A Travel Story by Matt & Ed - XR's only
As the winds blow us off course, we encounter exteme landscapes & pure compassionate people helping this journey to be more than we can imagine!!Written by Ed Tarleton.....
As we departed the historical city of Cordaba, Argentina.....a city of many wonderful, cathedrals and monestary's, we set off into the pourig rain. As with many other rain storms, they often end..this one did not. As we commensed the cool wet riding got only worse....or better, since one week prior we were riding thru such intense heat that we were praying for cooler temperatures and hoped that it might rain on us....well our hopes came pouring down on us!! A long day.....the rain kept on...many surprises this day as well as many important items got drenched.
Be it form the monestaries in Cordoba or the Falls at Iguazu, the life we are now discovering is full of enchantment!
As the day had been long and hot, windy riding thru the dessert sun. The high central plains of Argentina, had beaten us down throughout the day. We had left San Juan at mid day after having done a necessary oil change. (over 4,000 km´s on same oil) The evening light was drawing near and we still had over 150 km´s between us & Cordoba. The desert highway had been long and straight. Boring is one description, but many other imaginable words grind at my mind as we had been directed by the locals to take this specific route.
The bikes are running well, luggage has taken a beating in the past week of
rough roads!! God damn the XR 600R is the only bike for me for a south american
adventure! We rode thru some real muddy dirt roads, I mean muddy, we were out
in the boonies!! One day we decided to get off the pavement and cut off about
80 kilometers of raod, however, the roads we wound up on took over 4 1/2 hours
to ride about 60 miles!! the chickens, the pigs, the cattle, the agricultural
We stopped for some refreshing beer as the sun beat upon us at over 95 degrees, and the wind was not helping a bit.......the beer flowed, we were now ready to head out to the coast. The day was March 28, 2003, we were riding up the central coast of Brasil. Heading out to the waters edge to find yet another sleepy beach. the dirt road we were commensing upon had some road work machinery in action, we skirted around thru the deep mud and water, and wondered how the passing bus made it thru such a passage.......It had been several weeks since the last dirt, Ed & I were ready!
We are currently in Belem, Brasil!! Heading up the great Amazon tomorrow
evening, the boat ride should last five days to Manaus, then down to Porto
Velho.....just spending some time today walking the street markets and checking
out the central sites of this intrigueing city....its quite the port, lots of
fish markets, street food, plenty of wharfs and tight streets, some old
churches in disrepair, many buildings for that matter, a little paint or wood
work would do alot for this place! The materials and labor are cheap but it
Thru the day we ascended and descended over several mountian
ridges. Rain and sun, rivers and steep jungle mountian sides. The dust was
incredibly blinding at times, and by the evening when we reached Coroico, fun
and excitement had crusted over the bikes our luggage and ourselves.
During this day we encountered a new driving regulation known for this region´s
dangerous roads. The downhill vehicle supposedly always has the right of way,
and traffic is to stay to the left side of the road. To the right is the
excerpts from an adventure.....Our last day we woke to heavy rains, slipping and sliding on the clays surfaces and numerous roots and vines. At on point Jim and the guide(Sandro) had gotten ahead of me as I was tangled up in some bush and vines.
Not having a MAchette I had to untie myself. After doing so I could no longer
see the trail or where they had gone. I Stood there wondering which way.
Suddenly I noticed a large animal traversing my direction. Not sure if it was
one or several animals, I barely made the figure out to be pig like...I called
It was the fourth of July and we had no Barbeque!! Oh well we found other ways to celebrate......here are some good excerpts from my good friend Jim Stanley Who has been traveling with me since northern Brasil!
...We wanted to barbeque for July 4th, but were unable to buy any food in town, so we ate at the best restaurant. Actually, we started the night off with a few shots of snake liquor. This is a foul local liquor kept in big jar with several black and white snakes in the bottom. It tastes like a mixture of gasoline, battery acid, and tequila, and SNAKES!