Katarina & Brane

WE ARE KATARINA AND BRANE, IN CUBA, AT THE START OF OUR TRIP, DUŠAN WILL ALSO BE TRAVELING WITH US. THE TWO OF US WILL CONTINUE OUR TRIP IN ECUADOR, PERU, BOLIVIA AND ARGENTINA. WE EXPECT TO FINISH IT IN MARCH 2008. THE MAJORITY OF OUR TRIP WILL BE BY BICYCLE. WE WILL REPORT WHEREVER WE HAVE A CHANCE. ON OUR BLOG WE ALSO POST PHOTOS OF OUR JOURNEY. WE FLY FROM VENICE ON THE 6th OF NOVEMBER. DURING OUR TRIP WE WILL ATTEMPT TO CLIMB A FEW PEAKS AS HIGH AS 6000 METERS. WITH OUR BIKES WE WILL TRY TO SURPASS THE HEIGHT OF ELBRUS, THE HIGHEST EUROPEAN MOUNTAIN.

 

That was the initial paragraph on the top of our web page of our web page where, during the trip, we were writing about our adventures and putting on the most interesting photos. Up until now it has been visited by 12.000 people.

Our rough plan was to cycle through South America. Cuba was added later (simply because we have heard so many crazy things about it), as well as our decision which of the South American countries we want to visit. Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia - for each one of them we have a tiny reason: I heard so much praise about Ecuador from my great friend Elica, not so long ago killed in a car crash; Brane was in Peru once before and he wanted to see a few more places there and I yearned to see Machu Picchu; in Bolivia lives our friend and a great Slovenian painter Ejti Štih and there is the notorious Death Road, almost 'must do' experience for every biker.

The important part of the expedition was also choosing bicycles. It was almost a coincidence: a great bicycle fair in Germany in September, meeting with Radim and getting his offer of 4-EVER bikes. Together with Radim we have chosen the most suitable bikes for such a journey: model Fiver, alu 7005 double button frame 4EVER, equipment: Alivio brakes, gears and crankset, a bit heavier from better components but reliable for sure. Eight gears (at 9 the chain is narrower), Shimano LX hubs, RST GILA suspension (we could be without it). Mavic XM 517 rims, Shimano Alivio V brake gears, Schwable Marathon plus tires 26 x 2,00, Ritchey 26 x 2,00 tubes, WTB Speed V seat. The bike is a little heavier, but more sturdy and managable with all the luggage (4 Mainstream MSX ML 55 + SL 55 bags, Merida bag on the handlebar, travel bag Ortlieb. We packed them in two big bicycle bags and embarked with them on the plane to Havana.

 

CUBA

 

Cuba was a real eye opener, we practicaly learned our first steps in the countries of the Third World here: it was so different of anything we experienced before. And yet not so completely strange, because once upon a time Slovenia, the country we came from, was the socialist country itself. More days we spent in Cuba, more we were recolecting our memories of our socialist days and more we somehow missing them. Because people are not uterly desperate here as we imagined. On the contrary - they are quite happy and noisy and always prepared to trick you or squeeze out of you more money than you are prepare to pay. It is also a very safe country for a traveler, because the police are everywhere.

Traveling with bike is the best option here, because in that way you become a part of the roads and in Cuba the Road is a real Queen; everything important happens on the roads and riding a bike you feel that you have a main part in the huge open theatre. Fumes coming out of old and rusty exhaust pipes or not pipes at all are horrible (every now and then you are completely enveloped in black stinky clouds), all around you are colourful and imaginative means of transportation: bici taxis, oxe and horse driven carriages, vintage cars, all sorts of lorries, trucks, buses and tractors full of people, old motorcycles and bicycles … Pigs are wandering around like dogs, groups of children in uniforms are going to school, on the stalls along the road you can buy fruit and all kinds of fried food for cheep cuban pesos. Local shops (tiendas) have almost nothing inside them. The nature is beautiful: royal, coco and banana palms, sandy beaches, villages with palm-leaves on the roofs put in the most extraordinary places, like a scenes from a romantic movie … Revolutionary paroles, pictures and monuments of Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Jose Marti are everywhere. UN MUNDO MEJOR ES POSIBLE! PATRIA O MUERTE! VIVA FIDEL! VOLVERAN!

We tried all kinds of roads in Cuba, even muddy field tracks, leading to lonely villages and once to the beautiful underground cave full of little lakes; we experienced sandy paths along the beaches; ruined asphalt roads full of huge holes in the South, countless streets of cities and small towns, packed with traffic and people; we even experienced them 'by night', when they were almost deadly because a lot of drivers did not use lights at all. It was also necessary to put our bikes to the long distance bus twice and once to the pre-war jeep, when we decided to climb the highest mountain in Cuba, very jungle-like Pico Torquino (1972 m) and we run out of time. Our 4-EVER bikes bravely and without difficulties (just one puncture made by a big thorn) survive the first country on our way and hardly waited to disembark on the South American land again. They were an object of admiration in Cuba, strong and with durable tires would be a perfect change for a donkey, even for a horse …

 

ECUADOR

We didn't get through so well as our bicycles. The last night in Havana we poisoned ourselves with food, so the early morning trip to the airport was very painful and memorable. Sick and tired we hardly managed our two huge packages through the airport hall and negotiated a fair enough price for our excess luggage (we had 60 kilos extra). More dead than alive we disembarked in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and had been greated with a friend of a friend. We were lucky to have a translator, because the next day we had to go to the doctor and started to take antibiotics. The good thing was that we at least didn't have problems with an altitude (Quito lies on 2800 meters), so with a climb to a 4700 m high vulcano Pichincha which is rising above Quito, we started our high-altitude cycling through Ecuador with a lot of adventures on the way. La Mitad del Mundo was the first wonder – almost obligatory visit to the Middle of the World. They say that if you place one foot in the northern hemisphere and the other foot in the southern hemisphere makes you stand right in the equator and weigh less there.

After that our journey on the heights really began. Ecuador was the most un-southly american country among the three of them: clean and civilized and with a good network of mainly paved roads. It was also the most colourful country of the three – not just because of huge varietes of natural wonders (beautiful beaches, magnificent volcanos and icepeaks, rainforests and fruit plantations) but also because of traditional costumes that majority of country folk were dressed in. We were in Ecuador in December, so festivities were happening at every corner, on the streets Christmas processions are following one another, Nativity scenes were everywhere … In Cuenca we experienced the most interesting New Year's Eve ever: Ecuadorians have a custom to make a doll, which represents Old Year and everything bad that they want to rid of with it. At midnight they put their dolls on fire. The streets of cities and villages at midnight looked like a scene in some futuristic movie where the whole world comes to an end: just smoke and fires, silhuetes and cries of enthusiastic residents.

As the bicycles are concerned: Ecuador was the most uphill country we have ever pedaled: it seemed to us that everything is just going up, up, up and that even the sea wasn't lie at the normal zero level. On the first day when we rode above 4200 metres we pedaled like in a slow motion, we breathed with difficulties and it took us around three hours to cover a distance of mere 12 kilometres (uphill, of course), but afterwards we somehow adapted to the altitude and had no problems at all. We even tried to climb Chimborazo, at 6310 metres the highest Ecuadorian mountains. It was a good try and in a very serious and grave conditions we reached 6200 metres, although for the last 110 metres we run out of strenght and despite a beautiful weather and magical view at the top, finally surrendered. It was a wise decision and even today we are proud of it. Beside the heights and hills we had the most annoying incidents on the road with dogs and children. In Cuba no dog had ever barked at us, let alone chased us. But Ecuadorian dogs seemed very keen to abandon whatever they were doing at the moment of our passing, run after us and wildly try to bite our legs. Fortunately they were soon distracted by our bags which shielded us from every possible corner and they had to give in. Children were more merciless: they run after us, grabbing our bags and begging for money. Sometimes our 'fat' bicycle were such a strange sight, that some dogs just put their tails between their legs and run away. The most afraid of us were donkeys: almost every one of them, alone or with a rider, jumped nervously from the road to avoide the odd silent vehicle-monster that they had never seen before. And for the villagers: they were usually laughing at us and enthusiasticaly shouted: »Gringos, gringos!«

 

PERU

At the beginning of the third month of traveling, when we crossed the border to Peru, Brane had written some observations about 4EVER bikes on our web page: »Frame is elastic enough to bear also the bad parts of the road, where holes are unavoidable. We are somewhere at the middle of the trip, by the time and by the kilometres. We washed the bicycles, lubricated them and checked the tightness of screws; bicycles are still completely flawless. Untill now we have just one puncture (thorn in Cuba), we changed one pedal (it had been broken on the bus) and three bike-stands which they did not endure the burden of weight. We reset the brakes. Bike 4EVER is certainly the best choice for this trip and it justify its name.«
And I wrote: »My modest unprofessional opinion is, that until the end of my life I do not need another bike. With all the weight, every day (if not every day on the road itself, it suffers somewhere on rooftops or in boots of various dilapidated vehicles) bicycle just never fails me. It's a great joy to have it under my butt!«

If Ecuador had been completely enchanted us, Peru was the biggest disappointment. It was dirty and neglected and people were rude, or so it seemed to us at the beginning. We crossed the border on the smallest, unusual and very deserted crossing La Balsa because we wanted to visit Kuelap. This magnificent pre-inka ruins are still the best kept secret in Peru, which beauty can compete with Machu Picchu, but it lacks its turistic crowds. For a week we had been practicaly cut away from the world – during the day they were building the road, so you could travel only at night. We had to change all kinds of transportation because roads under constructions hadn't been fit for the bikes or were all muddy due to the heavy rains, but we had been highly rewarded by solitude in almost havenly places. Next hard earned adventure was cycling from Pisco to Nasca in Western Peru – 250 kilometres of Panamericana through the desert. We avoided Panamericana whenever we could (we prefered more lively and interesting country roads through little villages), but this stretch was unavoidable and it forever cured my urge to explore a desert on two wheels. The black bitumen ribbon stretched into foggy infinity, we had the wind almost in our chests and we couldn't decided what is worse: biking uphill and on every curve expected that road would start to descend, or riding a bike into the wind with a clear sight that the straight road goes on forever. All the time our companions on the road were buses and big trucks, which were driving deathly too close to us and madly honked their horns. And every now and then they were crosses along the road: sometimes so many together that they looked like a little cemeteries – in memory of people who died in the car or bus crashes there, but very spooky sight, indeed.

Very different kind of biking experience in Peru was Sacred Valley, which stretches from Cusco to Machu Picchu at the Eastern side of Peru. The nature was breathtaking: fields like a colourful patchwork on the high plateau; herds of sheep, cows, horses; and inka ruins – huge amphitheather for agriculture and saltworks, thousands of little pools shining like chrystals in the mountain slope - and in the distance white peaks of glaciers. We were very reserved about Machu Picchu, because it was a lot of fuss around buying tickets (very expensive) in advance, made a reservations for ticket of a tourist train (also very expensive) and had been driven there like a cattle in a tourist herd. But once there the mysterious and magical place won our hearts – like in a dream we wandered around the complex for nine hours, climbed picturesque Wayna Picchu with great views on Machu Picchu bellow, took a walk to Inka's Bridge and the Sun Door, once the entrance to Inka's secret city … In Peru we started to chew coca leaves – coca is completely legal here, it is no a drug and majority of Peruvians chew them regularly, because it stops hunger, help with altitude sickness and digestion, gives you energy and has many other positive effects on your health. A passage written by the famed mountaineer Clements Markham, who visited Peru in 1859, states: »I chewed coca, not constantly but with frequency, from the day of my departure at Sardia (Puno). I felt that it allowed me to climb steep mountains with ease and elasticity and without losing my breath. This quality should recommend to the members of the mountaineering clubs and to walking tourists in general.« For Peruvians coca leaves are sacred and they even have a prayer for them, we found it in The Museum of Coca in Puno:

And our Andean God said:
"... Guard with love your leaves
and when you feel pain in your heart,
hunger in your flesh and darkness in your mind ...
Bring to your mouth the sacred leaves
and you will find:
... love for your pain
... answers to your questions
... nourishment for your body
... and light for your mind.
But if the white man touches the sacred leaves
he will only find poison for his body
and madness for his mind."

 

BOLIVIA

 

We were leaving Peru on the most beautiful road possible - along lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world (3800 m). It is huge and all the time we had a feeling that we were cycling along the sea. It was February, time of carnevals and festivals, so we're encountering cheery 'fiestas', St Mary processions and benedictions of vehicles – cars, buses, taxis. Everywhere flowers, colourful paper ribbons and beer, a lot of beer. Children amused themselves with a national custome, which is allowed during the carneval – they were squirting each other with water and white foam in every possible way, they even poured the whole buckets of water on the streets from verandahs and rooftops and threw water-baloons throug the windows of passing cars, so we were in constant 'danger'. Before we entered La Paz we crossed notorious Alta Plano, where they live the poorest of the poor, and all of a sudden we were gazing across the rim of the great canyon, where like in a cradle lies enormous La Paz city in all his glory. That sight was one of the most breathtaking one of our journey.

Yes, we conquered the Death Road as well, but apart of views 'to die for' it was nothing deadly about it. Maybe the road was really scary before, when it was still full of traffic, but now it was partly damaged due to the heavy rains and landslides, so cyclists had all the freedom of the ride there. We were the only one that attacked the road on our own with our own bicycles 4-EVER, which is less and less possible. Numerous tourist agencies organize very expensive trips with all the equipment and they are trying hard to persuade you that this is the only way to go there. We proved them wrong, although we were cycling slowly, because our V-brakes almost completely failed us – it was a rainy day and descent from 4700 metres to 1700 metres (from the cold, windy heights to the warm tropical jungle) proved just too much for them. But in that way we appreciate more the beautiful nature – because of the rain plenty of majestic waterfalls were droping from the high rocks along the road, so sometimes we were forced to cycle through the falling water. More deadly adventure we experienced when we decided to ride a part of 800 kilometres (or so it was written) of Che Guevara's road on the other part of Bolivia. It was made in memory to 'El comandante's' last days; he and his guerrilla were operated in those deserted mountains in effort to liberate Argentina and other countries of South America. He was betrayed there, taken to a little village Higuera and been shot there. But the road was everything but what we expected: the distances were enormous, the road was badly damaged in all possible ways, now and then it was crossed by rivers or flooded, they were no traffic or villages on it at all, nowhere to buy food or drink – complete wilderness in short. We were really grateful to our 4-EVER bikes for their sturdiness and 'foreverness' – any other bike would fall apart on a road like that. »You must have some of Che's spirit inside you to survive here,« said Brane. And a bit of luck: without a truck full of pigs and cows which saved us from our misery we would probably missed the plane and infinitly pedaled the Che Guevara road in honour to Che's memory.

Bolivia was the last country on our way, so long before we really finished our journey we felt like we were somehow already saying goodbye to the South America. We met a lot of interesting people on the road, also some motobikers and a few cyclists. The most interesting of them was young Englishman Dominic, who was riding a tandem bicycle and picking up people along the way. He said something very beautiful and very true about traveling by bike, so I'm finishing our great 4-EVER adventure with his words: »Cycling allows you to travel fast enough to watch the world go by but slow enough to take it in.«

 

KATARINA & BRANE