Photo by Shawn Scot
world on a motorcycle
and that’s when they
started working on
making that a reality. 2
years later they started
the project they call
Around Gaia.
They travel and live
on a 2012 Yamaha
Tenere XT660Z
without a GPS. They
rely on the kindness of
strangers for housing
and sometimes fuel. To
maximize their travel
time, they limit their
combined personal
weight to 320 lbs., and
their gear weight to 150
lbs. The gear has to
include clothing, tents
and sleeping bags,
camera equipment,
tools, food and water
and sometimes
fuel. To mitigate as
many cultural barriers as possible, they decided to
teach each other English as they felt that would be the
language most often found to be ubiquitous around
the world. They do admit to having their own personal
language of a mix of Macedonian and Spanish to help
them communicate with each other. The biggest tool
in their toolkit for overcoming obstacles was a respect:
for culture, for people and for religion. They discovered
that honoring and adhering to local customs and cultural
norms went a long way towards gaining access to
services and rest stops. “If your host family eats with
their hands, you eat with your hands.”
They officially left Spain and started the Around Gaia
project in April 2013. From Spain they traveled across
Europe, Asia, wanted to depart from Burma but could
not so had to travel to Southeast Asia to ship their bike
to Australia. Their next phase took them directly down
the middle of Oz, and departing from the southernmost
tip of the continent down under for Chile, where their
journey was to re-start in Ushuaia Argentina before
heading north. It was here where an accident resulted
in Ivana having a broken leg that required 9 screws and
a plate to correct, and 2 months off the motorcycle. That
could have ended the trip and their dream, and no one
would have blamed the couple for giving up and going
home, especially as homesick as Ivana was becoming.
But in the end, it was Ivana who decided to stay in Chile,
recover, and continue on.
“The whole purpose of the trip was to find a solution
Aran, Ivana and Manuel
to any situation and I did not want to take the easy way
this time” admits Ivana. She shared how all this time on
the bike has strengthened her immune system, and she
doesn’t get sick any more. This strength showed in her
resolve to stick with the project, so she stayed with a host
family in Chile while Manuel took the bike to Argentina.
When Ivana was recovered she hitch-hiked south to join
Manuel so they could resume their trip from their planned
spot.
Traveling across Patagonia was the toughest part of
the experience. There were days of rain, bitter cold, bad
roads and the highest winds they had ever encountered.
The worst food was in Asia, where the spices were
entirely unfamiliar and eating fried ants required some
getting used to. Ivana got altitude sickness in Bolivia
along with her broken leg in Chile. As far as dangerous
countries, they simply kept alert and aware, and even in
Columbia the people showed interest in their journey and
motorcycle, and they encountered no trouble there.
When I got to meet them they were on day 1081 in
Gladstone, Oregon. They had used 1200 gallons of fuel,
and replaced 10 tires, 4 chains, and 2 clutch plates on
the Yamaha. Latus fixed them up with a replacement part
they needed, and got them back on the road to complete
their trip through Washington, British Columbia and on to
Alaska.
You can keep up with Ivana and “Manu” on Facebook
where they are sharing their journey at https://www.
facebook.com/aroundgaia/ and while you’re there, check
out the KOIN 6 interview video.
Thunder Roads Magazine® Oregon 14