by Ken McKenzie
It’s easy to fantasise about following in the footsteps of Che Guevara and his biochemist friend Alberto Granado and traverse South America by motorcycle, but it’s best to banish any thought of loading up a 1939 Norton one-cylinder 500cc with a mate and luggage - it’s not going to be comfortable and, in all likelihood (as in the movie), even the mighty Norton won’t make it.
It’s not just the terrain that will scuttle your plans. It’s tax.
Argentina has an import duty of almost 60 per cent on motorcycles and also restricts the numbers.
A BMW GS 1200 Adventure, for example, which costs 13,000 pounds without any extras in the UK, will cost US$33,000 when you ride it out of the showroom in Buenos Aires. Similarly, a BMW 800 GS will cost $22,000.
Far better to sign up with a tour company. The original (formed eight years ago) is the best and not just because it’s the only (www.horizonte-tours.com), however, there are rumours another two companies are about to set up.
I’m currently on a 12-day, 2,500km so-called Time Warp tour which takes in Argentina, Chile and Peru, including Macchu Picchu - but don’t get too excited, it’s not possible to actually ride the bikes into Macchu Picchu; you’ll have to dismount at Cuzco and catch the train.
The 11 on this trip arrived in Buenos Aires on election day, only to find that a total alcohol ban was in place until the polls closed at 6pm. The Brits were, predictably, not amused, but it got worse the next day when the German tour organiser instructed them not to drink again that night. They were like a cage of unfed Pomeranian pups, yelping their heads off. But the reason was sound - the pass through the Andes would take us to 4,200 metres and when you combine alcohol and altitude sickness it can be debilitating or worse. “Maybe you die,” said the tour boss, with typical Stuttgart humour. As it happened, no one did, although many had headaches and were short of breath; even chewing cocoa leaves couldn’t really stave off the effects.
The bikes suffer too. The shortage of oxygen means that the usual 50:50 ratio of fuel to oxygen can change to 60:40 at 4,000 metres and you have to be clever on the clutch not to flood the engine, although many modern bikes have automatic fuel injection which adjusts accordingly.
The first days from Salta through the mountains offer a vastly different range of scenery, but with magnificent roads just made for motorcycles and scarcely any traffic. The meandering bends through forested country, then vast valleys and the climb up the Andes pass, left everyone breathless, and not just because of the thin air.
It is hard to think of a place where so many different landscapes can be covered in a relatively short distance - curving forest roads, vast valleys, mountain passes, snow-capped mountains, volcanoes (Chile has 10 per cent of the world’s live ones), salt pans, the driest of deserts and, unromantically, the world’s biggest copper mine; in the Motorcyle Diaries, this is the one where the exploitation of the workers probably set Che on his revolutionary course.
And at night, among the group, there is much to discuss. The usual mindless banter, of course, but serious issues such as the identical engine of the F650GS BMW and the F800GS. The 650 is basically a detuned 800, thanks to the chip which holds the engine mapping system and does such things as control the flow of fuel. The 800 is 10 horsepower more powerful. To complicate matters further, there is another BMW 650 that has a single cylinder five-valve Rotax engine.
What happened to the days when engines were known by their cubic capacity and that was good enough? Computerisation and the silicon chip, that’s what.
Meanwhile, back on the road, the BMWs are fired up and flowing down the Andes towards the Pacific coast of Chile before climbing again to Peru and finally answering that question playing on the minds of the herd: Who will be the first to try roasted guinea pig?
