We present Rosario Sala, a motorcycle traveler with a great passion for two wheels born as a boy that has led him over the years to travel around the world and to always seek new adventures.
In which year did you start traveling by motorbike? where was this passion born?
I started traveling at the age of twenty, around Italy with my Vespa 125. Then, the family, the birth of the first child, "hibernated" this passion for twenty years. Later, I bought a used BMW R80 GS, but still only short trips to Italy. The big step towards travel will come only about ten years later.
The passion for motorcycles has been born since I was a child. My dear dad owned a Guzzi Lodola 235 which was parked in a basement and had been standing still for some time. I often stopped for long minutes to observe it, imagining my dad traveling along the dusty roads of our Trentino. In those moments, I too dreamed of being able to experience those emotions. A dream that came true only at the age of 17 when, after a season where I worked at a hotel in Val di Fassa as a dishwasher,
I managed to buy my first motorcycle, a Vespa 125.
How has the way of traveling by motorbike changed over the years?
I believe that the way of traveling has changed a lot over the years, primarily for communication. Once there was no internet, satellite phones, GPS navigators, there was only a map and a traveler had to make do. The news was scarce and not always reliable. The equipment, helmets, suits, etc., were poorly performing and the motorcycles, fortunately, were not very electronic.
Whoever travels by motorbike today is a "traveler" despite making difficult and demanding journeys, but he certainly cannot be compared to a traveler of the 60s / 70s.
Technology has helped a lot those who have a passion for travel, any difficulty it must encounter is certainly easier.
Which is the country you visited that surprised you the most?
The country that surprised me most of all the ones I went through during my travels is Pakistan. Traveling in company is nice because you share everything, but traveling alone is another thing, from all points of view. When I went down the Hunza Valley from Kunjerab Pass between China and Pakistan, I gradually realized that people were not as often described in the media. The children were curious, the adults, if at first wary (like us mountain people) then they turned out to be very kind and hospitable people.
I have always slept in the homes of people I met on the street, people who are very curious about both my journey and our way of life, but very attached to their culture and religion.
Where have you been on your first "long" trip?
My first "long" trip was at the turn of 2012-2013. Departure from Guayaquil in Ecuador and arrival in Tierra del Fuego in Argentina through the whole Andes mountain range. A journey that lasted two and a half months. Very beautifull. During this trip to Bolivia I crossed the Salar de Uyuni desert. Being able to cross it on my motorcycle gave me a unique emotion that I hope to be able to experience for all travelers, a feeling of absolute freedom. Patagonia and finally the Tierra del Fuego. Views so different that they gave me moments full of indescribable emotions. The food, the people I met with whom I still feel today,
are and will remain forever in my heart.