I was thinking of finishing exactly two years from the moment I started, which would be August next year, like 2017. It’s a bit hard to estimate because things do happen on the way and you’ve got to be flexible on that journey, basically. View this post on Instagram Pedalez în acest moment pe şoseaua care leagă golful Uraba de cel de-al doilea oraş al Columbiei, Medellin şi sunt impresionat de peisajul fantastic de aici. Drumul traversează una din primele diviziuni ale Cordilierei şi merge în paralel cu parcul național Paramillo. Greu drum, cu multe serpentine şi urcuş dar tare fain. Până acum Columbia mi-a creat o părere tare faină. #cycletheamericas #colombia #nature #antioquia #dabeiba #SamsungRomania A post shared by Radu Păltineanu (@radu.paltineanu) on Aug 4, 2016 at 9:03am PDT

What has been the biggest struggle of your expedition so far? The biggest struggle, maybe physical and weather-wise was cycling the US in the wintertime last year. If I were to take the coast, it would’ve been a better choice but I’m always looking for a shortest route to get from Canada to Mexico. It was also one of the most scenic routes that you can take through the US, because a lot of people like to do the coast. They go through Washington and then down to California. Weather-wise, that was definitely the hardest part. I don’t know, other than that… I was robbed twice. [laughs] You just add that in there at the last minute… Where were you robbed? Yeah, I was robbed, the first time … The first time I was robbed was just my phone. I had this cycling t-shirt with two pockets on the back. I always keep my phone there and listen to music while cycling. A guy just grabbed it from me on his motorcycle and off he went. The second time was in a really poor neighborhood in Panama City. He wanted to steal everything from me, but I turned my bike and off I went and all that he could grab was one of the bags in the back where I kept my clothes, so that was the second robbery. What are your comments about the unpredictability of the road? Were you bummed out you weren’t meeting your original goal or are you now more, are you happier now that you have more of this time to actually settle in these countries?

I’m definitely happier with the choice of staying a little bit more on the road. I’m not doing it for any world record or anything.You could basically do it in three months if you really want to. If you want to do it for the record, but otherwise- Everything’s just a blur. I think the more time you get to spend, and the more time you’re forced to spend on the road, it’s better because you get to better understand the culture you go through. I learned Spanish on the way and I’m learning Portuguese. View this post on Instagram What a cool encounter after crossing the last border in central America, into Panama. José from Brazil is doing the same cycling expedition as me but in a reverse manner and he has been on the road for about the same time as me, since last year when he started cycling from the southern tip of Argentina towards Alaska that he hopes to reach in a year time. That was a good time to share some stories and tips for what is yet to come in our journeys. Best of luck José! #cycletheamericas #Panama #cicloviajeros #CentralAmerica A post shared by Radu Păltineanu (@radu.paltineanu) on Jul 2, 2016 at 8:35am PDT

How long have you been in Brazil now? Just 10 days, something like that, because I’m a Romanian speaker and I also speak French. I was living in Canada, so I have the French part, and Spanish now. With these three ones, Portuguese is just a matter of time because it’s almost the same. They’re all romance languages. I was reading that you originally said that your favorite country had been Mexico, so far? Has that changed since you’ve moved through the trip more? No, it’s still … I would say it’s a matter of three countries. It’s Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil now, which I knew I was going to love Brazil because I was always in love with Brazil anyway. Mexico was fantastic. I had met a lot of really cool and laid back people. It is just an amazing culture. I love Mexico, especially the people. To be honest, landscape-wise, it wasn’t the best place, but culinary, food-wise and people-wise, Mexico is fantastic.