The victims, 28-year-old Fernanda and her Spanish husband, 63-year-old Vicente, who was hit several times in the head with a helmet, are now back in Spain.
The attack took place while they were camping in Dumka district, an area of hills and exotic forest famed for its temples and hill resorts not far from the Bangladeshi border, in northeast India.
They talked to the Post about their epic motorbike trip, which has taken them through 67 countries over six years, and has included being interrogated by the Taliban and that fateful night in India when their world came crashing down.
A hellish ride through the heavens: 4,300km motorbike tour in Tibet
A hellish ride through the heavens: 4,300km motorbike tour in Tibet
I have followed your Instagram page @vueltaalmundoenmoto (“around the world on a motorbike”) for years. How and where did your journey begin?
Fernanda: “Vicente had been riding motorbikes most of his life but I had never even been on one before we met in Brazil, in 2015. When we moved to Spain, he took me on a few short motorbike trips on the back of his bike, and then a month-long trip to Nordkapp, a cape on the northern tip of Norway where the Atlantic and Arctic oceans meet.
“After that I was hooked and decided I wanted to ride around the world on motorbikes.”
Vicente: “I already knew Fernanda wanted to travel around the world but when she said let’s do it on two motorbikes, it was a shock. I said no at first, but then I understood what she said about how it gets boring being on the back of a bike all day.
“Soon I came around. But first she had to get her motorbike license.”
Fernanda: “We wanted to do Africa first but as I had no experience riding a big motorbike, we thought it was safer to start in Europe. Fully loaded, it weighs 300kg [660lb] with all my luggage. I’m only 58kg but I’ve had to learn to lift it by myself and learned to ride on really bad roads. After six years on the road, I fall far less often.”
You have ridden through countries such as Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan. Have you ever had any problems with unfriendly locals or been robbed before?
Vicente: “We had only been robbed once, by pickpockets in Barcelona [Spain]. In Central Asia and the Middle East, we can park our motorbikes on the streets and no one ever touches our stuff. In Europe, you can’t do that. Everything would get stolen.”
I think everyone in the world expects me to say ‘Don’t go to India,’ but life is far more complicated than that
Have you ever had trouble with authorities?
Fernanda: “Afghanistan was quite complicated because I was the first woman to enter the country on a motorbike since the Taliban took over. They are not used to seeing women driving, so the whole experience was quite bizarre.”
Vicente: “The thing about Afghanistan is that there are no embassies and the police, well, the police are Taliban.”
Fernanda: “We entered Afghanistan after nightfall because it took so long to get through the Iranian border. Normally we don’t ride at night but we had no choice.
“We were on the highway to the first city, Herat, when a Taliban patrol stopped us. They came at us with all these weapons, AK-47s pointing at us, we were really scared, and when they saw I was a woman they called every Taliban in the area to see.”
Vicente: “Not one of them spoke English; most Taliban can’t even read, but we could understand they were saying, ‘A woman is riding a motorbike!’ They could not believe it.
“But once we got to the station, we managed to find a translator and convinced them we were friendly, riding around the world on our motorbikes, and they brought us tea and bread. Everything turned out fine.”
Some people say you shouldn’t travel to Afghanistan so as not to legitimise the Taliban and their restrictions upon women. But you went all the same?
Vicente: “Yes, many people wanted us to tell the Taliban, ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that,’ and I saw things there I didn’t like. I even had to put a Taliban flag on my bike.
“It’s not because I agree with their policies but when you go to a place like Afghanistan, you need to adapt if you want to get out of there in good shape. You have to try to understand their way of thinking, to walk a mile in their shoes.
“What would you be like if you had been raised in Afghanistan? Because at the end of the day, the way we are raised conditions our thoughts and character.”
What has been the highlight of your six-year journey?
Fernanda: “I have many, and I have many favourite roads and routes. I really love the Arabic countries for their food, especially Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The Turkish people are so generous.”
Vicente: “For me, the highlight has to be Iran. There were so many beautiful sites and the Iranian people were spectacular.”
No one ever told them that what they planned to do was wrong or about the consequences
Now, about India. The night you were attacked, you were camping out in the open, far from any town. Looking back, do you think any of the decisions you made put yourselves in danger?
Fernanda: “What you need to understand about India is that it is a super-populated country, with people everywhere. They are very curious about the way we travel with our motorbikes, and we attract a lot of attention.
“Every time we stop, a lot of people crowd around us and sometimes it becomes inconvenient because we want to be alone. I want privacy when I go to the toilet. This is why we often look for places where there are no people, to set up our tent.”
Vicente: “We always camped in this way, looking for empty spaces so we could take out the drone and take some shots without hundreds of people looking at us. And the place where we camped that night wasn’t remote, we had seen a few farmers walking from their fields earlier in the day and it was only 500 metres or 600 metres from a highway.
“We chose a place to set up our tent behind some big boulders so no one could see us. We wanted to rest after a long day on the road.”
What is your advice for women considering travelling to India? Stay away?
Fernanda: “I think everyone in the world expects me to say ‘Don’t go to India,’ but life is far more complicated than that. What happened to me in India could have happened anywhere else. Not so long ago, a couple travelling in Belize, in Central America, the same thing [allegedly] happened to them.
“My advice to women is to get out of the house, travel and do so without fear. If you are going to camp, it should be in a place not too far from the road where you can easily call for help and have a signal for your phone.”
Vicente: “The problem with India is that it is so big, and there are many places where schools haven’t reached yet and people are still living isolated from the outside world.
“The men who attacked us, I doubt any of them ever went to school for a day in their lives. No one ever told them that what they planned to do was wrong or about the consequences. We were probably the first foreigners they ever met.”
Do you need to go back to India to testify in court?
Vicente: “We don’t know yet. If we have to, we will, but perhaps it can be done using a video call.”
There’s been plenty of blame passed around on social media in India about the danger men pose to women. But some have also suggested you bear responsibility for being such avid risk-takers. What’s your response?
Fernanda: “I understand how some people might reach that conclusion. You know, society convinces us to live one way, to go to work, to have two children, to stay in our circle. So when a person exits their circle, they are considered risk-takers.
“Yes, I left the house, and yes, I took risks, but I don’t regret it. I don’t regret going to India. I don’t regret anything about our journey.
“Maybe if we had just gone another way or stayed in a hotel, this never would have happened. But using the same logic, maybe something worse would have happened and I wouldn’t be alive.
“Accidents can happen anywhere, even inside the safety of your house.”
Does this incident mark the end of your road trip?
Fernanda: “Not at all; we’re just taking a break in Spain. We don’t know when but we are sure we will continue. We’ve already started planning.”
Vicente: “Our motorbikes are now in Nepal, so after we get back to them, we want to ride up to Tibet, through China, Laos and Cambodia, spend three or four months in Thailand, then head down to Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.
“We’ll return through Japan, Korea, Russia, Mongolia and then all the ‘Stans’ in Central Asia, come back to Europe for a while and then do all of Africa.
“The plan is to keep riding for the rest of our lives.”
