South America and back on a 250 Super Sherpa Minimalist Adventure

Very interesting and good laugh. Thanks. I met Nata Harli and Max up at the meeting in Wisconsin. Just got back from Tijuana for some dental work. Went down to Erendia and stayed at Coyote Cals hostel. Very unique place. Thanks for the intertainment JD

Hi prsdrat,

I enjoy criticism. It makes me better. It's important to understand that I just got this idea a few days ago and this is my first feeble attempt. Although casual conversations are disjointed by nature.

These interviews are just a counterpoint. I learn a lot more from chatting with people on the road about the nuts and bolts of ADVriding than I do looking at beautiful pictures and prose on ride reports posted on ADVrider. So I thought it might be fun to sprinkle some interviews into the ride report down in South America this year. The nice thing about the format is that you can skip through them and read the answers to questions that interest you.

Plus a lot of people on the road are really interesting folks. I promise not to go overboard with this idea.

Your ADVpal,
Tio Juanito

I've enjoyed the couple interviews so far, John. It won't out shine your own adventures, but they're great on a slow day...especially since you have good questions for them.

Agreed 100%.

My other pet peeve is videos. I can look a pictures at my own pace.

Don

many have said it, but what really makes a journey is the personal interactions on the road. Like a stranger telling you "you will never be the same, after this xyz trip" Or another saying "I always wanted to do that but life got in the way somehow (insert your preferred reason)".. or another saying "you MUST go see this or that place" or being mutually hard to say good bye to a rider met for just few days camping together to whom you left unbeknownst of him the last bottle of red wine hidden under his tent, and so, there is the saying that only those that do something actually make mistakes, if you touch nothing or do nothing it will all be fine Personally I think John's style is the smoothest there is on this forum, and not only that, I wouldn't want him changing a bit of what he writes here. And I would want and encourage him changing everything the way he likes.
Cheers!

I hear you Salsa. I am the same way. Videos require you to watch the whole thing. It just isn't the same as browsing pics. Or skimming through text.

But I take the longer view. Just like the stone walls that I build will be standing long after I am gone, the stories I report back will be around for your kids and grandkids to read. If you don't write it down it gets lost over time.

Before the internet there were fascinating cultures with oral histories that were lost through time. We know virtually nothing about pre-Colombian South American cultures other than speculation.

I intend to record the oral histories of interesting but obscure riders of today riding through far off lands and report back to you so their stories will live on. It is just an idea that came to me 4 days ago and I will make it happen. Ride reports on ADVrider are nice, but I have met so many fascinating riders that don't take the time to write ride reports. These interviews are one way to bring their stories to life. I will do my best to publish these stories in my later years so they don't disappear into the ether. I don't care if I have to do some sort of kickstarter book project, but I will do it. Along with figuring out how to do creative commons free e-book versions. It is my passion. There are so many fascinating people I have met through my travels. I just want to bring their interesting stories to life. And share their useful insights for others to benefit from.

Simple as that.

Your ADVpal,
TJ

Hi Seezer,

Wish you would have made it this year. Much fun was had. Hope to see you someday.

Went to Eréndira 43 years ago. It was a funkadelic Ejido fishing village back then. No Coyote Cal's. Just surfing to ease the pain of the Hussongs hangover from the previous night up in Ensenada and sleeping on the beach. I imagine the roads are paved by now.

Glad to have you along.

LARR Juan

Hi. The pavement ends at the edge of town. Lots of cabbage growing there. I'll try to make it next yr. salud

Man, I sure hope that you save all this stuff somewhere because as soon as Baldy gets tired of paying for all of these servers, these stories are gone.

Yes. Go for the book of stories of people met on trips. I remember on one trip to baja a few yrs ago. I asked directions of an elder man without saying hola. He told me to on effect slow down and enjoy your life. This recent trip to Tijuana, I took a taxi and I was talking about getting older. He said, don't talk about getting older but you are wiser. That got a big laugh out of me and a tipo. An old man told me once that you can learn something from anyone. That is so true. The owner of Coyote Cals asked me of the dentist I was useing in Tijuana. I told him that I could also add some things I have learned in 30 yrs of study of alternative health care . He said no. I am in perfect health. How many of us pass up opportunities to learn from our fellow citizens of the world.

John, not (yet) having been much of an adventurist myself - though I did just get home to NY from a solo camping trip to Nova Scotia - I'm finding your interviews refreshing and highly informational. By sharing spontaneous conversations with fellow travelers, you bring an added dimension to the art of travel. That dimension being "feeling" as well as "doing". Like Tricepilot said, your interview with DaveG reveals a much deeper insight into what was until now simply an unfortunate "event" in his life. For me, it's a pretty intense sense of Dave's emotional fall-out of what I'd hazard to guess is post traumatic stress syndrome. Invaluable info; foreknown is forearmed.

Thanks for your dedication and open-hearted humanity. I hope to meet you on the road sometime, somewhere.

Subscribed (finally) and looking forward to every post!

But I take the longer view. Just like the stone walls that I build will be standing long after I am gone, the stories I report back will be around for your kids and grandkids to read. If you don't write it down it gets lost over time.

'A society grows great when old men plant trees that they know they will never sit under'
I applaud your sense of history mate

Not to worry. Although the internet is ephemeral, I print out these stories and will publish them someday in hardcopy.

Pay services for photos like smugmug.com that have monetization tend to stick around more readily than free services. And I donate to ADVrider on their paypal account to keep this website alive. As others should do if they feel like it.

When on the road, I only have time to upload photos and stories to one site. So ADVrider it is. If this site disappears, I will publish these stories elsewhere. I don't see that happening anytime soon, but who knows?

Saludos,
Juan Periodista

You can save the things on the internet on your hard drive.

Don

Hi Don,

Indeed it's true. Although all hard drives crash eventually. Books and printed material live on. I have 200 year old books on the shelf. Will the hard drive on the laptop I am typing this on be useful in 2214? Probably not. Thus the need to eventually print some books from these stories so they live on.

Civilizations come and go. The printed word lives on. In 500 years our ADVride reports will make fascinating reading. Young folks in 2514 will marvel at the concept of gas that was less than 100 bucks a gallon.

Saludos,
Julio Verne

John,

I'm new to ADV and I just caught your RR, I'm on page 44 and I'll read the whole damn thing; it's A W E S O M E ! ! !

I wish I could have caught it on the ground floor, I would have been a supporter...but only if you could give me the title of Senior`Vice President of DipShitery!

So I'll catch up and see where this goes...don't give away the ending and I don't care if it takes me weeks to get to the end, I'm in for a pound on this one.

This is SO inspiring and tremendously informational; you are a STUD for putting this much effort into a RR, I just can't begin to thank you for how awesome that is and how great it is you're making such an effort in your report.

Thank you, thank you. If you're even near Carson City NV, or Dayton NV, send me a PM. I'll throw steaks on the grill and the drinks will be ice cold.

Kevin

"The printed word lives on". Except when printed on acid washed paper.

I find the interviews a welcome addition. Nicely done. I've often thought that if/when I get the chance to do a long-distance ride south of the border, I want to ask the same question to scores of locals...now what would that 1 or 2 questions be?

Here's some I've thought about asking:
What's one thing you would like foreigners to know about your city?
What's the most difficult thing to live with about your country?
What's the number one stereotype people have of your country?
What's the biggest stereotype you have of people from the States (me being from the States)
Who is your hero? Why?


I'd just repeat the same question over and over to different individuals and then ask to take their photo, attach their answers and let them speak for themselves. I think it could be a nice way to break the ice, and get to know people who otherwise might just stare at you as you ride away. It also might be interesting to see the differences between what men/women say, how young and old respond.

Hopefully, I'll get the chance to try it out within the next year or two.

How would YOU answer these questions about YOUR OWN city/country? Fourth question, substitute "South America" for "the States".