Motorcycle Travellers Paying It Forward

If you’ve ridden through Chile and Argentina – you’ll know how insanely expensive they are. Especially when you’ve spent the last year riding Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.

For us, the expense hit hard once we left the high and empty Bolivian Altiplano after the Ruta de las Lagunas and descended into the tourist-packed Chilean town of San Pedro de Atacama. Avocado on toast, chai lattes and vegan food on all the restaurant signs – it made quite a difference from old chewy alpaca stews and chicken feet soups.

So, we reverted back to cooking our own food and eating packed lunches every day as we moved further south.

Eventually, we reluctantly decided to go to a nice restaurant to treat ourselves. We’d had a particularly long and gruelling day and would just try and stretch our pennies for the rest of the week.

I noticed two Husqvarna 901s parked outside with Canadian plates and luggage. So, I had to go over and say hi to their owners who were dining at the same restaurant.

We chatted about their trip and travels, swapped a few stories and I wished them well on their ride and returned to my seat (not wanting to intrude on their meal for too long).

Half an hour later, they left and said a very quick passing goodbye as they walked out. But when it came time for us to pay for our meals – the waiter said the guys had already paid for everything and left!

How humble is that? They didn’t mention it, they just said bye, got on their bikes and rode off. 

Now, we’ll do the same and pay it forward too.

Motorcycle travellers are the best.

Andy Davidson