The German Günter Wamser crossed with horses from South to North America, from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska. Soon he will reach the goal of his journey Marathon, which started in 1994 – and gave him a new view of their home.
If Günter Wamser tells of his adventures in America, it is about a journey, but really it’s about much more than the movement from A to B: the freedom to do what you really want, without leaving to well-meaning advice outside to take care of. 19 years ago traveled the trained aircraft engine mechanic to Tierra del Fuego at the southernmost tip of South America, two Criollo horses, hardy animals of the Gauchos bought a ranch, one for the riders, one for luggage. He rode off, still further north. “This trip has become my way of life, with all its ups and downs. My life has gained in intensity,” says the now 54-year-old. In the very first days of his tour, he experienced two encounters that made him doubt the joys of a long journey. It was not until he met a cyclist from Berlin, who was kicking in one and a half years from California to Patagonia. He was sitting by the roadside, cursing the headwinds and wanted to give up, even though he was only a hundred kilometers away from the target.

Two days later Wamser met a Japanese man who was traveling on foot with a small hand cart. He had already heard of him, the man went from Venezuela to Ushuaia, a distance of more than 7000 kilometers, now it was just before the finish. At a greeting was no answer, completely lethargic looked straight ahead of the walkers? “There was nothing human to recognize him. Soon he could understand such exhaustion. “You is not happy at every moment on a long journey,” he says today. “But overall this is something that makes you happy. I have not yet understood at the beginning.” The fondest memories include many warm encounters with the people of Latin America. Because of the horses he is often dependent on others when he needs about a place to camp for the night. “The animals I have opened the doors to the locals,” says Wamser. “When a wealthy American drives around with the camper, which is longer than the house in which live to ten, it’s like someone from the moon. I travel so as to make this even mores’ one of those.” Sometimes, however, he was met with incomprehension for his old-fashioned way of getting around. “I was asked why I do not ride the bus, which is not so expensive. You have not even ridden it.”