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Two If By Land

PO Box 2828
Sausalito
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Just two kids riding an old airhead down to Argentina

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Latest post
Highlights from Peru to Northern Argentina
Feb 6, 2019
Nathan Sharp
Highlights from Peru to Northern Argentina
Feb 6, 2019
Nathan Sharp

It has been a while since we put out a video. We have been shooting tons of footage, but in Peru and Bolivia and even Chile the internet was not great and we rarely stopped long enough to spend any time editing. But as we have been stuck in beautiful Mendoza, Argentina getting the bearings and forks and tires sorted out, I had time to put together a little visual update of the roads we have been riding. Enjoy!

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Feb 6, 2019
Nathan Sharp

Featured
Highlights from Peru to Northern Argentina
Feb 6, 2019
Nathan Sharp
Highlights from Peru to Northern Argentina
Feb 6, 2019
Nathan Sharp

It has been a while since we put out a video. We have been shooting tons of footage, but in Peru and Bolivia and even Chile the internet was not great and we rarely stopped long enough to spend any time editing. But as we have been stuck in beautiful Mendoza, Argentina getting the bearings and forks and tires sorted out, I had time to put together a little visual update of the roads we have been riding. Enjoy!

Read More →
Feb 6, 2019
Nathan Sharp
Peru: On the Challenges of Travel and the Idea of Returning Home
Jan 31, 2019
Diana Juarez
Peru: On the Challenges of Travel and the Idea of Returning Home
Jan 31, 2019
Diana Juarez

The leathery swish-swish of padded, camel-like feet over cobblestones, of the alpacas led through colonial Plazas de Armas, adorned in tasseled harnesses of fluorescent yarn for photo-ops. An elderly man shuffling towards a marketplace, pausing in the street to shake and shush the old, chittering sack of rice he carried, which he has filled instead with indignant and bewildered guinea pigs. The scent of the earth snaking out from the dark mouths of the copper, silver, and gold mines that gape throughout the Cordillera Negra, telling such stories as So Many Millennia of Detritus and The Birth of Minerals. I am so lucky, I would think to myself, for I don’t ever have to embellish. I never have to cast a wide net. How completely these stories have floated down into my gloved hands, the work of them having already been finished.

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Jan 31, 2019
Diana Juarez
A race at 5000 meters in the Andes
Dec 10, 2018
Nathan Sharp
A race at 5000 meters in the Andes
Dec 10, 2018
Nathan Sharp

He outpaced me. At my approach, he did not bark or chase me, as is the practice of his species. He did not nip at my boots as the fanatical dogs do. Instead, he shot off like a rocket on his four legs, quickly outpacing me down the mountain road. He sprinted without tiring until he was a brown and white speck barely visible in the distance. I regretted that I could not give him the competition he so clearly relished. He was a canine alone among sheep and llamas.

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Dec 10, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Nov 17, 2018
Diana Juarez
The Garden of Earthly Delights
Nov 17, 2018
Diana Juarez

As we pitched our tent and lay out our belongings, we spotted the familiar apparatus of Amazonian ayahuasca ceremonies—a Jaguar skin hung on the wall, bundles of dried, raspy palm, a melodica and a drum, a tupperware container full of the dark ayahuasca extract—jumbled among stacks of beer bottles and other recycling, painting supplies, and an assortment of rubber boots for guided treks into the nearby subterranean caverns. For a moment, I had the sinking feeling of having peeked behind the red curtain in the Theater of Healing, of having seen the great and powerful Oz in all his disappointing smallness.

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Nov 17, 2018
Diana Juarez
Highway Zen and the Tattooed Lady of Cao
Nov 12, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Highway Zen and the Tattooed Lady of Cao
Nov 12, 2018
Nathan Sharp

Sometimes movement seems like an end in itself. For the first time in months, I saw a highway stretch out flat before me, the wind lashed my face and tears welled up in my eyes, the needle on the speedo bounced up to 80 mph. We had chosen to cut Westward from Cajamarca, Peru to the coast where the roads are straight and flat, where we could make up some time by bypassing some noodly mountain roads. There will be plenty of mountain roads in the future, why not get a change of scenery. Change itself came as a relief. After several days of hard riding through unpaved mountain roads from Ecuador across into Northern Peru, up steep muddy climbs, through razor-sharp switchbacks, on cliff-edge trails, after dropping my bike three times, and almost running out of gas, the coast sounded like the break that we needed.

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Nov 12, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Nov 4, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Viva South America!
Nov 4, 2018
Nathan Sharp

It begins again. After nearly six months in Colombia, Diana and I hit the road. It was bittersweet to leave Bogota, a city that we had come to feel was home, but we were excited to start traveling again. We arrived in Bogota feeling a bit battle worn. Horace, our trusty motorcycle, had just broken his flywheel in two and this after he burned a hole in the alternator stator in Guatemala, and, less severely, but still fatiguing, popped a tire in Nicaragua. Mentally, I needed a break. South America was a giant on the horizon, and I was doubting my abilities to face him.

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Nov 4, 2018
Nathan Sharp
We launched a store!
Oct 18, 2018
Nathan Sharp
We launched a store!
Oct 18, 2018
Nathan Sharp

Non-average apparel to fuel your adventurous spirit! I am excited to announce that we launched the Two If By Land store! From the beginning, I wanted to combine my two passions, motorcycling and graphic design, for Two If By Land. And here it is.

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Oct 18, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Sep 22, 2018
Diana Juarez
Close to the Sun and Always Wet: Snapshots From Bogotá, Colombia's Biggest, Baddest City
Sep 22, 2018
Diana Juarez

The constant juxtaposition of the old and the new here. Nuns in full cream and black habits glide past heavily graffiti’d walls. Hip restaurants, crowding in amongst the ubiquitous fruterias and salones de onces, offer Colombian interpretations of high-low cuisine—waffles, mac n’cheese, and artisanal burgers. At small batch coffee roasters, principled baristas proffer beans ground to order to your olfactory organ before brewing.

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Sep 22, 2018
Diana Juarez
Those who are born cicadas die singing
Jul 15, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Those who are born cicadas die singing
Jul 15, 2018
Nathan Sharp

Three months after arriving in Colombia, we finally finished editing a short Central America video.

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Jul 15, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Jun 25, 2018
Nathan Sharp
A few pointers on riding in Central America
Jun 25, 2018
Nathan Sharp

What do you need to know before pointing your tires towards Central America? Last summer, we scoured the internet for basic pertinent information on riding south of the border. We honestly didn’t know a lot about the area beyond the infamous corruption, crime, and poverty. While there are plenty of guides for backpacking travelers, there were a number of questions pertaining specifically to motorcycling for which we struggled to find answers.

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Jun 25, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Where are we going to so fast? My thoughts on the Royal Enfield Himalayan
Jun 11, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Where are we going to so fast? My thoughts on the Royal Enfield Himalayan
Jun 11, 2018
Nathan Sharp

From the moment the bike was announced, I was smitten. In its graceful profile I saw an unabashedly romantic motorcycle that embraced the aesthetic simplicity of the golden age of machines that hadn't yet been given minds of their own. It harkened back to the early days of adventure motorcycling, when BMW was just beginning to experiment with setting a big bike loose in the sand dunes of Dakar. Then, the motorcycle was a humble beast and the rider, her master.

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Jun 11, 2018
Nathan Sharp
May 24, 2018
Diana Juarez
Because Robert Persig Didn't Have a Period: Tales of a Wandering Womb
May 24, 2018
Diana Juarez

Truth be told, women have long been rolling up their sleeping mats and climbing on motorcycles and bicycles and sailboats and airplanes and horses and pogo sticks and adding their voices to an adventure genre that is nevertheless dominated by the voices of men. I've had the honor of sharing coffees and couches and swimming holes and mountain roads choked with dust with many of these women. I live in awe of them, and I think it's fair to observe that they, along with most women, are accustomed to the act of keeping many spinning plates in the air.

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May 24, 2018
Diana Juarez
May 17, 2018
Diana Juarez
A Lesson in Persistence
May 17, 2018
Diana Juarez

Wasn’t this one mistake enough to worry about? And why had I come here if I had already decided that it was hopeless? There’s no way to talk about this without sounding cheesy. But it was true. There was no point in being there⎯⎯in putting a whole sea between myself and my companion⎯⎯if I didn’t manifest the belief, in my thoughts as well as my actions, that I would achieve my goal. 

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May 17, 2018
Diana Juarez
Fuego Fireworks
May 13, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Fuego Fireworks
May 13, 2018
Nathan Sharp

I am currently slogging through our hours of footage from Central America. I hope to get a video together for your viewing pleasure in the next week or so. But in the meantime, I cut this short teaser of Guatemala’s Volcán de Fuego erupting.

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May 13, 2018
Nathan Sharp
May 9, 2018
Diana Juarez
About the Pig
May 9, 2018
Diana Juarez

So, now that we’re all tucked in and waiting for winter in Patagonia to pass, I suppose it’s high time I tell you the story of “Our Last Night in Nicaragua and the Pig”.

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May 9, 2018
Diana Juarez
Watch Horus Learn to Sail
Apr 30, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Watch Horus Learn to Sail
Apr 30, 2018
Nathan Sharp

For our third and final installment in the Darien Gap miniseries, I present the video edition. Maybe this will give you a little bit of a feel for what our voyage was like, although I guarantee there was more sea sickness than is shown in the video. Enjoy!

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Apr 30, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Two if by Sea or Sailing the Darien Gap with a Motorcycle
Apr 23, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Two if by Sea or Sailing the Darien Gap with a Motorcycle
Apr 23, 2018
Nathan Sharp

We never entertained the formidable challenge of crossing the Darien Gap overland so we had three options to get to Colombia.

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Apr 23, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Meeting the Darien
Apr 22, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Meeting the Darien
Apr 22, 2018
Nathan Sharp

The Darien Gap, “the world’s worst roadblock”, is sixty-six miles of untamed jungle isolating South America from Panama. Despite the continuous landmass that forms the American continents, only the brave and the foolish can cross it entirely by land and without the help of boats or planes.

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Apr 22, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Mar 31, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Touched by Celestial Creatures
Mar 31, 2018
Nathan Sharp

The cause was unclear, but no sooner had we bounced over the tope fifty yards back than I felt the unmistakable sad slushy wobble of a deflated rear tire. An old man watched us blankly from behind a tumbling pile of scrap wood across the street. He didn’t strike me as hostile but there was nothing notably friendly about his behavior.

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Mar 31, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Mar 22, 2018
Diana Juarez
Volcano Wonderland
Mar 22, 2018
Diana Juarez

I wonder what it must be like to have grown up with volcanoes nearly always within sight; what force they exert on the imagination. Perhaps I can only speak for myself of the force they exert on mine—to make my daily trips to the market, to think, to be thoughtless, in the shadows of volcanoes.

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Mar 22, 2018
Diana Juarez
Mar 18, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Staying Safe in Central America
Mar 18, 2018
Nathan Sharp

There are stories that I don’t want to be able to tell and already we had written the first line of it. ‘We went for a walk alone at night on the beach in Nicaragua…’

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Mar 18, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Mar 4, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Charging Failure in Chichicastenango
Mar 4, 2018
Nathan Sharp

It wasn’t the first time that we have had bike problems—in fact, these setbacks have become somewhat endemic of our trip—but before now we had ample time to adjust our itinerary. As we approach Panama and our sail to Colombia, however, our time is becoming much more precious. There is no shortcut. There is no finely paved toll-road. There is no circumventing the time-intensive border crossings. We had to confront the fact that we were not visiting the ancient city of Tikal and we were not swimming in the natural jade-colored pools of Semuc Champey, we were headed to the clogged streets of Guatemala City.

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Mar 4, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Watch Two if by Land - Mexico
Mar 2, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Watch Two if by Land - Mexico
Mar 2, 2018
Nathan Sharp

Watch our video chronicling our journey across Mexico from Baja to Chiapas.

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Mar 2, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Feb 20, 2018
Diana Juarez
Rambling Roads
Feb 20, 2018
Diana Juarez

What I want to share often seems so much bigger than my own particular slant, and behind my desire to relate experience in a way that seems authentic and immersive is the bare hope that someone is listening. For we all want to be heard. Rarely, though, do we know the peace of telling a worthy story without some grappling, without visions of pulling a dazzling fish out of the blind seas with only one’s hands.

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Feb 20, 2018
Diana Juarez
Enter Guatemala
Feb 15, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Enter Guatemala
Feb 15, 2018
Nathan Sharp

I have a recurring feeling of a trip just beginning. All the evidence to the contrary, the worn out tread on the rear tire, my slowly improving Spanish, the constant clicking of the odometer clock (recently surpassing the 50,000 milestone), my beard grown out, the wild coconuts, bananas, and coffee beans that burst jubilantly from the brush all around us, is unconvincing.

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Feb 15, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Exit: Mexico
Feb 10, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Exit: Mexico
Feb 10, 2018
Nathan Sharp

There are as many routes as there are people to take them. Looking back on our time in Mexico I easily become distracted by the places we did not visit.

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Feb 10, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Oaxaca to Chiapas
Feb 4, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Oaxaca to Chiapas
Feb 4, 2018
Nathan Sharp

Sunday evening, as the sun cast long shadows over the deep valleys of Chiapas, we arrived in San Cristobal de las Casas. We had expected to stop short of the city in a dirty hotel in a nameless mountain pueblo, but the roads were smoother than we expected and straighter and we made good time. We began our day on the beach and ended it at 7,200 feet.

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Feb 4, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Jan 28, 2018
Nathan Sharp
How we planned our route through Mexico
Jan 28, 2018
Nathan Sharp

Our route was intentionally planned out very crudely. We took out a paper map of Mexico and literally drew a line across it along some roads that looked interesting, making sure to pass through the cities we wanted to visit. Of these there were only a couple at the start: San Miguel de Allende where Diana’s family lives and Mexico City, where I visited last Summer, but due to a surprise visit from the ghost of Montezuma, was unable to explore the pre-Aztec Teotihuacan city ruins just outside the city. Soon, by research in Lonely Planet (still a useful guide in spite of the internet) and word of mouth we added to our short list Guadalajara, Oaxaca City, the ruins of Campeche, Morelia and a handful of others. We estimated that we could ride 200-250 miles a day and planned our stops accordingly. We have since decided that we prefer to plan fewer miles and give ourselves more time to stop to eat, take selfies, and explore while still allowing enough time to arrive at our destination before dark. Sometimes it doesn’t quite work out as planned. Between Nayarit and San Miguel de Allende, we ate only gas station peanuts and Snickers bars for lunch, so pressed were we for time. The weather has been amazing in these winter months, dry air and moderate temperatures, but the short days have limited our riding considerably. We decided from the beginning not to ride at night. Everyone we have spoken to has agreed with that decision. The bandits come out at night, as do the cows, goats and sheep, and the potholes don’t go anywhere. Though there are highways that are safe and secure, even on those my enjoyment decreases rapidly with the setting sun.

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Jan 28, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Jan 17, 2018
Diana Juarez
La Salud: Staying Healthy on the Road
Jan 17, 2018
Diana Juarez

I hope you’ll forgive the certified food-handler’s geek in me as I recount how swiftly and efficiently one pork-kebab stand in Coyoacan met the demands of their immense nightly crowd, and how each crew member handled raw meat, cooked food, sliced fruit, and cash payments. Without even a bottle of hand-sanitizer in sight. Did I partake of the kebabs? Sure did. Was I conflicted? You bet. 

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Jan 17, 2018
Diana Juarez
Travel Is Not the Cure
Jan 10, 2018
Nathan Sharp
Travel Is Not the Cure
Jan 10, 2018
Nathan Sharp

What exactly are we doing out here? I’ve seen probably a dozen cathedrals now and town squares and ocean front promenades. All of them unique, many beautiful, some decrepit. We’ve weaved through hairpin turns in the mountains on the way to missions and villages, bounced over topes and washboard dirt roads, swerved around potholes and semi trucks. Crossed hundreds of bridges and tunnels. We’ve eaten many tacos from the largest al pastor spits you can imagine. We’ve seen the landscape change again and again, wet to dry to wet to dry, mountains to flatlands to mountains.

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Jan 10, 2018
Nathan Sharp

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