RTW on a thumper...KTM - LC4 Round the World ADVenturization

[LethPhaos]

Once again, great pictures. When you see this one you understand why riding there must be awesome :) It's just impossible to carve a straight road through there...

[rtwpaul]

Originally Posted by LethPhaos

Once again, great pictures. When you see this one you understand why riding there must be awesome :) It's just impossible to carve a straight road through there...

i guess what started out as a foot path, developed to a trail, maybe for horses or carriages for a few centuries, then a dirt road and then they paved it because the knew the ADV riders were coming, i guess they didn't know we prefer dirt!!!

[IRIDE56]

Wow what a report, Took a while to read all the post, But I am caught up... I am taking note's and it looks like next year will be my big ride, Not this big but 6 months to a year with some Spanish lessons tossed into the ride..
Your living the dream keep riding. The pictures are bad ass...
And I just love your money reports lets me know how to save and spend on the trip,
5o bucks a day I can go a 6 months easy, 35 bucks a day and I might be able to squeeze a year out of the budget ,
Mike

[daveburton]

Hi Paul,

Where are you heading next, back to Bogota or south towards Cali.

cheers dave

[Throttlemeister]

I hope I know where he is going next

[rtwpaul]

Originally Posted by IRIDE56

Wow what a report, Took a while to read all the post, But I am caught up... I am taking note's and it looks like next year will be my big ride, Not this big but 6 months to a year with some Spanish lessons tossed into the ride..
Your living the dream keep riding. The pictures are bad ass...
And I just love your money reports lets me know how to save and spend on the trip,
5o bucks a day I can go a 6 months easy, 35 bucks a day and I might be able to squeeze a year out of the budget ,
Mike

glad you are enjoying it...on this part of the ride which has been 130 days i am at an average of $46 a day and i have only camped once, so if you do some camping then $35 a day is easily feasible...simple rule of thumb quick thru the expensive countries slow thru the cheap ones...

[Merlin III]

Originally Posted by rtwpaul

glad you are enjoying it...on this part of the ride which has been 130 days i am at an average of $46 a day and i have only camped once, so if you do some camping then $35 a day is easily feasible...simple rule of thumb quick thru the expensive countries slow thru the cheap ones...

So, it seems most Adv riders don't camp much in CA and SA, but why? Is there available safe camping? I realize it is cheap and I appreciate the desirability of sleeping in a bed in a town where there is food nearby. I assume that is the reason.

I was reviewing world homicide rates yesterday and Central America is right up there with some of the African countries.

[joenuclear]

Originally Posted by Merlin III

So, it seems most Adv riders don't camp much in CA and SA, but why? Is there available safe camping? I realize it is cheap and I appreciate the desirability of sleeping in a bed in a town where there is food nearby. I assume that is the reason.

I was reviewing world homicide rates yesterday and Central America is right up there with some of the African countries.

I don't enjoy camping on hot humid nights as I do on cool dry ones.

[ride4fun562]

She's not even holding her gun right, not that scary

Originally Posted by rtwpaul

perrogordo, reread the comment i made (look at the spelling) - i am in Venezuela and certain areas here are very dangerous, and these are the GUERILLAS i am talking about

[Merlin III]

Originally Posted by ride4fun562

She's not even holding her gun right, not that scary

Good enough to kill you in about 1 second if she wishes. Just sayin.........

[Adv Grifter]

Originally Posted by Merlin III

So, it seems most Adv riders don't camp much in CA and SA, but why? Is there available safe camping? I realize it is cheap and I appreciate the desirability of sleeping in a bed in a town where there is food nearby. I assume that is the reason.

Lots of reasons. I'm sure Paul can comment with his own views on this.

I tried camping on early trips to Mexico -Cent. America. In crowded areas camping can be a problem. Parts of Cent. Am. are quite dense, hard to get away from people.

Parts of the Caribe side can be mellow and some good camping can be had at organized areas. But be careful about walking away from your camp site for too long. You are always a target ... even in paradise. I'm not always a fan of Wild Camping ... but many do it no problems. I don't like to leave my stuff unattended ... so in some cases you can become a prisoner of your camp site.

Camping takes extra time, shortens your riding day ... you ALWAYS need to stop riding with daylight left. Setting up in the dark if not much fun. Then, you've got to cook ... and clean up. In the AM same routine: more cooking, cleaning, re-packing. If you're up at first light ... you might get on the road by 8:30 or 9 am. After riding all day some may not have the energy left to do all that is required to camp and cook. A lot of extra work.

In the 1960's Mexico had more camping at tourist beaches ... but not much these days. ALL BIG Hotels. In remote inland areas some camping can be found ... but it's best if you know where you are, who's land your on. Never pick a spot in the dark.

On later trips I stopped camping. I preferred staying in towns - villages and collected tips from other travelers about places to stay. Worked well for me: More contact with locals meant learning more Spanish ... learning more about the culture.

Camping can be isolating ... I've seen many Euros doing this, staying to themselves, not speaking Spanish, living in the Bush, not bathing much, eating out of cans, carrying their own bread, cheese and stuff, having almost no contact with locals. Works for some.
Being in town forces you to interact.

I prefer eating at local markets /restaurants, having more contact with local folk. Some travelers get exhausted by this and long for isolation. To each their own.
Others follow the Gringo trail and stay at Hotels or Hostels where ALL the patrons are other English speaking travelers. Many of the younger crowd are there to Party and get high ... some are on vacation from College. All good I guess.

I did this myself for a while (30 years ago) as it's always good meeting others on the road to learn what's coming up regards roads, border crossings, police issues, political stuff and good tips on places to stay and sites to see.

If you have the time ... camping can be good. It gets VERY good in Southern Argentina and Southern Chile ... which is sort of like Northern California. But requires carrying a lot of extra gear and allowing shorter riding days and doing the extra work.

[rtwpaul]

Originally Posted by Throttlemeister

I hope I know where he is going next

more on this later...i kinda sorta found where we were talking about, need to go thru photos before a post....

[rtwpaul]

Originally Posted by Merlin III

Good enough to kill you in about 1 second if she wishes. Just sayin.........

and don't forget to have a last look at the bubble butt before you hit the ground...

[rtwpaul]

Originally Posted by Adv Grifter

Lots of reasons. I'm sure Paul can comment with his own views on this.

I tried camping on early trips to Mexico -Cent. America. In crowded areas camping can be a problem. Parts of Cent. Am. are quite dense, hard to get away from people.

Parts of the Caribe side can be mellow and some good camping can be had at organized areas. But be careful about walking away from your camp site for too long. You are always a target ... even in paradise. I'm not always a fan of Wild Camping ... but many do it no problems. I don't like to leave my stuff unattended ... so in some cases you can become a prisoner of your camp site.

Camping takes extra time, shortens your riding day ... you ALWAYS need to stop riding with daylight left. Setting up in the dark if not much fun. Then, you've got to cook ... and clean up. In the AM same routine: more cooking, cleaning, re-packing. If you're up at first light ... you might get on the road by 8:30 or 9 am. After riding all day some may not have the energy left to do all that is required to camp and cook. A lot of extra work.

In the 1960's Mexico had more camping at tourist beaches ... but not much these days. ALL BIG Hotels. In remote inland areas some camping can be found ... but it's best if you know where you are, who's land your on. Never pick a spot in the dark.

On later trips I stopped camping. I preferred staying in towns - villages and collected tips from other travelers about places to stay. Worked well for me: More contact with locals meant learning more Spanish ... learning more about the culture.

Camping can be isolating ... I've seen many Euros doing this, staying to themselves, not speaking Spanish, living in the Bush, not bathing much, eating out of cans, carrying their own bread, cheese and stuff, having almost no contact with locals. Works for some.
Being in town forces you to interact.

I prefer eating at local markets /restaurants, having more contact with local folk. Some travelers get exhausted by this and long for isolation. To each their own.
Others follow the Gringo trail and stay at Hotels or Hostels where ALL the patrons are other English speaking travelers. Many of the younger crowd are there to Party and get high ... some are on vacation from College. All good I guess.

I did this myself for a while (30 years ago) as it's always good meeting others on the road to learn what's coming up regards roads, border crossings, police issues, political stuff and good tips on places to stay and sites to see.

If you have the time ... camping can be good. It gets VERY good in Southern Argentina and Southern Chile ... which is sort of like Northern California. But requires carrying a lot of extra gear and allowing shorter riding days and doing the extra work.

+1 on the above

now my 0.02 cents...

when you think of north america, europe and some other countries, there are areas that are state owned BLM land in the states, crown land in Canada...these are public lands so YOU own them, they are yours to use for free, you can find them, i wild camp a lot in the states i ask at a state or national park where the nearest BLM land is and go there for free...but as mentioned you are kind of tied to your spot, so its a late in the day option

but in Central and South America...

there are no public lands to speak of so everywhere is privately owned and the chances are if there is evidence of humans then chances are people could come thru at anytime, so stay by you tent

on private camping down here, it is all over the place if you look hard enough, but generally they are busy and noisy and about the same price as a hotel, they are used more as a novelty...for example in Nicaragua i was offered a camping spot for $3.50 and next door was a hotel where i could get a private room with a bathroom for $6...what would you do?

agreed once you get further south in SA you wild camp, sometimes no choice, and in small towns there are campgrounds in a lot of places i went thru and prices are way better than a hotel and it only has campers not families partying until 4 i the morning

hope that helps if you want real specifics drop me a PM

[Throttlemeister]

Originally Posted by rtwpaul

more on this later...i kinda sorta found where we were talking about, need to go thru photos before a post....

I sure hope you found it
I tried to mark it well with some stickers