After all this time on the road we can say with certainty that we’re much wiser than before we left! We’ve learned all these secrets, all these hidden treasures of knowledge and after some serious thinking, it’s time to share some of them.

Some of them may seem funny, others may seem dangerous… but who are we to say what’s best? You can decide which are to be followed, and which are to be left aside.

Mechanics

1. Planning to climb the Andes and not sure of the motor’s performance? The solution comes from Argentina and it’s both simple and vegan friendly. Cut an onion in half and place it in the air filter casing… seriously. It’s as simple as that. It seems to be an old trick introduced to the collective wisdom of Argentinians by truckers that works with older vehicles (those with carburetors). So, if you’re going to climb to the higher altitudes, better carry some onions with you!

2. Do you have a crack in your fuel tank, and a sweet tooth, too? You can solve both issues by just going to the nearest “confiteria” (pastry shop) where you can acquire “dulce de membrillo” (quince paste). Available almost anywhere in South America, it’s delicious and useful, too. Mechanics swear that by applying some dulce de membrillo to a tank’s crack it will prevent any fuel leak forever. And we’d add that the remainder makes a perfect desert.

3. Imagine yourself searching for a place to repair your two-stoke in a town where they service only four-strokes. So, what do you do? You go to a boat mechanic! The majority of the small vessels in South America, the ones you see in rivers and lakes, have two-strokes. A boat mechanic has enough knowledge and experience to help in a case like this.

Wildlife Encounters

4. You are in the African savanna, have seen all the warning signs about wildlife, but still want to pitch your tent and spend the day (and night) there. You take the courageous decision and while you’re sitting next to the tent admiring the red sunset behind the acacias, you hear a noise coming from the bush. You turn your head and you see a lion staring at you. What do you do? You dance the lion away! Seriously… they say that if a potential victim does something unexpected, the predator will stand perplexed without knowing how to respond to it. (No a specific dance required, just two or three improvised steps and maybe a pas de bourrée.)

5. We all know that even the best and most people-friendly animals in the world have a natural instinct of chasing pretty much anything that moves. Especially motorbikes which combine relatively low speed, annoying noise and sometimes exposed ankles. We love dogs and we prefer positive reinforcement as a training method, but that cannot be applied in all cases. What do you do? You teach them a lesson by showing how annoying he is. You stop your bike (he’ll then likely stand still because you are not that interesting anymore) or give them treats.

Health

6. Let’s say you caught a terrible cold and suffer from a cough. If you’re in an area where frogs are easy to find (and catch), then you’ve already solved your problem. Take one, boil it, toss the meat, keep the broth, add some honey and cinnamon and drink it. No, it’s not the honey that has soothing properties, it’s the frog!

Stergios and Alexandra (both Greeks) first met in 2014 in the DRC while he was on his RTW and she was doing Ph.D. fieldwork. Since then, they’ve been traveling together. They write, film, photograph and ride their scooter around the world, combining their passions—and have recently released their first book “Rice & Dirt: Across Africa on a Vespa.” WorldVespa.net