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In this section, I've put together some information that should be useful to anyone planning a similar trip. Do not hesitate to contact me for any additional questions. 
 
Also, Check out my post-trip gear review here.

1- Solo or with a partner?

This is perhaps the most important question to ask yourself. Do you want to do this alone or with someone?

Prior to this trip, Mihai and I knew each other for several years, but we did not know each other well. We also had travelled together only once, on a 10 day ride to the Deal's Gap in the USA. At the planning stage of this adventure, we had discussions about what were our expectations regarding this trip: pace, daily budget, on road or off road, itinerary, etc...  We seemed to agree on most points, and this is why I even considered doing this together.

In the end, I can say that the partnership worked out really well. After 6.5 months of travelling together, I wouldn't hesitate to undertake another long-term trip with Mihai . I think a big part of this ''success'' is that we really took the time to discuss our individual vision and expectations prior to the departure. The rest can only be tested in the field, and it worked out good in our case. The important thing is that Mihai and I have similar ''travel logic'', as I like to call it. We agreed most of the time on all the daily decisions, such as how many km's on a given day, when and where to rest,  which hotel to stay at, etc... For whatever things we occasionally disagreed on, both of us were able to compromise here and there. There were a few times when we were annoyed with each other, but never had a serious argument. Considering how long we travelled together for, this is pretty damn good..haha.

That being said, if you have a good travel partner like I did, then the benefits are obvious:

• Most importantly, you share what you see with someone else. It's always fun to be able to reminisce on parts of the trip with another person that was there with you.

• When daily communication becomes a challenge (unless you're fluent in Spanish), it's nice to have someone you can communicate with easily.

• When it comes to safety, one can watch the bikes while the other goes looking for a hotel. We also wandered off into pretty remote places, feeling reassured that, if one of us would get hurt, the other one would be able to seek help.

• Cost sharing of accommodation is a plus. 10-15$ a day makes a difference over time.

• In my case, Mihai speaks good Spanish, so it helped a lot on countless occasions.

For the disadvantages, there are a few, but  they didn't bother me much:

• You share a hotel room with someone for months at a time, so there's a loss of privacy. I enjoy having my personal space, but I got used to it after a while and it wasn't much of a problem.

• Every decision has to be taken with someone else. Again, not a problem if you're travelling with the right type of person.

• I'm speaking for myself here, but I tend to make a little less of an effort to interact with other people (especially locals)  when travelling in a group. 

When it comes to travelling solo, it is a bit of a different experience. For the benefits of it:

• Things definetely get more challenging, because it's ''me, myself, and I'' in an unknown environment. The psychological comfort of someone else's presence is gone, and mentally you automatically become more alert.

• Locals tend to approach you more when travelling solo. People in general are impressed when they see a foreigner alone on a motorcycle. They are less initimitated to talk to you, and tend to make an extra effort to help out.

• You are 100% on your own schedule.

As far as the disadvantages:

• The main problem is that loneliness does catch up to you eventually. If you speak little Spanish, you can go days or even weeks without having a real conversation.

• From a safety point of view, you are on your own, and obviously more vulnerable.

•  You don't get to share what you see with someone else.

So, in the end, solo or alone?

I think a good approach is to mix it up. Peter and Willem, two travelling friends we have ran into more than once on this trip, rode together on and off. I think this a good compromise. You get to experience both ''modes''.

Otherwise, if you are going to a trip like this alone... No worries, you will eventually run into other bikers with whom you can travel with for a while. Most solo riders do ride with someone at some point in their Latin American adenture. For example, Josh rode roughly half of his trip alone, and the other half with us.


2- Spanish:

I cannot stress out how important it is to learn as much Spanish as you can before such a trip. I'm still nowhere close to being fluent, but the classes that I took prior to the departure were hugely helpful. You can embark on this journey knowing only ''Hola'' and ''Gracias'', but you will struggle with the communication at all times, which will often become frustrating. So my number one advice is to take Spanish lessons.

So how come I'm still not fluent after 6 months? First, you change location all the time, so you don't get to sit down and have a longer conversation on a regular basis. You speak the language every day, but a lot of it is repetitive: asking about hotel rates and inclusions, food, and all that daily bullshit. My vocabulary did improve, but I wish I had taken the time to stop somewhere for a month or two, in order to take intensive language lessons and befriend some locals. My conclusion is that you need to sit still somewhere fora little while if you really want to make good progress in Spanish.

3- Budget:

I spent roughly 60$ a day on this trip. We did shop around for hotels and didn't ''make it rain'' with green bills, but we didn't have to completely cheap out and camp in the ditch neither. 60-70$ a day is a good budget. Anything under 50$ would be difficult to achieve, unless you don't mind roughing it (no shower and wifi for days at a time). As far as I'm concerned, there is a minimum of comfort required to enjoy yourself on the road for several months a time.

Chile is by far the most expensive of the countries we have been to. Argentina is not cheap neither, unless you have american dollars to change on the black market. Most of Central America (Costa Rica being an exception), Peru and Bolivia are at the other end of the spectrum.

4- How much time to allow for such a trip:

I consider that 6 months is a minimum to visit so many countries and to not miss out on too much. The ideal would be a full year, with a break after 6 months to fly back home and see family and friends for 2-3 weeks. Some people do the entire thing in 3 to 4 months, but I would advise against it. You will rush too much, miss out on a lot of things, and be left with regrets, as you'll probably never get another chance to do it again.

As I mentioned it already, I would have also liked to stop somewhere for a month or two, in order to study some more Spanish.

Places wish I could have stayed a little longer: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Argentina.

5- Safety in Latin America

By far, the biggest danger is getting  into a traffic accident. Driving by night is a big no no. We did get caught out a few times after dark, but we avoided it as much as possible. Not because of banditism, but because of stuff that you can run into on the road (speed bumps, people, animals, rocks, craters).

As far as criminality, it is not because a country is poor that everyone is out to get you. If you follow some basic rules, you will be ok:

• In cities, you have to be careful where you go after dark. Most hotels are in the center, around the main square. That zone is typically safe even at night.

• Don't get drunk with strangers in unknown places, while having significant amounts of cash on you. This seems obvious, but some people still overlook that rule. There is a percentage of travellers that are out there to get fucked up: drugs, booze, hookers and all of that. Bad stuff happens mainly to that demographic, but they kind of ask for it too.

• We never left the bikes unattended, and they were never left on the street overnight. We would only stay at hotels that would either have a closed parking, or that would let us push the motos into the lobby.

We only felt threatened 3-4 times on the entire trip. Once was in Baja, Mexico. We were approached by a boat by night while camping by the beach, but it was just fishermen out to get their nets. At the Nicaragua/Costa Rica border, I got threated with a knife by a ''retarded'' guy that wanted to wash my bike. In Colombia, we rode through a guerilla occupied zone, where we shouldn't have gone in the first place. I also felt a certain discomfort driving through the suburbs of Tegucigalpa in Honduras, the murder capital of the World.

Argentina and Chile are the safest countries of the lot, hands down.

6- Best / worst countries?

I think my favorite was Bolivia. This is where I saw the best scenery (especially the Salar de Uyuni and Lagunas Coloradas). We also had a good time in LaPaz with Marco, Patricia and their families. Bolivia is cheap too, so there's a lot of bang for the buck. 

Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina are also on top of the list.

Peru was the country of extremes. The riding was most memorable, but we had a tough time there too (weather and navigation in the mountains), so it's kind of a love and hate relationship with that country.

I did not care particularly about Honduras or Costa Rica, as well as Chile. But we didn't spend much time in these countries to really have an objective opinion. My main problem with Chile is that it is just so much more expensive than everywhere else. Just not enough value for the average traveller. Don't get me wrong though, the Carretera Austral and Santiago were great, and definetely worth seeing.

7- Weather 

We left Montreal on October 18th, and had freezing weather across the USA all the way to Las Vegas. Then, we had 3 months in a row of sun, with something like only 3-4 days of rain during that time. The weather started changing a lot when we were in the Andes, which is normal, since it's the mountains.

It got pretty cold in the south of Chile and Argentina, as we got there towards the beginning of winter in the southern hemisphere (April/May). I was really glad to have a heated vest and heated grips on my DR.

8 - Accommodation:

We took camping gear, but only used it a handful of times. Other than a few beach spots, there are just not many places in Latin America where we felt like camping, with the exception of Baja (Mexico), Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. Hotels are mostly cheap; we paid on average 20$ a night for a double room, so we did not bother messing with the tents. Paying 10$ each to have a safe spot with a bed, a roof, a shower (sometimes warm..) and wifi (even if slow) was a no brainer for us. The other downside to camping is that setting up camp and then packing everything in the morning is time consuming, even when you a have an efficient routine.

It would have been cool to camp more in Argentina, but it was pretty cold.

If I was to do it again, I'd probably buy a cheap 1 person tent once in South America, and just toss it away at the end of the trip. It's nice to have as an emergency item if you get caught out on the road for the night, but takes up precious space on the bike. 

As far as hotels, here's what our accommodation seeking routine was like:

• In most countries, every town, small or large, has a main square, and most hotels are in that area. We would just head there, and then ask around until we found the best 'deal'. Our criteria, in order of importance: safe parking for the bikes, price, wifi, hot water.

• In large towns, we would first check in the Lonely Planet book in which neighbourhood most of the hotels and hostels were, and then head to that zone and ask around. The Lonely Planet was quite useful in touristic places.

You can forget about making reservations. Most of the hotels are not listed anywhere on the web. You just have to get there and shop around.

9- Internet Access:

Wifi is readily available in most towns, even small ones. It is slow and not very reliable most of the time, but easy internet access was still a pleasant surprise.

10- Border crossings:

Entering and exiting Mexico was painless. A deposit was required on a credit card as a warranty that the motorcycle will not stay in the country. I think it was something like 400$, and it was later refunded to us, no problem.

IMPORTANT:  If entering Mexico in north of Baja (Tijuana or Tecate), make sure you get your vehicle importation permit done there (customs will issue a special sticker too). If you make it to La Paz, you won't be able to take the ferry to mainland Mexico if you don't have it!!

The border crossings are a pain in most of Central America, with the exception of Belize . It's not exactly clear where to go and what to do, there's a lot of paperwork and the process can take up to several hours. Don't be in a rush and you'll be ok. The procedure is always about the same:

Checking out of a country: 

• Get your passport stamped OUT by immigration (migracion).
• Return your vehicle temporary importation permit to the customs (aduana)

Checking into the next country:

• Get your passport stamped IN by immigration (migracion)
• Go to the customs building (aduana) to get your temporary bike import papers done. 
• Buy liability insurance for the bike

IMPORTANT:  Photocopy your driver's licence, bike registration or title, and passport ID main page on a single 8.5 x 11 page,  and bring several black/white copies with you (let's say 30). You will be asked for 2-3 copies at most border crossings, and it is your responsability to provide them to the authorities. There usually is a small shop (tienda) that will make copies, but if their machine is out of order, you are screwed.

Border crossings get easier and faster once in South America.

11- Problems with Police:

We have experienced problems with corrupt cops twice in Mexico, and twice in Nicaragua. Here's what we have figured out:

• Stay out of Acapulco, or you are almost guaranteed to get harassed.

• Stay off the Panamericana highway as much as possible. That's where most of the crooked police on the look out for foreigners are.

• Take the time to forge good quality fakes of your driver's licence and bike registration prior to the trip, and never hand out originals unless it's at a border crossing.

Corrupt cops can be paid off, or you can stand your ground. It's up to you to decide how you want to deal with the situation  You will get your papers back eventually, but it might take time. We paid a bribe in Acapulco, but the police had a good scam going on and we felt like we had no other choice. I didn't feel right about doing it, since I knew I was contributing to Mexico's corruption problem. The next time around in Nicaragua, I didn't pay, but it took me 3 days to get my papers back from the police station. It was a pain in the ass, but I'm still ok with that decision.  

12- Money:

Mihai and I each had a few hundred US dollars ''emergency stash'' hidden in our stuff.

Finding ATM's was fairly easy in most countries. The problem sometimes is that the withdrawal limit is low, so that increases the number of transactions and the associated costs. I think that just the banking fees cost me somewhere in the 300-400$ range over the duration of the trip. Unfortunately, there's no way around it. 

Obviously, we mainly used cash to pay for stuff. Credit cards came in handy at a few occasions in large towns.

Argentina is a special case worth mentioning. The official exchange rate is 5 pesos to a US dollar, but in larger towns, you can trade your green backs on the black market for up 10 pesos to the dollar. If you do so, the country becomes great value. In Buenos Aires, we ate at upscale restaurants for very cheap, probably 1/3 of the cost of a similar meal in North America.

13- Roads:

The quality of the roads varies greatly, and it depends a lot of the itinerary you choose. We did several thousands of kilometers off road, but it was our choice. It is possible to travel across Latin America almost exclusively on pavement.

13- Navigation:

I strongly recommend to bring both a GPS and paper maps.

Paper maps are very hard to come by on the road, so buy the ones you need before leaving home. A general Central America map is enough for that region, but I would get detailed road maps for individual countries in South America, and especially Peru, Chile and Argentina.

I used a Garmin 60 CSX with free Open Street maps:

http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

The OS maps were reasonnably accurate, and even the auto routing was functional in many places. However, you cannot blindly follow the GPS like you would do in North America or Europe. It is important to make it a habit to double check regularly that your are going in the right direction (paper map is useful for that), as there are mistakes and missing sections of road in OS map sets.

The OS map sets also include some accommodation POI's, which sometimes can be useful.

Garmin map sets are expensive and not much better than the free OS sets, so I don't consider them a worthwhile investment.

14- Food and drinks:

Most of the time, we managed to eat for about 10$ per day, when on the road. What surprised me is the lack of fresh vegetables on the menu. I'm not sure if it's because of cost or hygiene issues. Chicken, beef, rice and plantains are most common, and typically the dishes are pretty plain. Touristic spots and towns have fast food (burgers, pizza, pastas), you will find McDonald's and other american chain restaurants in many large towns. We ate in a few very good restaurants, amongst others in Medellin (Colombia), La Paz (Bolivia) and especially in Buenos Aires (Argentina).

Prior to the trip, I exchanged emails with Manny, another Montrealer who rode his bike all the way to Argentina. He mentioned that alcohol ended up being a significant part of his total budget. At the time, I thought it was exagerated, but Manny wasn't wrong...haha. We did drink a lot of beer on this trip, especially during the period of time between Mexico and Colombia, when the weather was warm and we were often on the beach.
  
15-Health:

I had Malaria pills with me, but never used them. Neither did most of the other travelers we met. Regardless of what your clinic might say, Malaria is virtually inexistant outside of the Amazon. It's still good to have the pills with you, as they can be used to of treat the disease in the unlikely event you would catch it.


I exercise regularly when at home (running and gym), but find it extremely difficult to work out when on the road. As a matter of fact, I didn't..haha. At best, you can do push ups here and there, and do some hiking, but it takes a lot of will power. In most cases, it's much more appealing to have a beer or two after a day on the bike. My body weight remained stable on the trip, but I did lose muscle and gain fat. I got a little chubbier particularly in Chile and Argentina, as I got into a habit of eating too much chocolate...lol.

I did get the shits a few times, but never full blown food poisoning. Other than grilled shrimp and fish, I'm not big on seafood (and especially Ceviche), so maybe that's why I avoided serious stomach issues.

16- Which bike?

I was very happy with my DR 650 throughout this trip, and I would take the same bike again without any hesitation if I was to do this again. As a matter of fact, I already bought another one since my return to Canada.

So which bike to take? 

If travelling solo, a big single cylinder moto such as a DR 650 / KLR 650 / XRL 650 / XT 660 / KTM 690 is the best choice, in my opinion:

• They have enough power for a rider and luggage. Not recommended 2 up, though.

• They are relatively cheap to purchase, there is a ton of aftermarket parts.

• With a upgraded seat and a larger gas tank, they offer good comfort and range.

• Tire sizes ( 90/90/21 and 130/80/17) are much easier to find than for bigger bikes such as the BMW GS 1200 or KTM 990.

• Even if you're just going to stick to pavement, it's nice to have the long travel suspension and ground clearance, as you will go over a million ''topes'' or speed bumps in Latin America. Although annoying, they are a good spot to overtake slower vehicles, so you want to take them at a certain speed, or even jump them.

• Enduro bikes crash much better than street bikes. If you do go down, you have less chances of ending your ride because of damage sustained by your motorcycle.

• I personally prefer carburetors for their simplicity, but fuel injected bikes are nowadays reliable as well, so it's no longer a deal breaker for travel across so called developping nations.

Conclusion: My number one choice would be a DR 650, followed by a KLR 650 (pre-2008 model).

If travelling two up (with a passenger) , I would definetely recommend a bigger bike:

• BMW's 800/1150/1200 GS, mainly because BMW has a good dealer network Worldwide and takes good care of their customers on the road. There are dealerships in most countries, maybe with the exception of a few in Central America, such as Nicaragua, Salvador or Honduras.

• A KTM 950/990 is definetely the best machine for off road duty in that class, and surprisingly KTM is reasonably popular in South America, mainly because of their extensive dirt bike line up. You can find a dealership in most South American countries.

• Honda Africa Twin. Simple and reliable bike, powerful enough for 2 people.

• Yamaha Super Ténéré 1200. Seems to be a very good motorcycle in general.

• Suzuki DL 650/DL1000 VStrom's are very reliable and afforable, but limited off road due to their fairly low ground clearance.

• I would avoid Triumph adventure bikes ( Tiger 955i, XC 800 and Explorer 1200). They are good machines, but dealers are very sparse.

Conclusion (for two up): For mixed off road / on road riding, I would personally go with the KTM 950/990. It is the most crash worthy, and parts availability is still reasonnable. For mainly on-pavement duty, I'd go with a V-Strom, which is outstanding value and has above average reliability.

17- Essential bike modifications:

A good seat, a gas tank big enough for 400 km range, and a stiffer rear shock spring (to compensate for the extra load)  are a must regardless of the bike.

Other highly recommended modifications:

• Heated grips and handle bar muffs. I'm was very glad to have them in South America. It was cold in the mountains of Peru, in Chile and Argentina.

• Power outlet for a heated vest.

• A headlight protector.

• A tool case or tool tube attached somewhere on the bike, which is long enough for 12'' tire irons. You want to have these with you at all times, even with no luggage on the bike.

• A good engine skid plate is a must if you're going to do some off road sections. I banged up mine pretty hard in Bolivia; it was severly dented. I believe I would have smashed my engine cases if I didn't have it. 

I was happy with pretty much all of the upgrades I did to my DR. One thing I wouldn't bother with is spending too much cash on auxiliary lighting, since you don't want to ride at night anyway.

18- Spares and tools:

I took too much crap. Spares = weight. Do not bother with spare wheel bearings, just make sure you replace them with new ones before the trip.  They are fairly easily to find if you ever need to replace them.  I wouldn't take brake pads, sprockets and chain neither; all that stuff is heavy and takes up packing space.

My revised spares list:

• Tire tubes front and back
• Steering bearings (if tapered)
• Clutch cable
• Fork seals
• Electrical fuses
• Chain master link
• Rear shock main seal
• Two oil filters

Mihai took a big bag of tools with him, and I initially teased him about dragging half of his workshop across the Americas. Well, in the end, I'm glad he carried all that stuff, as most of it had been useful. I did have a tool kit too, but I was short of a few items.

My leatherman multi-tool had been particularly useful to both of us. Unfortunately, I lost it in Colombia. 

19- Finding parts and tires on the road:

From a strategic point of view, you want to cross from the USA into Mexico with fresh consumables, such as tires, brake pads, and chain/sprockets kit. This should get you to Panama without anything more than an oil change or two. Tires can be hard to find in Central America, and especially for big bikes such as a 1200 GS.

Once in South America, Medellin in Colombia is an excellent place for the next big service. There are several good bike shops: Ruta 40 BMW and Motoshop Frederico Henao are excellent, but there are a few others in the El Poblado neighbourhood that have a decent selection of tires, gear and spares.

Also in Medellin, there is a very good fabrication shop called King Aluminum, which can fix your damaged aluminum boxes, or even make new ones at a reasonable price.  

20- Selling  your bike in South America:

Selling my bike in Punta Arenas, Chile was easy. Read about it here.

It cannot be done in Argentina, as it is not allowed to import and register second hand motorcycles in that country. However, I heard of people selling their bikes to other travellers. This can definetely be done if you can find a buyer ahead of time.

I know that it is possible to sell your motorcycle in Bolivia and Colombia as well, but do not know about the procedure. Not sure about other countries. You might be able to find this information on the Horizons Unlimited and Adventure Rider internet forums.

21- Flying back home from Buenos Aires:

As I mentioned it previously, the black market for foreign currencies in Argentina (and especially Buenos Aires) allows you to change money at a great rate. If you do have enough US dollars or Euros, it is advantageous to purchase your airplane ticket in cash in Buenos Aires. You will probably save yourself a good 30 to 40% over buying online.

For reference, I bought my flight from Buenos Aires to Montreal (one way, with a stop in Atlanta) for 1080 CAD on Orbitz. Not exactly cheap. I would have probably paid much less in BA, especially considering that I did have a good amout of US dollars from selling my motorcycle.