Written story and photos
by Ann Redner

In 2007, an opportunity fell in my lap in the form of a gift certificate from the HSTA to use toward part of a motorcycle tour with Ayres Adventures http://www.ayresadventures.com/. It launched me to my dream destination of South America in spring of '08, for three weeks of motorcycling across much of the continent.

It was a stellar adventure.

There are many stories to tell, like when we met up with a French astronomer one night in the Atacama Desert and used his 7 outdoor telescopes to look at the rings of Saturn, the Southern Cross, the Jewel Box, and other constellations that only appear in the southern hemisphere... capping off the evening huddled in the dark around one lit candle, sipping rich hot chocolate brewed by his wife.

Or, the time we navigated an ultimate Argentine route of hairpin switchbacks cascading down a mountainside ...delicately dodging a trail of diesel oil strewn throughout the line which never quite disappeared until we reached level ground. At one place there was a semi truck and trailer on its side, wedged forever into a crevasse in a rock wall that bordered a downhill turn which the driver obviously missed. One day we were treated to an outdoor gourmet barbeque along an ice-cold irrigation stream in Argentine wine country...and somehow, one by one, each of us ended up IN the ice-cold stream. ...There was the delicious dinner in Peru of llama with red peppers & onions. And then there was the day we navigated across steep hills on a one-lane version of Deal's Gap, with blind corners, no guardrail, and wet pavement. And, the ridiculous joy of navigating through traffic mayhem in each city, where there were no lane markings and every type of transportation imaginable (including animals) seemed to be compressed onto the street, each pulsing toward it's individual unknown destination... instantly becoming a quest of who could get through without scraping bar ends on neighboring vehicles or getting pinched off by yet another leaning, black-smoke-spewing bus.

Our group was made up of 4 participants and 2 guides. While the guides knew each other, the rest of us adventurers had never before met.  The unusually small group allowed us to gel and have a fantastic time together.

The Participants:
• Mike, a midwesterner transplanted in California
• Ernesto, a Venezuelan living in Puerto Rico
• Dave, a Californian
• Me, the Michigander

Our Guides:
• Mauricio, from Brazil: a 2-time finisher of the Paris-Dakar race (including a 12th place), former top-finish national level South American enduro racer, Partner at Ayres Adventures; and our lead problem solver, organizer, and Grand-Poobah leader.
• Nuno, from Portugal: a former Portuguese national championship enduro racer; very personable, passionate host who recently completed a 7-month South American adventure tour with his wife, following the route of Che Guevara.

Mauricio and Nuno did a terrific job in handling every issue that came up, whether it was tire replacement, personality quirks, wine and food recommendations, or the not so simple act of sharing sincere, spirited passion on a daily basis.

We parted ways from Iguaçu and headed to our homes in other lands.. that is, except for Mike, who went on to Rio de Janeiro for a week with his wife Marilyn, who met us at the end of our trip in Iguaçu. I learned that adventure is very, very important in my life and to let too much time pass without a good adventure is scary. Getting back to my office and the comparatively shallow events of daily business is scary. Knowing life is limited and that we have a fleeting moment to "make life count" is scary.

Seizing opportunities that drop in front of us is a joy in life. Meeting people in small towns in faraway lands who seem to have nothing –yet ooze an honest helping of joy– is a very special thing.

Traveling across South America with strangers-become-good-friends on unpredictable terrain and always changing circumstances, experiencing culture that is unusual and unfamiliar, learning about the spirit of far away people, and knowing that God is awesome and in all of it, is not scary at all.