don't often hear about people that say that they wish they had had less time travelling.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

When we did this (we started in Bogotá) we live in Colombia so took only 5 days to reach the border with Ecuador. If you want to explore Colombia before reaching Ecuador you'll need 6 to 12 weeks for this in my view.

We left Colombia at the end of June, and arrived in Ushuaia in November - about 4-1/2 months. We spent 2 weeks in Ecuador (however we live not far away so were aware that we would easily be able to spend more time later), 6 weeks in Perú, a month in Bolivia, and then the remainder of the time travelling back and forth between Chile and Argentina.

This worked well for us - we travel 170 Km per day on average - some days we cover 500 Km, and in some places we spend several days. We also then spent another 7 months returning to Bogotá, so had we simply travelled from Bogotâ tp Ushuaia and then shipped our vehicle back and returned by air, we would have spent at least twice the time travelling south, and wandered much further east and west.

6 months one way would be fine I think. I recommend that instead of returning on the same route (more or less) you plan on taking a completely different route northbound. We travelled south as noted above, and returned through Argentina (Atlantic coast, mainly), Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela. I suggest that you do not plan to visit Venezuela at present, however it's worth planning on spending time in regions much further east than the Pan American highway (and in fact to stay off the PA Highway as much as you can).

You should also plan on a day every couple of weeks just to rest.

Alanymarce - fantastic advice....gracious!

I have already toured northern Colombia & the Zona Cafeteria....so I plan to see the south (either on the way down or the way back.

I am planning a similar route to you.....Ecuador, Peru, zig-zag down through Chile & Argentina.

On the way back I will ride up the Atlantic side of Argentina to BA, through Uraguay then across to Cordoba, Salta & then across Bolivia, back into Peru, through Ecuador again & then return to Medellin to sell the bike & dance with a few of the beautiful Paisa’s

All in I am giving myself a year to do the trip

Now all we need to do is vaccinate 500 million people!