{jcomments lock}This article is part of our Border Crossing Report series.
Border name: Rumichaca
Closest major cities: Ipiales, Colombia and Tulcan, Ecuador
Cost for Visas: $0
Cost for vehicle: $0
Total time: 3 hours
Date crossed: Friday August 3, 2012
This article is part of our Accommodation Listing series. {jcomments lock}
This article is part of our Internet and Phone Report series. {jcomments lock}
General availability: High
Quality of bandwidth: Medium
Frequency of internet in campgrounds: Medium-High
Frequency of internet in hotels: High
We spent six weeks in Peru. We visited the beaches in the north, the Cordillera Blanca around Huaraz, Lima, Nazca, and Cusco and the Sacred Valley. We did not visit the ruins on the northeast side of the country, the Amazon or Arequipa.
Internet availability is pretty amazing. We camped almost everywhere, and with few exceptions always had access to free wifi. Every town regardless of the size will have an internet café.
Lodges that are off the gringo trail (especially in the Cordillera Blanca) may not have internet. Same with off the beaten track national parks. If there are few facilities (i.e. no showers) don’t expect internet or electricity.
Hotels and hostels all have internet. Peru is enough of a tourist destination that unless you are in the middle of nowhere, free wifi is a given.
Start: September 28, Santa Teresa {jcomments lock}
Finish: October 5, Tinajani Cayon
Machu Picchus Seen: 1
Tourists Taking Stupid Pictures Seen: Hundreds
Dutch Ovens Used to Cook Dinner: 3
Price of One Peruvian Cow: 300 Soles, About $115
Well, we made it. Check it off the list. Never to return again.
Machu Picchu is one of those places everyone must see given the opportunity. It's an image that immediately evokes the wanderlust amongst travelers who have never been. And it's an image that few ever care to capture a second time.
Why the mixed messages? Simply put, it's a tourist trap. And it's either very difficult or very expensive to get to. Normally we would go out of our way to avoid any place fitting that description. However, this is Machu Picchu we're talking about. And we'd be stupid to come all this way just to pass it by.
Was it worth it? Absolutely. Was it expensive and full of goofy-hat zip-off-pants-wearing tourists? You better believe it. Would we go back? Not a chance.
This article is part of our Budget and Money Report series.{jcomments lock}
Our per diem expenses cover food, lodging, gas and other supplies and travel costs for three people. We travel in a 1997 Toyota 4Runner, tent camp in paid facilities roughly 70% of our nights and eat less than 10% of our meals in restaurants. This budget does not reflect personal spending money, which is mostly used to buy souvenirs and booze. We don't track this money, but we do know we have not come close to spending our budgeted amount of $10 per person per day.
We spent nearly seven weeks in Peru, and in that time we did our fair share of eating out, visiting ancient ruins and driving a whole heck of a lot. Aside from the gas prices, Peru is a cheap country to travel in. Groceries are reasonably priced, especially at local markets, and camping is prevalent, even in larger cities.
We stuck pretty close to budget. Our main downfalls were expensive hotels and a pricey trip to Machu Picchu that we never bothered to include in our budget. But we made up ground the old fashioned way, by camping the majority of our nights and cooking most meals for ourselves.
Start: September 19, Nazca {jcomments lock}
Finish: September 27, Santa Teresa
Days Jess & Kobus Spent Puking: 4
Alpaca Steak Consumed: 1.5lbs
Death Roads Successfully Traversed: 1
The past week we left the coastal roads of Peru at the mysterious Nazca Lines and headed into the Andes to the historic town of Cusco. Our end goal is to reach the ruins of Machu Picchu, a milestone of epic proportions for any overlanding expedition in South America.
It's not the easiest place to get to, but as you will see we took our time. Partially because Jessica and Kobus both fell deathly ill on two separate occasions and partially because driving 8 or 9 hours a day does not equate to having fun times. So we hit up a craft market, sampled more of Peru's delicious cuisine, and generally did our best to slow things down.
{jcomments lock}Hard to believe it's been 365 days since we left home in Seattle. In a few short days we'll be crossing into Bolivia, our 13th country, after 19,000 miles on the road. Here's a recap of some our highlights, hi-jinks, hilarious encounters and generally horrible experiences.
Start: September 9, Huaraz {jcomments lock}
Finish: September 19, Nazca
Hours Spent Waiting in Line for Best Pork in the World: 1.5
Guinea Pig Ears Eaten: 2
Ancient Cities Explored: 2
Days Spent Not Talking About Food: 0
Everybody who has met us learns after a day or two that we like food. Even though we spend most of our nights in tents, we cook fancy meals and spend quite a bit of time talking about food. I know it's bad when we haven't even finished dinner and we're already discussing what's on the menu for the next night.
To be fair, we are in Peru, one of the culinary capitals of the world. And we happen to be in Lima, the foodie paradise of South America, during its annual food festival that draws tens of thousands of visitors daily. However, food is not all we've indulged in the past ten days. We also manage to visit two pre-Colombian cities, one of which is the most ancient city in the Americas.
Start: August 26, Mancora {jcomments lock}
Finish: September 8, Llanganuco
Hand-carved Tunnels Passed Through: 40
Avalanches Witnessed: 1
Noisy Kittens Successfully Rescued: 0
Fire Pits Dug: 1
Our first two weeks in Peru take us from dusty coastal towns into the Cordillera Blanca mountains around the town of Huaraz. Along the way we visit a few pre-Colombian ruins for the first time since Central America, hang out with some old friends, and drive down a few spectacular mountain roads.
We spent a bit over a week up in the mountains; exploring, hiking and soaking up the amazing Andean scenery. We also dust off our birding vests, on the hunt for the world's largest hummingbird and a species of goofy ground-dwelling owls.
{jcomments lock}This article is part of our Border Crossing Report series.
Border name: Huaquillas or Aguas Verdes
Closest major cities: Machala, Ecuador and Tumbes, Peru
Cost for visas: $0
Cost for vehicle: $8 for insurance, permit was free
Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Date crossed: Thursday August 23, 2012
{jcomments lock}Buying gas in Bolivia is not only a joke, it's a pain in the butt. Recently Bolivia introduced a gas price for foreign vehicles at about 3 times the local subsidized price to keep neighboring countries from buying cheap gas and going home.
Selling gas to a foreigner involves a lot of paperwork for the attendants which in turn leads to some ridiculous excuses to from lazy attendants.
Here are some common excuses we heard over the 3 weeks spent looking for gas in Bolivia.
This article is part of our Internet and Phone Report series. {jcomments lock}
General availability: Medium
Quality of bandwidth: Low
Frequency of internet in campgrounds: Medium
Frequency of internet in hotels: Medium-High
We spent four weeks in Bolivia and visited the following areas: Copacabana, Sorata, Coroico, La Paz, Oruru, Potosi, Sucre, Uyuni, the Salar, the Southwest circuit. We did not visit the Amazon or Santa Cruz.
Internet availability is average. Most hostels have wifi and there will certainly be a café in every town. Campsites will never have it, unless they are associated with a hotel or hostel.
Internet in Uyuni is painful at best, and there is no such thing as wifi. Forget about using your own computer. Most cafes in town run on USB modems from Entel.
{jcomments lock}This article is part of our Budget and Money Report series.
Our per diem expenses cover food, lodging, gas and other supplies and travel costs for three people. We travel in a 1997 Toyota 4Runner, tent camp in paid facilities roughly 70% of our nights and eat less than 10% of our meals in restaurants. This budget does not reflect personal spending money, which is mostly used to buy souvenirs and booze. We don't track this money, but we do know we have not come close to spending our budgeted amount of $10 per person per day.
As we'd been informed by other travelers, Bolivia proved to be the cheapest country to date. Even though we entered the country in need of supplies, and have heard mixed reports about the cost of gas, we managed to break even. In fact, we managed to miss our budget by only $0.25 per day.
Even though Bolivia was cheap, it was still a mixed bag in terms of prices. We paid between $0.50 and $1.50 per liter for gas, and $9 and $40 for a hotel room. Food was consistently cheap, we ate out plenty of times, but what kept us on budget in the end were the three nights we camped for free between Uyuni and the Chilean border.
Start: October 26, Uyuni, Bolivia {jcomments lock}
Finish: October 29, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Highest Altitude Camped At: 15,600 Feet
Overnight Low: 22F
Flamingo Species Seen: 3
Colors of Lakes Photographed: Blue, Green, White and Red
There haven't been too many times on this trip where we've felt that we've been really out there. The Corcovado jungle in Costa Rica definitely rings a bell, maybe hiking the narrows in Zion National Park, or our recent overnight visit to the Uyuni Salt Flats.
One thing is certain, we've never had to carry gas on our roof to get where we've needed to go, and we've never spent more than 48 hours without our wheels touching asphalt. Maybe we've been doing it wrong, or maybe we just had our our biggest adventure yet.
There are no medical facilities or mechanics; no ready-made food or comfy hotels in this part of the world. Bolivia's southwest circuit is raw, unadulterated adventure at incredibly high elevations that a single traveler pays hundreds of dollars to experience. The three of us spent a total of $65 to enter the park, $50 on gas, $30 on food and $25 on alcohol. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: this is why we overland.
Start: October 24, Uyuni {jcomments lock}
Finish: October 26, Uyuni
Miles Driven on Salt: 120
Goofy Pictures Taken: 147
Godzilla Attacks: 3
Bottles of Rum That Are Always Gone: 2
The Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat, covering an area of over 4,000 square miles. At almost 12,000 feet, it's a bleek, desolate and absolutely beautiful place to do a bit of off-road driving.
It also happens to be one of the few places where it's possible to to take ridiculously out-of-perspective photos without the help of a green screen or photoshop. And we promise that neither of those were used in the making of this blog post...
Start: October 15, Sorata {jcomments lock}
Finish: October 23, Uyuni
Death Roads Survived: 1
Fluffy Things Made From Alpaca Bought By Jessica: 3
Bolivian Capitol Cities Camped In: 2
Likelihood of Kobus Ever Wanting to Drive in La Paz Again: Nada
This week we pass through both of Bolivia's capital cities. La Paz, the administrative center and highest capital city in the world, and Sucre, Bolivia's judicial and cultural capital and certainly the most beautiful and welcoming city in Bolivia. In between, we stop over in the towns of Oruro and Potosi, mining towns that are attempting to retain some of their previous golories, with limited success.
The highlights of our week were finding a fantastic campsite in the town of Coroico and driving the death road connecting Coroico to La Paz, proclaimed by many to be the most dangerous road in the world.
This article is part of our Border Crossing Report series. {jcomments lock}
Border name: Yunguyo
Closest major cities: Puno, Peru and Copacabana, Bolivia
Cost for Visas: USD$135 for US citizens, Bs360 (USD$51) for South Africans
Cost for vehicle: $0
Total time: 1 hour
Date crossed: Friday October 5, 2012
Start: October 6, Copacabana, Bolivia {jcomments lock}
Finish: October 14, Sorata
Borders Crossed Thus Far: 12
Hours Spent Traveling 30 Miles on Lake Titicaca in a 500HP Boat: 4
Number of Beavis and Butthead References Suppressed: All but one
Inches Blue's Ass Got Lifted: 3
Delicious Things Baked in Wood-Fire Oven: 5
Into Bolivia, another country we know little about, but have gained high expectations of in the past few months. Bolivia is our 13th country so far, and we paid more to cross a border than any other country. Then promptly spent several days doing next-to-nothing on the shores of the world's highest "navigable" lake.
Bolivia is likely the cheapest country we've been to on this trip, with Nicaragua coming in a close second. Gas hassles and visa costs aside, it may prove to be the best country for overlanding in the Americas.
{jcomments lock}This article is part of our Internet and Phone Report series.{jcomments lock}
General availability: Excellent
Quality of bandwidth: High (Except in San Pedro and the Carretera Austral)
Frequency of internet in campgrounds: Medium
Frequency of internet in hotels: Medium-High
San Pedro de Atacama was the only city we visited in the north. We reentered Chile near Santiago and traveled all of the way south to Villa O’higgins. Information on southern Chilean Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego will be included in the Southern Argentina Wifi Report.
Excellent. Internet was much easier to find in Chile than expected. Every town had multiple internet cafes. Most larger towns (and Villa O’Higgins) offered some type of free wifi at the main square. Some campgrounds had wifi, but not all, especially those more than a few miles from a town. Internet in hostels was very common. Most guest houses offer it, but ask in advance to be certain.
{jcomments lock}This article is part of our Budget and Money Report series.
Our per diem expenses cover food, lodging, gas and other supplies and travel costs for three people. We travel in a 1997 Toyota 4Runner, tent camp in paid facilities roughly 70% of our nights and eat less than 10% of our meals in restaurants. This budget does not reflect personal spending money, which is mostly used to buy souvenirs and booze. We don't track this money, but we do know we have not come close to spending our budgeted amount of $10 per person per day.
Chile was by far the most expensive country of our trip to date. By all accounts we should have been much farther over budget than we were. The big three: camping, groceries and gas all exceeded our budget. We managed to save by harldy ever staying in hotels and by only eating out one lunch.
We also didn't partake in any tours or activities that tend to drive up our budget significantly. In fact, our next biggest expensive behind groceries, gas and lodging was transportation costs. It's necessary to take a couple ferries in southern Chile to reach the island of Chiloe and the beginning of the Carretera Austral in Chaiten. We didn't budget separately for this, as we should have, and ended up spending $300 between the two boat trips.
This recap covers our time between Concon, a beach town west of Santiago, through the Carretera Austral in the south. It does not include the time we spent in northern Chile in the town of San Pedro de Atacama before entering northern Argentina, nor does it include the time we have yet to spend in the far south of Chile between Torres del Paine and Punta Arenas.
{jcomments lock}This article is part of our Border Crossing Report series.
Border name: Avanzada Monte Aymond or Paso Integral Austral
Closest major cities: Rio Gallegos, Argentina and Cerro Sombrero, Chile
Cost for visas: $0
Cost for vehicle: $0
Total time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Date crossed: Saturday January 25, 2013
Start: January 4, Parque Nacional Cerro Castillo{jcomments lock}
Finish: January 15, Puerto Guadal
Fish Caught and Eaten: 2
Days of Perfect Weather: 9 of 12
Horseflies Murdered: Thousands
Miles Driven on Dirt Roads: 880
Another twelve days of endless gravel roads matched with mostly blue skies and scenery that is out of this world. It hasn't been all fun and games though. We've driven over 880 miles of dirt roads during our two weeks on the Carretera Austral. Gas costs around $8 per gallon, and it's been 10 days since we've seen fresh vegetables aside from blackening carrots. Parts are rattling off our car and every time we turn the air on clouds of dust erupt from the dash.
But, the more you have to work for it, the more rewarding the adventure. And considering how incredibly lucky we've been with the weather, it's pretty easy to take our mind off the discomforts of travel in this remote part of the world.
Start: December 28, Quellon{jcomments lock}
Finish: January 3, Coyhaique
Pigs Tickled: 1
Fish Caught and Eaten: 1
Times Stopped on Road to Take Pictures: 27
Hours Spent Sleeping on Overnight Ferry: 3
The Carretera Austral runs 770 miles through Chilean Patagonia. Endless stretches of breathtaking scenery, crystal blue lakes, raging rivers, snow-capped mountains and some of the best trout fishing this side of the equator. It was first described to us by a German overlander we met in Cusco as being like the jungle, except with snow-capped mountains and pine trees. Unsure how to untangle that statement, we left with the assumption that it would be beautiful, and very rainy.
Fortune shined on us during the first half of the Carretera Austral. Unlike friends who went just weeks before us, we enjoyed sunny skies almost every day and only had to pack up wet tents once. Trout were caught, lambs were roasted and scenery was soaked up at every turn of the road.
Start: December 23, Puerto Montt{jcomments lock}
Finish: December 27, Quellon
Overlanders at Christmas Dinner: 7
Cost of Nine Pound Salmon Filet: $18
Kilos of Charcoal Consumed: 30
Whoopie Pies Made: 14
About two weeks in the making, our second Christmas on the road proved to be very memorable. Full of delicious food and great company.
From Pucon in Chile's Lakes District we planned with our friends Mark and Sarah to meet up on the island of Chiloe and celebrate together. Joining us were two new friends, Lacey and Luis of Lost World Expedition who happened to be in the neighborhood after restarting their journey after a six month hiatus back home in the US.
From our rainy campsite just east of Puerto Montt we drove into the city to pick up supplies on the 23rd. After two hectic runs to very crowded supermarkets we managed to stuff Christmas in the back of our 4Runner and head to the island of Chiloe with dreams of sunny skies and dry tents in our heads.
Start: December 12, Pucon{jcomments lock}
Finish: December 23, Puerto Montt
Grills Used For One Dinner: 5
Four-Legged Road Blocks Overcome: 2
Days With Rain: 9 of 12
Fish Caught: 0
The weather has finally caught up to us. I can count the number of times we've had more than two consecutive days of rain on one hand. Our time in the Lakes District brought us six consecutive days of rain and a lot of soggy gear. But we're from Seattle, meaning we don't believe in umbrellas, and we know how to shop for good rain jackets.
We did our best to make the most of our time in Chile's Lakes District. We started with a few days spent hanging out with friends old and new that culminated in a barbeque nearly rivaling our Thanksgiving pig roast. From Pucon we drove through the back roads to visit a handful of other lakes and rivers en route to Puerto Montt with the hopes of catching a couple world famous Patagonian trout.
Start: November 16, Aconcagua, Chile{jcomments lock}
Finish: December 11, Pucon, Chile
Consecutive Days Camped: 29
Consecutive Meals of Thanksgiving Pork: 6
Days Spent in Beach House: 10
Liters of Oil Left in Blue After a Bad Oil Change: About 2
Dishes Cooked and Photographed: 47
Sorry for the delay getting some updates on our trip out the door. We've been side tracked by a new project, a consistent lack of internet and time spent hanging out with overlanding friends. But enough with the excuses...
Following The Great Argentinian Thanksgiving Pork Roast of 2012 we headed back into Chile, crossing the pass in the direction of Santiago and ending up at a beach-side rental in the small town of Concon on the Pacific coast. We spent a hectic 10 days catching up with online work and beginning our new project, a cookbook for campers and overlanders. We spent entirely too much money on food, and on a botched oil change for Blue that nearly ended in disaster.
From Concon we pointed south once again. First following the coast and then heading inland towards the lakes district where we endured the worst weather thus far on our trip. After spending a few months in more or less desert countryside, it took us a bit to get used to the rain again. But we're from Seattle, and it takes more than a few rainstorms to ruin the fun.
{jcomments lock}This article is part of our Border Crossing Report series.
Border name: Los Libertadores
Closest major cities: Mendoza, Argentina to Santiago, Chile
Cost for visas: $0
Cost for vehicle: $0
Total time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Date crossed: Sunday November 25, 2012
This article is part of our Border Crossing Report series. {jcomments lock}
Border name: Hijo Canjon
Closest major cities: Reserva Nacional Eduardo Avaroa, Bolivia and San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Cost for visas: $0
Cost for vehicle: $0
Total time: 10 minutes in Bolivia, 45 minutes in Chile
Date crossed: Monday, October 29th 2012
Note: This crossing goes through the VERY remote southwest corner of Bolivia. It is at least 300 miles from Uyuni to the border and there are likely no supplies (gas, food or water) for long stretches. Plan accordingly.