{"id":232,"date":"2010-11-12T17:01:59","date_gmt":"2010-11-12T20:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/?page_id=232"},"modified":"2013-04-09T07:42:22","modified_gmt":"2013-04-09T05:42:22","slug":"south-america","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/south-america\/","title":{"rendered":"South America Bicycle Touring Route"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A short flight brought us to\u00a0Colombia<\/a>, once off-limits for tourists due to safety concerns, but now an ever more popular destination on the South American circuit. \u00a0From Cartagena, one of our favorite cities on the\u00a0planet, we cycled north towards the coastal city of Santa Marta, and on to the dry Riohacha Peninsula, crossing the border into Venezuela<\/a> at the grotty border town of Maicao.<\/p>\n

Initially, we’d planned to follow the coast from Maracaibo, taking in Coro and other popular tourist destinations. \u00a0 But the heat was stifling–unbearable even–so we headed cycled up to the Andes to cool off. \u00a0We biked up to the Andean towns of Trujillo and Bocono and then back down to the plains of Los Llanos, passing near Guanare, then on to Barinas before heading into the heartland of the cattle grazing country and the small settlements of Bruzual, Mantecal, Achaguas and finally San Fernando de Apure. \u00a0From that point we had to make a detour of sorts, since there’s no direct road through the Amazonas region. \u00a0We cycled all the way south to Puerto Paez, right on the Colombian border, and then back north through some\u00a0remote country dotted with Amerindian villages. \u00a0At the junction with highway 19, we again headed east towards Ciudad Bolivar. \u00a0Then it was a straight shot to Brazil, passing through the beautiful Gran Sabana region, the highlight of bicycle touring in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

We left Venezuela behind at the tidy border town of Santa Elena and headed into a sparsely populated part of Brazil\u00a0 settled mostly\u00a0 by Amerindians. \u00a0In Boa Vista, the region’s major city, we stocked up with provisions for the rough ride through\u00a0Guyana<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The muddy track (we biked here in May, the beginning of the rainy season) from Linden to Georgetown, Guyana’s capital, is one of the more challenging roads in South America. It’s a long slog through some sparsely inhabited areas, but the beautiful landscapes–from wide open savanna to dense tropical forest—take some of the pain out of the ride. \u00a0Back on paved roads, we blazed through Guyana and onto Suriname, crossing the border via the daily ferry across the Corentyne River.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Suriname <\/a>we met some of the friendliest folks of the trip, as we pedaled through mosquito-infested tropical forests, passing cheerful-looking villages with brightly-painted homes on stilts and tidy farms growing rice and vegetables. \u00a0After a long rest in the lively capital, Paramaribo, we continued our bicycle tour south towards\u00a0French Guiana<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was a strange sensation to be back on French soil, munching on crunchy baguettes and shopping at the well-stocked Super U, filling the cart with products shipped all the way from metropolitan France. \u00a0Viewing the giant sea turtles laying their eggs on Awala beach was a definite highlight, as was visiting the European Space Center at Kourou. \u00a0Dealing with dengue fever, on the other hand, was the low point of the visit.<\/p>\n

After a ten-day recovery period, Eric felt strong enough to continue the South America leg of our bicycle tour and we loaded up the bikes and pedaled towards Brazil. \u00a0French Guiana south of Cayenne is home to some agonizing hills, but fortunately the road has finally been paved all the way to the border crossing at St. Georges.<\/p>\n

Here we hopped on a speed boat across the river to Oiapoque, in\u00a0remote northern Brazil<\/a>. \u00a0After 50 kilometers the paved road came to a brutal halt and we were faced with yet another long slog through mud and muck. \u00a0Horrendous road conditions coupled with some of the steepest hills of our world bicycle tour made for some tough cycling. \u00a0Fortunately, the Brazilians have been on a recent paving spree, and the asphalt returned at the busy town of Calcoene, after a mere 160 kilometers of mud. \u00a0What a relief!<\/p>\n

After some relatively easy riding through vast open spaces, we made it to Macapa, and the end of the road. \u00a0Here we jumped on an Amazon riverboat, the Bom Jesus, for a ride to busy Belem. \u00a0Back on the bikes, we suffered from heavy traffic, narrow roads and crazy drivers as we made our way south on highway BR 010.<\/p>\n

From Belem we went through central Bra<\/a>zi<\/a>l to the capital, Brasilia.\u00a0 Next we headed west into Mato Grosso state.<\/p>\n

We then decided to cross the border into eastern Bolivia<\/a>.\u00a0 This region is famous for its Jesuit missions.\u00a0 The riding was rough in many parts and had a Wild West feel to it.\u00a0 Eventually we reached Santa Cruz.<\/p>\n

Next we went south through Tajira state and crossed the border into Paraguay.<\/p>\n

In Paraguay, we followed the Trans-Chaco highway to Asuncion.\u00a0 Next we headed to the infamous smuggling city of Ciudad del Este and over the border into Argentina and Puerto Iguacu.<\/p>\n

After visiting the famous falls, we continued south through Misiones province and on to Uruguay.\u00a0 After a short tour of that tiny country, we took a ferry from Carmelo to Tigre, a northern suburb of Buenos Aires.<\/p>\n

We followed windy and monotonous Ruta 3 south to Patagonia<\/a>.\u00a0 After crossing back and forth over the border into Chile as we traversed Tierra del Fuego, we finally reached Ushuaia in December 2010.<\/p>\n

From the 55 degrees south point, we turned around the bikes and began cycling north.<\/p>\n

We followed the beautiful Carreterra \u00a0Austral and part of lonely Ruta 40 on our way to Santiago.\u00a0 From the Chilean capital, we headed east into the Andes.\u00a0 After conquering all the switchbacks on the Cristo Redentor Pass we enjoyed spectacular views of Aconcagua before freewheeling \u00a0back down into Argentina.<\/p>\n

Next we cycled towards Salta and explored the challenging backroads of northwest Argentin<\/a>a.\u00a0 Our final highlight in Argentina was the challenging Paso de Sico<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Back in Chile<\/a> we explored the fascinating region around the Atacama Desert.\u00a0 Next we climbed to almost 4,000 meters and entered southwest Bolivia<\/a>.\u00a0 In spite of cold temperatures, strong winds and a bout of altitude sickness, we enjoyed the amazing lagunas and wildlife of the region.<\/p>\n

From the old railway town of Uyuni we headed to Potosi, onto Sucre and finally Cochabamba.\u00a0 In Cochabmaba, catastrophe struck:\u00a0 Eric\u2019s full loaded bicycle was stolen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After much consideration, we decided to abandon our plans to complete our South America circumnavigation.\u00a0 Replacing the bikes and gear would have been too costly so we flew to the US to regroup in May 2011.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A short flight brought us to\u00a0Colombia, once off-limits for tourists due to safety concerns, but now an ever more popular destination on the South American circuit. \u00a0From Cartagena, one of our favorite cities on the\u00a0planet, we cycled north towards the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4445,"parent":191,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"yoast_head":"\nSouth America Bicycle Touring Route - Worldbiking.info<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/south-america\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South America Bicycle Touring Route - Worldbiking.info\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A short flight brought us to\u00a0Colombia, once off-limits for tourists due to safety concerns, but now an ever more popular destination on the South American circuit. \u00a0From Cartagena, one of our favorite cities on the\u00a0planet, we cycled north towards the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/south-america\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Worldbiking.info\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-04-09T05:42:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/south-america-route.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"926\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1127\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/south-america\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/south-america\/\",\"name\":\"South America Bicycle Touring Route - Worldbiking.info\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-12T20:01:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-04-09T05:42:22+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/south-america\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/south-america\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/south-america\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"route\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"South America Bicycle Touring Route\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/\",\"name\":\"Worldbiking.info\",\"description\":\"Round the World Bicycle Tour since 2006\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Worldbiking.info\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/11-florida.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/11-florida.png\",\"width\":280,\"height\":90,\"caption\":\"Worldbiking.info\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"South America Bicycle Touring Route - Worldbiking.info","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/south-america\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"South America Bicycle Touring Route - Worldbiking.info","og_description":"A short flight brought us to\u00a0Colombia, once off-limits for tourists due to safety concerns, but now an ever more popular destination on the South American circuit. \u00a0From Cartagena, one of our favorite cities on the\u00a0planet, we cycled north towards the","og_url":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/south-america\/","og_site_name":"Worldbiking.info","article_modified_time":"2013-04-09T05:42:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"926","height":"1127","url":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/south-america-route.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/south-america\/","url":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/south-america\/","name":"South America Bicycle Touring Route - Worldbiking.info","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-11-12T20:01:59+00:00","dateModified":"2013-04-09T05:42:22+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/south-america\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/south-america\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/south-america\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"route","item":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/route\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"South America Bicycle Touring Route"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/","name":"Worldbiking.info","description":"Round the World Bicycle Tour since 2006","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/#organization","name":"Worldbiking.info","url":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/11-florida.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/11-florida.png","width":280,"height":90,"caption":"Worldbiking.info"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/232"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/232\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.worldbiking.info\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}