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The Age of Conquest:
Ages 25 to 45
Two Wheels and Dirt Roads
Motorcycle Touring in Mexico
Navigating throaty four-strokers over twisty rural roads has long been a source of camaraderie among throttle-jockey pals, and Mexico offers not just suitably serpentine byways, broad vistas, and great food, but also a palpable rush of freedom. So says Skip Mascorro, whose company, MotoDiscovery (www.motodiscovery.com), runs a 26-day ride south out of McAllen, Texas, to the Yucatán Peninsula and back—a 4,200-mile (6,759-kilometer) Best of Mexico Tour ($4,995, including meals, support vehicles, fees, and lodging; mid-January to mid-February). In central Mexico a route called Mil Cumbres ("a thousand summits") starts near Morelia, winds south toward Toluca, snakes up through forests to more than 9,000 feet (2,743 meters), and passes through the small town of Angangueo, nexus of the annual winter monarch butterfly migration. Another is Highway 120, which cuts across the Sierra Gorda and amid coffee plantations and pine-covered mountains before descending to a jagged desert floor. The ride heads through the colonial cities of Guanajuato and Pátzcuaro and deep into pre-Columbian sites such as Chichén Itzá and Palenque. Mascorro is hot on the BMW R 1200 GS ($2,800 to rent, including Mexican insurance and unlimited miles) and Suzuki's V-Strom ($2,080), which have extra clearance and gas capacity for the unpredictable conditions cyclists seem to relish.
Guidelines: "On a buddy trip by motorcycle, you share the adventure and the anticipation of unknown roads." —Skip Mascorro, MotoDiscovery
Rapids and Inca Ruins
River Rafting in Peru
A great river trip is more than a foaming roller-coaster ride. It's a voyage to terra incognita, inaccessible to all but the most intrepid paddlers. And on the Cotahuasi River, in Peru, it's a passage through time and nature to a realm little intruded upon by modern life. Tackling it can bond friends for life. Running from the Andes to the Pacific, the Cotahuasi cuts through a gorge thought to be twice the depth of the Grand Canyon, and its banks are lined with lost Inca cities, burial sites, and stone terraces as well preserved as Machu Picchu. "There's awesome white water too," says Bio Bio Expeditions' Marc Goddard (www.bbxrafting.com), "continuous Class IV, plus some Class V that we generally walk around." From June through November, the 11-day trips ($3,000) begin with a 4WD ride from the city of Arequipa, climb a 15,500-foot (4,724-meter) pass, and end in the village of Cotahuasi—"a happy little place in the middle of nowhere," as Goddard puts it. From there a ten-mile (16-kilometer), mule-assisted hike (around impassable 400-foot [122-meter] Sipia Falls) leads to six wild days on the river. The watercourse even runs by villages connected to the world by the same footpaths upon which Inca messengers once delivered fresh fish from the Pacific to their rulers in the mountains. Bio Bio doesn't provide fresh fish or luxury camping, but you'll enjoy comfortable sites on riverside beaches, good food, and a heady sense of discovery—and the memory of fine fellowship.
Shacks and Swells
Surfing Safari in Hawaii
It's a dream that never stales: a beach pad in Hawaii where you and your pals wake up to chanting mynahs and crashing waves every morning for a week or two. Stoked? Kahaluu Beach, on the west side of the Big Island, just south of Kailua-Kona, is blessed with consistent surf year-round and a mellow vibe where aloha prevails. In line with the breakwater is a reef break that goes both left and right with shapely waves ten feet and higher. Inside the breakwater is a perfect wave for tyros and surf schools such as Kahalu'u Surf & Sea ($99 for an hour-and-a-half lesson; +1 808 217 5329). And the beach itself is steeped in surfing lore—on an island dotted with heiaus (native Hawaiian temples), Kahaluu has the only one dedicated to the sport. The stone temple is on the point just above the beach. As for those shared digs, there's a two-bedroom house called Turtle Rock ($1,645 a week; www.konahawaiirentals.com) smack on the beach. A very sweet dream indeed.
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