When they see her stop at a service station, get off the motorcycle and take off her helmet, the show begins. It may happen, for example, that a group of five bikers I follow her with my eyes and one says to another: “And you don’t cheer up alone, idiot.” That she approaches the facer of the band and whispers to him please tell me you are single. It may also happen that he gets into a talk about technical details of the world of two wheels on equal terms and that attracts the attention of men, until they get used to it. Or that other womenand ask where her husband isthat here and there, on a ferry, in a motorcycle inn, in a bar or a campsite, they are surprised by their age and their adventure, that the youngest make a face of if she can we can too. The sequence is always the same: they see her, they look at the motorcycle, they look at her again, they ask her. “Yes, I drive it” she answers.
Such are the things for Alicia Burnowicz, the wife of 63 years that one day he left Tigre to raise his children in Barilochethe place in the world of his mother Eva Klewe, the plastic artist who one day fell in love with Patagonia and knew how to paint it like no other.
After a lifetime of work in the mountains as a technical optician specializing in contact lenses, which he shared with the passion for crafts that his daughter, Alicia, who inherited her grandmother’s hand, now continues. he retired. Then, another passion started: traveling on two wheels through the Argentine routes until the end.
From the mountain to the motorcycle
His were the mountain hikes with the excursion group of the Club Andino, but one day the knees said enough is enough and when that happened there was not so much medical technology to prevent before it is too late. «And now what do I do?», he asked himself one of those days that followed without nature, nor adventures nor fresh air.
The answer he found was buy your first motorcycle in 2008, a Honda Bross 125 with a kick-start, to begin to gradually enter that world that made him curious to see the motorcyclists go by on the routes of the mountain range.
Two years later, he switched to the XR model, with the same displacement but with electric starter. It was 10 years of shooting in my spare time or on weekends, always close to Bariloche: the Circuito Chico, Villa Llanquín, the steppe, Colonia Suiza, the Llao Llao.
In 2019, for 60 and retirement, a Twister 250 of the same brand was given away. And so the first outing away from home was encouraged, until Trevelin, ese paraíso de Chubut about 310 km south on Route 40.
With more time available, he knew that it was time to fulfill the dream of going on long trips and for that he invested in a larger displacement motorcycle, a Kawasaki Versys 650 that he later gave in part payment for a Kawasaki F 700 GS. From so much walking, yesknow which one is the best resistant to gravel and which one is the best for asphalt and they often ask him those secrets.
He keeps the 250, which he still usually rides. And he regrets that when he rides his smallest motorcycle, the bikers with the most powerful machines do not give him the classic brotherhood greetingas if the good vibes depended on the displacement.
«If someone believes that displacement makes people, they don’t go with me. It is about being happy and enjoying life, dreams and a passion»dice.
Wonders along the way.
there are more than 65,000 kilometers of route since he first set out for the nearby wonders of Patagonia. And when she is asked if she is not afraid to go alone, she answers that she is not. And she adds: “I would be afraid of staying at home and that life would pass me by”.
At this point, you also know what happens when the helmet is removed and those who observe are younger women: see inspiration in their faces. In her body language, in the way they look at her, she detects the message: If she can, how can I not be able to?. Sometimes they tell you so too.
And that’s what he likes the most. It’s not that she proposed it to him, it’s what happened. And that is why she answers all the questions live and those that are asked on the networks, she gives them all the data, invites you to be encouraged to go for your dream, whatever it is.
Fear? I would be afraid to stay at home and that life would pass me by
Alicia Burnowicz
“Don’t go back any further. Start it yourself: you’ll always want to drive”
In service stations, a motorcycle girl can also appear, one of those who travel clinging to her husband in the back seat of large motorcycles. In the jargon of two wheels, packages. And it can happen, for example, this dialogue.
-Are you traveling alone? the woman asks.
“Yes,” Alice answers.
-And isn’t it difficult for you to drive this motorcycle? -he tells her and looks at those 262 kilos between the machine, the tools and the three suitcases.
-On the route you are perfect. It gets complicated when spaces are reduced. U-turns, stop. Start up. Exit the garage, turn slowly. At 5 or 10 km/h it is heavy, difficult. For men too.
-And on top of that you put on makeup…
-Yeah! I’m flirtatious. I paint my lips before going out -The key phrase of the dialogue is coming.
-I can’t believe what you do: I love it, but I don’t dare –It’s time to go deep.
-Look, you have to know that women who travel like you are called packages. Do one thing, tell your husband to lower the suspension a bit, get in and drive away. You will never want to go behind us again…
Now, from Bariloche, he tells Voy: «How do they react when I tell them something like that? good, always good, they leave happy”.
From the Atlantic to the Pacific
The last of his trips was to explore the wonders of the north of neuquén. And the previous one, no less than from Bariloche to Las Grutas, from there along the Atlantic coast to the south to Comodoro Rivadavia to connect later the Atlantic with the Pacific.
In Chile, he had the pleasure of making the famous Carretera Austral from end to endthe dream of so many: 4700 km of pure adrenaline.
also came up La Quiaca on Route 40, this time with the company of two friends for 10,000 km, many more what if the route had been direct, on its longest journey. «It is that we were rabbiting. What does it mean? That if one says ‘there is an incredible viewpoint 200 km away’ we deviate and go even if we have to get to the border and one day we will leave », he explains.
for now, she can’t find women to accompany her on trips. “But I don’t lose hope,” she adds. Of course, he has a golden rule: she never accepts the invitation to sleep in a man’s house, but she does in those of families or women. Only stop at places you know or trust. And if he sets up the tent, he always does so in a designated campsite.
“I thought it would be nice to travel like this, until one day I was encouraged”
«I am a Gemini, I enjoy travel alone, feel free. I like, for example, to feel the aromas and the cold of the humid forest while I go: on the motorcycle, the sensations are more intense. Before, when I saw them go by, I thought that it must be nice to travel like this. One day I dared to fly. And I love itsays Alice.
These days, plan the next departure from Bariloche: Iguazú Falls and cross to Brazil. When it happens, when you hit the road again, you’ll hear once more the song that starts like this: “I’m / Looking back / And I can see / My whole life. / And I know / That I am at peace / Well, I lived it / In my own way». It is the one that the woman who other women make cry from the beautiful messages they send her likes the most. She says goodbye like this: «We must overcome the fears that limit us. And if I serve as an inspiration, I am as happy as when I travel ».
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