Canada motor-bikers in a pandemic in Uruguay

Elle and Jeremy rolled their motorbikes off the ferry from Buenos Aires at the tiny colonial town of Colonia del Sacramento on March 11. They’d ridden up from Tierra del Fuego and were making their way slowly back home overland to Canada. After a couple of days in Colonia, they asked their hotel receptionist to extend their stay and were told that it was impossible–the hotel was closing. The very next day the borders closed.

Jeremy remembers that they were asked to leave not one, but two hotels as Uruguayan businesses voluntarily closed down from the very first weekend the first COVID 19 cases were announced. They quickly decided to book a rental—for a month—which at the time seemed an eternity. They were to shelter in that same rental for the next twelve weeks, just leaving the little house once a week to get groceries and spending most days in a small but sunny internal patio.

Overland from Canada to Tierra del Fuego and back up

Jeremy Kroeker is a writer and his wife, Elle West, is a motorcycle instructor with the best internet handle I’ve heard in a long time—@ElleOnWheels. Jeremy’s most well-known book “Motorcycle Therapy” recounts his motorbike expedition from Canada to Panama and back. His second recounts a similar journey on two wheels through the Middle East—Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.

The adventurous pair, both 47, had started this trip, seeking inspiration for Jeremy’s next book, from their home town of Calgary in mid-August 2019. They rode through the USA, Mexico and Central America taking a ferry from Panama to Colombia to get around the Darien Gap.They worked their way through South America until they reached Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego in January–the southern-most point every motorcyclist covets on their checklist of far-flung destinations.

Sheltering in place in Uruguay – nothing but warmth and friendliness

Ostensibly trapped in Colonia, Jeremy and Elle took sheltering in place very seriously. They knew next to nothing regarding their unexpected host nation and at the same time Elle was reading worrying social media posts from other English-speaking riders elsewhere in Latin America who were warning that as outsiders they were being regarded as a health threat. Motorcyclists and mobile home drivers told of being kicked out of rental accommodation by owners under pressure from fearful neighbours. Others found themselves stuck for hours at roadblocks in Peru, harassed for doing shopping or escorted out of national parks by police in Argentina.

“So we were a bit worried what might happen to us here in Uruguay,” recounts Elle. “But we found the exact opposite–we were given nothing but warmth and friendliness.”

The couple have never felt in any danger during their stay, including from petty crime. Jeremy said: “I know crime must exist in Uruguay— like it does everywhere in the world—but we park our motorcycles on the street and have felt very comfortable with our belongings and with our safety.”

Even getting gas was an adventure

So, as a consequence of the uncertainty of how they would be received as travelers and respect for the quarantine, the couple’s bikes—a 2016 Kawasaki KLR 650 and 2013 BMW F700GS, for the enthusiasts—sat untouched for almost 10 weeks. When they decided to start taking day trips and explore a bit of the country, there was a brief moment of tension regarding whether the motors would start up or the batteries had lost their charge.

At that point, says Jeremy, even getting gas felt like an adventure. So they limited themselves to “short rides around the beautiful countryside” in Colonia. Eventually they rode the coastline to Rocha but by this point winter had set in and being on a motorbike without the adequate seasonal gear (remember, they had never expected to be in this part of the world at this time) was somewhat harsh–even for Canadians.

This reminds me of the experience of a friend of mine, coincidentally from the same city as Jeremy and Elle. In Calgary, winter temperatures regularly drop to -40° C. Despite growing up with such extreme winter weather, this friend told me that she had never felt as cold as she had in Uruguay in August. Jeremy feels the same. “In Canada we are used to the cold and our houses have been designed for it. So at least when you get inside it’s warm and comfortable.” [Editor’s note: Houses in Uruguay are not generally well-insulated.]

With a deadline to return home by September—more than a year after they had left Canada—, the couple decided to relocate to Montevideo and think about how to ship the motorcycles.

How to get home to Canada with two motorcycles in a pandemic

As the borders were closed, riding home was no longer an option. The second option was to store their motorcycles in Uruguay for a year. Elle recounts how heartwarming it felt to receive several offers to store their bikes free-of-charge. Selling the bikes was not likely as they have Canadian licence plates and can’t be legally registered in Uruguay. So the option that they started to take most seriously was shipping the motorbikes and flying home separately.

That’s where they came onto my radar as they asked to join Discover Uruguay—the Facebook group hosted by Guru’Guay for expats and Uruguayans—asking for advice regarding returning home to Canada with two motorbikes in a pandemic. An unexpected boon was finding that the Canadian Ambassador is also a member of Discover Uruguay. She even invited the travelers around for tea.