Ecobus Project.

Driving a van that runs on burned cooking oil all the way from Canada to Chile, does that sound unbelievable? That is exactly what Rodolfo Rada did with his team of friends, or just people who hopped on board along the way. They traveled 60,000 kilometers and visited 17 countries. On the journey they used 7,000 liters of burned cooking oil from 700 restaurants.

The idea started building up in Canada in 2006. Rodolfo, then studying to be a rafting guide in Vancouver, organized a few university rafting events to help to raise some money for the projects. They did a few minor ones that gave him sufficient experience to prepare for the journey all the way down south.

“The main idea in the project is to create awareness of environmental issues,” Rodolfo explains. The trigger for his idea was the fact that the rivers in Patagonia, Chile are being threatened by hydro-powered dams. In order to do his part in saving them and helping to improve his country in an environmental way, he came up with the idea to educate the younger generation.

The journey across America took 19 months. Along the way, the crew of the van organized events and presentations that helped them raise funds for the project. They also talked to the governments of various countries and gave many lectures at schools and universities. Most of the time, they were getting positive reactions. The costs were low. They would go to local restaurants and ask for burned cooking oil which they would then filter and use as fuel in their van with a custom-made engine.

At this moment, Rodolfo has a brand new idea in mind. It is supposed to give the opportunity to people to travel for free while creating awareness about the importance of protecting the nature. “Anyone will be welcome to hop on the bus anywhere on the way,” Rodolfo says. The only way of “paying” for being aboard is participating in the project in any way they can, with the skills they have.

He plans to start with a bus running between Punta Arenas and Arica. Later on, his plan is to get more buses involved, running with alternative energy creating technologies, such as wind or solar power. He also wants to extend the distance that the buses would be covering to get even more people from more countries involved.

“I take this project as a life project, not only one expedition,” Rodolfo says. “I want to educate kids, motivate them and also to give them the opportunity to travel for free.”