So, when most travellers leave the country, they do so with a guide book. And the choice of one’s guide book is incredibly important. It can be extremely overwhelming, standing there in the aisle at Powell’s, looking at the variety. “South america on a shoestring” “Budget guide to every country” “Lonely Planets South America, Argentina, Bolivia, etc.” “Footprints” and so on.
Luckily, we are cheap and have great friends. Dave gave us the 2004 Footprints South America Handbook. Mike gave us the Lonely Planet guidebooks to Bolivia, Argentina, and a couple of other places that we aren’t going to on this trip. Thanks guys. And we’ve learned a lot about guide books, comparing and actually using the two. Here’s what I think about guide books and picking them out.

A guide book that lists addresses of supermarkets is invaluable. Also, customs (not cultural, but international), post offices, and phone codes.

How much do you want to know about history and culture? For instance, the Lonely Planet guide to Bolivia has a great section on culture, history, customs, music, dance, etc. It was great reading on the 36 hour bus trip.

If you are planning on leaving the Gringo Trail, don´t even bother carrying the Lonely Planet. Unless dozens of other gringos have been there before you, they won´t write about it.

It would help to carry up-to-date books. Ours are 2000 and 2004. Sometimes this results in halarious misadventures. Mostly it just means that the prices are wrong. Surprisingly enough, most of the 2004 information about ferries, busses, and trains is completely accurate, with one noteable exception. (Ferries from Chiloe have been drastically cut.)

The health section in the Lonely Planet is exceptionally good. In fact, if you just photocopy that part and carry it with you, you´ll be thankful for the references.

If there aren´t tourist offices listed in the book, make sure it has city maps.

We did not use the book for most of Patagonia because there were so many tourist offices that were full of great information. (You can walk in with your list of needs-supermercado, ferreteria [hardware store], camping, bicicleteria, etc. and they will give you a map with dots, and you are set. We even asked once for showers, and got directed to the municipal camping and had the best showers ever.)

Most people who are reading this know that I´m a bit of a food geek. One of the big questions and fears I had about coming on this trip was about food. What were we going to eat? Having never been on a multi-month bike tour before, I just had no idea. Also, at the time I was dealing with some food issues-I wasn´t eating gluten or sugar, or a bunch of other food (milk products, nuts, etc.).

Luckily, a brilliant naturopath in Portland set me straight, and I had my first medialuna (a sort of sourdough croissant) our second day in Buenos Aires, Since then I´ve been eating just like a regular person. It´s great!

So, what do we eat when we´re on the road? Mind you-we are limited by what´s available, how long between resupply towns, how much space is in the panniers, and how hot it is (and thus how fast things will spoil). When we are in town, or close to a town, we add meat.

A typical menu goes something like this:
Breakfast-lentils with potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, zucchini, spices, and cheese; tea
Lunch-tuna salad sandwiches, carrot sticks, and this aspartame filled grapefruit drink that I adore
Dinner-pasta with some kind of sauce from an envelope, zucchini,onion, garlic, and salami (fried); mint tea, wine or beer
Breakfast-cereal with dried milk, tea
Lunch-scary meat-in-a-can, crackers, apples and carrot sticks
Dinner-lentil stew with curry, ginger, garlic, onions, zucchini, carrots, cabbage; mint tea and wine or beer
Breakfast-rice with a fry of whatever vegetables we can find, cheese, soy sauce, and tuna; tea
Lunch-hard boiled egg salad sandwiches, carrot sticks
Dinner- instant polenta with some sort of red sauce, salami, zucchini, onions, garlic

Our pantry consists of:
powdered cumin
curry powder
whole cumin
mustard seeds
garlic
ginger
salt
rock salt (found it abandoned in a hostel kitchen…had to rescue it!)
black pepper
dried chilies
powdered milk (of incredible quality-what a discovery!!!)
mint tea, mate in a bag (mate cocido), black tea
an entire bottle of olive oil
bottle of soy sauce
rice
lentils
a can of tuna fish
emergency packages of instant soup

And to cook with:
One burner
one small fry pan
one small pot
one big pot (2.5 liters-huge)
one plate
small folding knife
small cutting board
spoon, fork, spork, and useless folding spatula
can opener and two bottle openers/corkscrews

I am so proud to be the kind of bike tourist who carries a bottle of soy sauce, a bottle of olive oil, and currently, TWO jars of peanut butter.

Bike Stuff
Custom Vanilla Touring bike (Elicia)
couplers, disc brakes, 26″ wheels (Elicia)
Tubus front and rear racks (Elicia)
26″ transerv tires (Elicia)
26″ mtb tires (Elicia)
Pedals that are both platform and SPD (Elicia)
Bontrager Privateer w/drops, discs on front, V-brakes on rear, time/look pedals and cleats (Andy)
26″ slick tires (Andy)
26″ mtb tires (Andy)

Things to carry things in
Backpacks
Arkel small front bags (both of us)
Ortlieb waterproof classic rear bags (Elicia)
Arkel large rear bags (Andy)
Vaude handlebar bag (Elicia)
Topeak Handlebar bag (Andy)

Gear type stuff
A really good helmet
2 small cable locks
a bike computer, very basic
front and rear lights (used them once so far)

Sleeping
down sleeping bags
thermarests
thermarest chairs (awesome, awesome, awesome)
homemade lightweight sleeping bag liners
Orion tent, rainfly, and groundcloth

Water
Ketadyne hiker water filter
Sweetwater viral drops
Emergency water purification tablets
3 one liter bottles each
3 liter camelbak (Andy)
2 liter camelback (Elicia)
plus a rotation of plastic bottles as needed

Stoves
MSR Whisperlight international (runs on unleaded fuel!!! Awesome!!!)
4 fuel bottles
a bag of things to fix the stove with
1 cartridge type stove
1 fuel cartridge
2 windscreens

Cooking
little cutting board (best thing EVER)
small knife
vegetable peeler
spork
big spoon
fork
folding spatula (almost useless)
scrubbie
2 liter pot
1.5 liter pot
fry pan
lid for pot
2 coffee mugs (Portland style)
bag of spices: cumin, curry, salt, pepper, ginger, and whatever else seems good
bottle of cooking oil,soy sauce

Clothes and stuff for Elicia
(not complete-do you really want to know how many bras I brought? If so, ask.)
4 chamois
2 jerseys
armwarmers
knee warmers
tights
thin wool long sleeve shirt
1 pair of town pants
1 wool town tee-shirt
super cute wrap dress
3 pairs of bike socks
1 pair thick wool socks
1 pair sandals
1 pair hiking shoes
1 pair biking shoes
swim suit
Sarong
thermal zip jacket
wool gloves
down jacket
fingerless gloves
full finger gloves for biking
2 wool hats
rain pants
rain jacket
booties

Random crap
plug for sink
clothesline
sun lotion
books
guidebooks
journals
mini-water color set
first aid kit w/ antibiotics, anti-diarrheal meds, tums, ibuprofen, band aids, Brave Soldier ointment, alcohol wipes, etc.
Zip lock bags (hard to find, and we never seem to have quite enough)
pens
buttons and blinky lights to give away to nice people we meet
camp towel
lotion
Chamois butter
vitamins
electrolyte tablets

For Fixing things
huge needle
little needle
upolstery thread
thermarest repair goo and patches
nylon repair tape
seam grip
100 patches
8 tubes
a variety of nuts, washers, and bolts
extra disc brake pads
extra pads for Andy’s other brakes
cable
kool tool
tire levers

Technology
Digital SLR camera w/telephoto lense
2 2k cards
120k mini hard drive
battery charger
various adapters
headlamps

Things we bought along the way
Nail clippers
nail brush (also great for scrubbing laundry)
another wool hat
clothespins
laundry detergent
more pens
new camelbak (Elicia’s developed a leak)