Ilkka and Tuija Kauppinen left Rovaniemi for Colombia more than a year ago. The purpose was to ride bicycles across South America. The couple is now in Brazil, and the end of the journey is looming.
Ilkka and Tuija Kauppinen jumped on a plane in early 2022, and they flew via Amsterdam to Colombia in South America with their bicycles. In February, they began pedaling 12,000 kilometers south to Ushuaia in the Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of South America.
The couple reached their goal at the turn of the year, but decided to turn the nose of their bicycles back towards the north and continue their journey during the local autumn – or spring in Lapland – until May.
Now the couple is in Brazil on their way to Rio de Janeiro, says Tuija Kauppinen over the phone. The journey from Ushuaia there has been colorful.
– There in Ushuaia, the weather was quite cold, but then it changed completely, i.e. we pedaled in the heat of a good 30 degrees. The day trips got shorter, really we could only pedal in the mornings, and the afternoons were spent sighing in the shade. Uruguay was a three-week stint, and then we went to Paraguay, which particularly interested us.
\”Paraguay is dangerous and introverted\”
The couple was warned in advance that Paraguay is dangerous and the people there are introverted. However, there was another one planned.
– It was nice that we didn’t listen to the warnings and went there with an open mind. Every country has had absolutely wonderful people, but the people there were really, really warm.
This week the Merchants stopped in Brazil in a town the size of Rovaniemi called Lapa, which is the oldest town in the state of Paraná. The first time they went to work there, they experienced a gathering of old cars.
– There was a retro event here, meaning there were a lot of old cars, and the band played Elvis on stage. From there we found ourselves in afternoon dances to the rhythm of hanuri music, so we got to a proper village party.
The city of Lapa is surrounded by green hills, but since it is at an altitude of almost 1,000 meters, due to the morning fog, they were not visible at the time of the interview.
– However, it seems that despite yesterday’s celebrations, people are going to work and this is a vibrant city.
Easter tree and giant chocolate eggs
Celebrating Easter is now topical, and in Brazil, Easter traditions are a mix of Catholic Church customs and local culture.
– The grocery stores here have a huge amount of chocolate eggs and candies and other things that we have at Christmas. Those chocolate eggs are absolutely huge, 20 centimeters in diameter, and they are hung from the ceiling of the shop in a dense cluster. If a 2-meter-tall man walks there, his head will hit those chocolate eggs. Then a plastic Easter tree caught my eye in the bakery, i.e. like a plastic Christmas tree, but decorated with Easter decorations. There were also bunnies, chocolate eggs and flowers.
The other half of the couple, Ilkka Kauppinen, describes the effects on the body of a bike ride that lasted more than a year, so that the physical endurance has improved considerably, but along the way he has gotten quite a bit of tan.
– Of course, the condition has increased here, especially when driving uphill in Peru, but we are not terribly tanned, because the UV radiation here is so huge. We have been wearing very protective clothing, a hooded jacket, a long sun hat and long pants. I’d say it’s almost necessary under the circumstances.
However, Ilkka Kauppinen considers the change that long drives have caused to the mind to be greater.
– Here, at best or worst, there are even hundreds of kilometers of straights, so there is time to think and get used to boredom and learn to be idle. Before, when there was a two-kilometer forest truck road in Lapland, it could be a bit dull. Nowadays, you can easily drive 200 kilometers without major discomfort.
The bike trip ends in Rio de Janeiro
The traders are now in the middle of the Atlantic Rainforest, which was once 1.4 million square kilometers in size, but little more than 10 percent of it remains.
– This is an island rainforest area. Sometimes we pull a soybean field and then come back to the rainforest. Now we are at an altitude of about 1,000 meters, and the day after tomorrow we will go down. We have long, great downhills with a winding road to the depths of the rainforests.
After the rainforests, it’s Rio de Janeiro’s turn, where Ilkka Kauppinen’s old friend is waiting, with whom we’ll linger a while before the flight back to Finland. The duo will return home on May 6.
Tuija Kauppinen’s purpose is to write a book about the trip. That’s what he writes in Äkäslompolo in Ylläs, where the Kauppis plan to live at least until next spring.
