You might recall my story last month detailing a lengthy decision making process in preparing for a ride to the end of the world. In that story, I opted for the standard BMW R1200GS over the R1200GS Adventure. For various reasons, I ended up choosing a used 2012 Triple Black BMW R1200GS for the trip.

I promptly went about stocking the bike with long-haul adventure touring items like luggage, crash protection, dual sport tires and more. But that was just one of the many parts of the year-long preparation for a trip dubbed “Expedition 65” — a 2-month, 10,000-mile motorcycle expedition from Colombia all the way to the tip of Argentina, riding through some of the most remote reaches of the planet.

Our group of 15 riders, from all walks of life, set forth on Expedition 65 on September 15th and we’ve been traveling for several weeks now, riding along the South American Continental Divide over the Andes mountains, zig-zagging back and forth from the coast to the jungle. Each one of us is also prepped with antibiotics, foreign currency and a very strong will to see what life is like in every village along the way; escaping the political landscape at home to instead experience the high-altitude landscapes of the austral plane.

In all, our plan is to ride through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, across 65 degrees of latitude over the course of the trip. Beginning in Cartagena at 10-degrees North of the equator, riding all the way to 55-degrees South in Ushuaia, we’ll challenge our minds, bodies and souls as we seek our ultimate goal of riding as far South as one can on land. When the road ends, we’ll be closer to Antarctica than any other place on earth… and if we’ve planned the schedule correctly, we won’t be frozen popsicles when we get there!

With visual story telling from both myself, as well as video productions from award-winning filmmaker Sterling Noren of Noren Films, we’ll show you the incredible places you can experience down south like the inhospitable Atacama desert, 16,000-foot mountain passes, the infamous Death Road, ancient Machu Picchu and so much more!

We are posting videos and photos from the trip regularly on Facebook and Instagram so you can follow all of the challenges and discoveries we encounter as we explore this vast South American continent. In addition, a feature-length film that chronicles the journey, from start to finish, is also in the makings.

Photos by Alfonse Palaima

Author: Alfonse Palaima

When not in Los Angeles hiding from society, Alfonse is far, far away from home, collecting passport stamps and slicing through traffic on two wheels with a smile on his face. Slowly rounding the world one country at at time, riding countless miles, on countless motorcycles, covering 6 of the 7 continents so far. While he is a rider like you and I, he has also been a moto journalist in the field since 2003.