No Fixed Abode

It was a damp 70km to the border. At 8:30 AM the clouds were hovering low over the Puyehue National Park. The road wound between...

Looking back at Coyhaique before it disappeared behind the mountain was like the last view of Shangri-La. For a few moments the sun broke...

At the Los Libertadores International Pass, at the top of the mountain, we checked-out of Argentina and entered Chile. Behind the...

It took only minutes to leave Foz do Iguaçu and Brazil, the informal return of Bolivar’s permit taking the longest. The customs officer...

We entered Brazil at Chuí, the country’s southernmost town. There were shops selling clothes and household items, enticing the population...

The ferry left Buenos Aires in a heavy drizzle and the grey Río de la Plata merged with a leaden sky. Landing on the opposite shore,...

Halfway across the international bridge we entered Argentina for the second time. Coming into the border area at Posadas, there were...

Half the window was covered-up so most of the light came from the choir. A maté gourd with its silver straw sat beside the computer...

In Villazón, Bolivia ended at a small bridge with a sign in the middle splitting the two countries. Immigration was a messy affair with...

No matter who we talked to, or when, they all agreed on one thing: Bolivia was a pain in the ass. The trouble was fuel there was...

The Huaquillas – Tumbes border was hardly recognizable. It was almost empty. Last time, the lines were three-deep and snaking all the way...

In 2019 there was a series of protests and riots in Ecuador due to the introduction of austerity measures and more importantly,...

When we were young the week before Easter was more of the same: plain Lenten denial, except now there was an end in sight. We were still...

If you want to drive in Colombia, in a Colombian vehicle, you must have a RUNT. This involves getting registered in a national database...

THE DECISION It was as far back as the second big lockdown, in late 2020, that we first thought seriously about buying a bike in South...

It was a little bit like war, those last days in Lima: long periods of boredom interrupted by short bursts of terror. Terror is an...

If you want to give God a laugh, make plans. Wise words from my uncle’s kitchen table in Michigan in October 2017. We’ve driven 43,000 km...

If I had to choose a painting that best describes our current life under the great Covid cloud, it would be Dali’s timeless dreamscape...

It’s May, winter is coming and lockdown mornings rise under a cold, white sky. Sometimes there’s fog on the dunes. After freezing over a...

Lima was our halfway point and we spent a week there in a small apartment in Barranco. It was very bohemian with leafy streets and...