Elbert Durán always enjoyed traveling the world; At the age of 19, he made his first bus trip from Costa Rica to Mexico City. Later, at 21, he visited Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. Now, at 64 years of age, he has set himself a goal: to cross 8 countries in the region on a motorcycle to reach Patagonia, in Argentina.
In his words, this is how he described the motivation for his journey: “Latin America is my culture, all of it; it is the magical, rich and marvelous world of diversity, history, nature and hope for the future world. It always has been, since I Columbus touched this continent”, Durán told EL TIEMPO from Cuenca (Ecuador) and a few hours after embarking on the journey to the border with Peru.
Elbert is a journalist from the University of Costa Rica. Currently, he enjoys his retirement, and lives in San Luis de Tilarán (Guanacaste). The trip began in the second week of January 2023 with 3 friends -also pensioners- and with his motorcycle, a Honda NC750x. “There are many challenges ahead of us, but the main one is our physical condition. I am a 64-year-old person, I have had some wear and tear in life, but I believe that we can still give more. And those who walk with me are a little higher than me”, explains Elbert for Altavisión, a local channel in the south of San José (Costa Rica).
The trip was called ‘Moto Travesía Pura Vida’. He and his colleagues, José Carlos Chinchilla Coto (68 years old) and Miguel Montero Corredera (65 years old) prepared for a year to study the route and plan all the details that a trip of this type requires. “Our route is Costa Rica-Panama-Colombia-Ecuador-Peru-Bolivia-Argentina-Uruguay-Chile, and perhaps we can include Paraguay on the way back. Final destination: Ushuaia, in Argentine Patagonia”, he explains.
Bogotá was a surprisingly hectic city, somewhat chaotic at times due to the volume of vehicles and especially motorcycles in all directions. At the time of the interview, Durán and his friends had already been to Panama City, Bogotá, Cali and intermediate towns. To reach their goal, they will have to travel more than 22,000 kilometers through different geographies and terrains, which put their motorcycle skills to the test.
“To get to this Ecuadorian capital, based on information that made us take the Amazon route, our first tour of Ecuador was the Sucumbíos route. In a broken section on the Reventador River, we had to overcome the hole in a tarabita or cable car 350 meters long, and at a height of 150 meters from the ground. It was the second flight of my ‘Fenix’ motorcycle, and those of my 2 companions. This transit, another previous one, at night and through a Colombian national park at a high altitude and with high vehicular traffic, plus the passage through the famous ‘Line’, have been one of the most demanding and intense in motorcycle handling and physical resistance ”, affirms Durán, who has 4 daughters and 2 grandchildren. And he added: “Bogotá was a surprisingly hectic city for us; somewhat chaotic at times due to the volume of vehicles and especially motorcycles in all directions and with threatening roads due to holes, unevenness and other problems. But all that is compensated by the kindness of people”.
To sleep, Elbert and his travel companions study “accommodations that meet our safety requirements for motorcycles and ourselves and adequate services at a prudent budget because the trip is very long and all budgets are running out.” For now, the group of friends continues touring the roads of Latin America to reach their goal, Argentine Patagonia “The motorcycle is a very careful vehicle but it allows you to literally touch the places with your skin: wind, temperature, aromas of the way… That makes me feel very connected with the environment”, he concludes his story.
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