2020-02-21 Day 467 Fri

The sea had some more life in it in the morning.

Left about 11:00 for the border at Edirne.

A lot of timber was being being pruned for fire wood

Leaving it rather late in the day, we could not bypass Erdine as the highway needed a pass (no cash on this one). Finally close to the border we filled with fuel. I had downloaded some more movies and we ran out of internet. No Bulgarian money. I could not check what I had in my Turkish account so just spent the cash. At the border we exited Turkey OK and quickly. They were all friendly. Then we drove over a sanitising wash and then had to pay for it! She said 3 Euro’s I grabbed the us and euro bag kept close at home an no euro but 500 TL had not put euro back after tahiti trip so did not fine Turkish lira…]

Paid in US dollars.

We passed 7km of trucks waiting to exit Bulgaria enter Turkey amazing how long they are kept waiting.

A pretty quick and painless border crossing.

Camped at the lake near Malki Voden. No calls to prayers tonight just howling dogs.

246km  Camp site  156m alt.

Altitude attitude

The highest mountain in Australia is Mt Kosciuszko at 2228m altitude. Now in South America, they scarcely bother giving such little hills a name. 

We marveled at the passes over the Andes between Chile and Argentina, and were turned back from a few due to weather and rockfalls - which only added to the mystique. We ticked off the major milestones as we passed them at 1923m (Mt Feathertop our Australian favorite), 2228m Mt Kosciuszko, 2500m, 3000m etc.  

We received our first taste of altitude sickness one night when we camped at 3650m with a breathless broken sleep, headache and nausea. But after spending some time traveling the Alta Plano in Bolivia at around 3800m for weeks, any thing under about 4000m seemed rather pedestrian.

The Mitsubishi Fuso begins to get noticeably breathless at about 4200m where the accelerator stops responding properly, and the engine tops out at about 2400rpm. Usually when you run out of power ascending a hill, changing down a gear delivers plenty more power. Not so at altitude, where changing to a higher gear (and lower rpm) delivers more power.

Our highest camp was at 5100m on the side of Volcan Ollague, perched on a tight switch-back on a ridge-line to avoid rocks coming down overnight. The following morning we drove to our highest point at 5350m, where the road became impassable. We managed another breathless 200m altitude on foot over the next hour or so. It was a fascinating experience.

We spent another memorable night at the stunning turquoise glacial Punta Olimpica at  4670m. The following day we descended over 4550m - fully twice the height of Australia!

Yet another fantastic experience was paddling for a couple of hours at 4350m on  Lago Surasaca in the fantastic Zona Reservada Cordillera Huayhuas in Peru.

We could not resist, at the end of our time in South America, making a mad dash up the length of Argentina, to spend just a few more days and nights at altitude.

5★ Bolivia 2017-11-07

The photo scarcely does this camp justice. We had followed a gravel road along a ridge-line and were presented with a jaw-dropping array of colors on the far side of a plunging valley. We spent the night perched in this wonderful place after being serenaded by a trumpet playing lad as he walked down from the school-bus to his village home. map

5★ Bolivia, Laguna Pastos Grandes 2017-07-01

This was the magnificent camp that didn't quite happen. We had arrived in Boliva a couple of days prior and covered some fantastic terrain to arrive at this superb location. We had settled in, and then it began to snow. We were in a remote location in Bolivia, at 4500m altitude in the Andes, at the beginning of winter, and it had started to snow. We fled. We fled some 20km back to a road which at least carried some regular traffic, and might conceivably be cleared of snow prior to Spring. It was -9℃ overnight and about 10cm of snow fell. map

★★★★★ camps

One of the great delights in traveling the way we do is the prospect spending our evenings and mornings in spectacular locations. The things that really make a location special for us include a superb view, a sense of isolation, exposure, extremes in geography or weather, and a cheeky position (internet access is a bonus). We usually start looking for a camp from 2-3 hours before dusk, and sometimes we end up camping in the dark (makes for an interesting sunrise). I select a single photo to try and capture the essence of each camp. There is also a map

Our most wonderful camps in South America include ....

Chile, Volcan Lliama 2017-05-23
Chile, Pichidangul 2017-06-05
Chile, El Espino 2017-06-06
Chile, El Totoral 2017-06-14
Chile, CuadrillaDiez 2017-06-18
Chile, Caleta La Cichara 2017-06-25
Chile, Vocan Ollague 2017-06-29
Bolivia, Laguna Pastos Grandes 2017-07-01
Peru, Carpapata 2017-08-05
Peru, Chinchaycocha 2017-08-07
Peru, Surasaca 2017-08-08
Peru, Punta Olimpica 2017-09-25
Peru, 2017-10-01
Bolivia, 2017-11-07
Uruguay, San Gregorio De Polanco 2017-12-22
Argentina, Priest Road 2018-01-02
Argentina, Las Vegas 2018-01-08
Argentina, Parque Provinvial Laguan Daimante 2018-01-09
Argentina, Parque Provinvial Laguan Daimante 2018-01-10
Argentina, El Tromen 2018-01-13
Argentina, Punta Ninfas Lighthouse 2018-03-06
Argentina, Cabo San Pablo 2018-04-11
Argentina, Tolombon 2018-05-09
Argentina, El Quenoal 2018-01-13

2017-11-18 Day 198 Sat

The main road north to San Ignacio was far worse a condition that the one we had travelled on yesterday. We were very glad we had taken the middle route east. San Ignacio was a very friendly feeling town. The first two gas stations we went to had no fuel to sell us. We sat by the lake and had lunch. Next to buy a fan. We found a nice little contained 240v fan. Easy to store in locker. It is bigger than our 12v ones but will see how it goes.

Got into the line for fuel. John walked to the bank to get some cash and I inched forward in the line. He arrived back when we were next in line. Quite a conversation to get diesel. Luckily a guy got out of his ute to help. He had some English. The price was Bs9 but I said yes I know we pay more but normally get for Bs6 finally settled on Bs5 so we filled up again.

Our next leg to the border was 180km’s. The road very straight with jungle on either side. It was dusk by the time we found a quarry up & off to one side that we could get off the road and a little hidden.

2017-11-17 Day 197 Fri

 This is were we turn off from the northern route via Concepcion and head East to San Ignacio de Velasco. A dirt road that was initially wide and flat with lots of corrugations and - not holes not a good start to 286km. The road slowly got better and more interesting. The farmland dropped away behind us and the jungle closed in. The wet lands started, lots of water lillies and birds.


The vegetation is beginning to look more jungle like and it is starting to feel quite tropical (hot & humid).

We stopped to take photos of some wàter lillies and forgot to close windows letting many mozzies in!

I swerved to miss a spider - yes could clearly see that it was a spider from 30m away at 60km/hr. I pulled up and asked john to hop out and photograph the spider. He was unsure of what I was really asking. But it was the quintessential BIG hairy black spider!

We saw a few more wondering across the road as we drove on.

We stopped at some puddles on the road where there were hundreds of butterflies, about 7 different species fluttering about and sitting on the road.

Camped just after we reached the main north south road. We drove out to a water body which seemed to be a reservoir. It had a strange sign which did not say private property or keep out but did indicate that certain people could not enter. John wondered in and there were a guy fishing and a family near by so we thought it might be public land. Camped on the waters edge and enjoyed our drinks and nibbles outside.

Our second and last 12v fan died when I plugged it in. Luckily it was not a very hot night.

2017-11-16 Day 196 Thu

Rained gently during the night and into the morning. After some computer work we walked back up to the falls for a swim. Lovely water, not to cold and all to ourselves. We explored some of the smaller pools and still marveled at the skirts that the cascades had created.

Time to move on, we needed to be at the Consulate between 12:00-14:00hrs to pick up johns passport. We drove into a rain squall luckily when we were back onto a sealed road, bought 3 different types of mangoes. As there seemed to be a hold up on the road (maybe an accident caused by the rain) we took to the side roads. Finally found a way through and arrived at the Consulate with 10 minutes to spare.

Said our good byes to Santa Cruz and headed around the city on one of its 3 ring roads - and turned off to the East. Put 20l of diesel in at the foreigners price of Bs8.88 (AU$1.60)

At one of the police road blocks we were pulled over and made to wait for quite a while, until the cop was free to attend to us. John exited the vehicle and explained he only had a little spanish. The cop wanted to look inside so john opened the door for him but did not lower the steps. A quick perfunctory look and then into the hut. John followed. Supposedly the problem was Johns name on the Aduana (ownership of vehicle) and I was driving. The cop stamped the arduana then wanted to be paid for it. John said he didn’t understand so the cop pulled one of many Bs50 notes out of his drawer to show John want he wanted. John argued that what he was saying was incorrect. We had not paid for a stamp anywhere. My driving came up again and John said he’d drive. I arrived at the door to see where John had got to, as he had been away too long. The cop just asked john if I was his spouse and let us go. John drove off from the station.

We stopped for diesel to be told they did not serve foreigners, but the next one did. I was concerned they’d charge full foreigner price but it was only Bs4 so we filled up.

We had Internet signal on and off along the road. About camp time, and near Cuatro Canadas, we turned off into the farm land. Most of the land hand seemingly just been ploughed and planted so we wanted to keep out of that. The paddocks are slowly increasing in size as we travel further east, and more mechanical farming equipment is visible. We found a clump of trees to huddle beside.

We were entertained with thunder and lightning for most of the night, with only a little drizzle.

2017-11-15 Day 195 Wed

Left camp at 7am wondering if we would be in the Consulate in an hour as the road/track so narrow and rough. Within 5 mins we popped out onto a tar sealed road. Wow! then we came upon a dual double lane road of concrete in the middle of nowhere. Then back to a small tar sealed road again with holes. Arrived at the Consulate at about 7:30am so john had a shave while waiting for it to open. I got my passport and visa back and John put his application in to be picked up between 1200-1400hrs tomorrow.

Drove to Samacaya and Sergio’s sauna which was close by. Had a sauna and swim then a vegetarian lunch which Samacaya had cooked. The fact that the soup was made from Zucchini was hidden from John. He did like it though, the soup was followed by a vegie curry and rice. A little salty for our taste but that is common here. A very enjoyable meal seated outside under the big mango tree.

We said our good byes and headed back south to visit a waterfall for the night. Bought some mangoes and locuats strange that the locuats were more expensive than the mangoes. 20 mangoes for $2.

The Espejallo falls were quite extraordinary A short walk from the grassy car park up a ridge led us to th lower most pool, where a group of youngsters were cooling off after the heat of the day. Over the eons the clear water had carved its way through the jungle and into the solid conglomerate base. As we made our way up from one cascade to the next the jungle on either side afforded only a narrow view of the sky above. There must have been 20 pools each easily accessible and inviting for its unique shape and clear water. Most fascinating however ,was the cascade into each pool. Rather than gouging a path into the rock, each

cascade had deposited (limestone perhaps) under its path, forming a skirt over which the water spread. We made our way up from one pool to the next until a gap in the jungle revealed the upper most falls, we were presented with an idyllic vista of these 35m falls plunging into a large pool surrounded by cliffs, and capped by jungle. Here the water began as a narrow flute and fanned out evenly over its elegant skirt measuring perhaps 8 meters at the base the water glittered as it fell the final 3m from the hem into the pool

After dinner we discovered that the locuats were in fact something else. Although looking identical they had a hard skin and a solid white flesh surrounding a seed. Quite tart.

2017-11-14 Day 194 Tue

I asked if I could use Candy's wash station and do some laundry. While I was washing Candy came out and we had a bit of a chat about life and marriage. Interesting conversation not sure we understood each other 100%.

I asked Candy if she' like mums suitcase. we had been looking for someone to give it to as I didn't really want to throw it.


Took all the paperwork back to the embassy then headed to the Fuso dealer. Wrong place we needed to go 9km out of town.

They were wonderfully friendly and the spare parts guy had English so we were in good hands. We sat with WiFi and did lots of work. The leak from the transmission into the handbrake was due to over filling of the gear box and also of the rear diff. All fixed and we were ready to leave at 5.45pm. Couldn’t pay by visa (as the receptionist had gone home) but they accepted all the money I had, which was still a few dollars short.

Drove further out of town and crossed the river. The road degraded more as we traveled. Parked on a raised area beside the road.