Arica, Chile 24th January ´05 - 24/01/2005

Feliz Nuevo Ano!!

Apologies for the tardiness of the first instalment for 2005. We decided to wait until we were staying somewhere for longer than 5 minutes so we could gather our thoughts! So here we are back in Arica,Chile where we are staying for a few days while we tend to Lollypop but more about that later.

We left you just before Christmas on the wet and soggy Isle of Chiloe. Back on the mainland the weather did not improve much, although the day we left Chiloe the weather was dry. We spent the night in Ensenada on the eastern edge of Lake Llanquihue and the following morning the heavens opened and it deluged for the entire day so we sought refuge in Puerto Varas. Christmas eve we took Lolly off roading to visit a lake described as an “emerald green gem”. We never found the lake as the “road” ran out and we decided not to push our luck but Lolly thoroughly enjoyed herself!! It turned into a glorious afternoon and we finally saw the Osorno Volcano that had been eluding us for the past week.

We camped in Puerto Octay Christmas Eve night as our hostel was full. We woke Christmas day to blue skies and sunshine, an English fry up and the requisite bottle of bubbly! We donned our Santa hats ( a great source of amusement for the locals!) and opened our pressies before heading off to the hostel. Christmas day was a very chilled day, sitting in the sun reading the books we’d bought each other. Our host cooked us a fabulous dinner although it wasn’t a roast turkey which we both craved.

From Puerto Octay we drove up through the Lake District visiting a set of amazing falls carved through volcanic rock along the way and into Villarica National Park. We drove in from the south which was definite 4WD territory it was the most demanding piece of off roading we’ve done since Tierra del Fuego and Lolly was definitely tested!

We arrived in Pucon at a traditional Mapuche house where we would spend New Year and the weather beat us again. We had planned to climb the local Volcano and do some horse riding but it rained solidly for 2 days. The day before New Years Eve the cloud lifted slightly so we braved the weather and went out for a half day ride through the surrounding hills. It was a lovely ride and we didn’t get wet! We tentatively booked the Volcano climb for New Years Eve in the hope the weather would improve. We woke early that morning to suss out the weather situation and were greeted by thin low level cloud rather than thick grey heavy ones so we quickly packed and headed off.

The climb was fantastic and not too strenuous despite the fact we were hiking in snow. The cloud closed in slightly but we were soon above that and the views from the top were incredible but not as amazing as seeing the lava shooting out of the top of the Volcano. The smell is unlike anything we’ve ever encountered, it made you gag and your eyes water.

Coming down was the best part. Thank goodness for the padded waterproof trousers! Although that only kept out some of the wetness. Yes you guessed it we came down on our butts using the ice axe as a brake! It was 3 1/2 hours up and one hour down!!

We had another fantastic meal that night and our fireworks were the shooting of the lava from the Volcano while we sipped our bubbly.

New Years day we spent soothing our aching muscles in some thermal pools and slept in a Tipi.

Into the New Year meant we were northward bound. We left the Chilean Lake District and crossed back into Argentina for the last time. Our first stop was Laguna Blanca National Park renowned for its migratory birds which Linz was itching to test out her new binoculars on. Unfortunately they’d all migrated away apart from the local black necked swans and flamingos.

Next stop was the little town of Caviahue near the Chilean border which had a 70m waterfall into a volcanic pool and a series of seven waterfalls that had its source up near the local volcano. The road up to them petered out after the 5th one so we turned back.

In the town of Andacollo we met 2 lovely Argentinean couples in the campsite who were on their holidays. They were very interested in what we were doing and we ended up having a traditional Argentinean asado with them. It was here we ran into a small problem. Lolly had a peculiar noise coming from underneath and on investigation John discovered that the UJ joint on the rear drive shaft had gone – AGAIN!! Those that have been with us for a while will remember we had the same problem in Mineiros in Brazil. So we spent an extra day in Andacollo while John did the repairs.

We drove up to Mendoza through the Canyon del Atul a fantastic narrow gorge with about 7 hydroelectric stations in its bottom. Mendoza itself is a lovely relaxed town which still closes down for siesta which we found unusual in a big town.

While we were there we invested in a new digital camera. Our old one took a tumble at Christmas. It survived a couple of weeks on life support but was eventually pronounced deceased. So there will be a gap in our photos when we didn’t have a digital camera.

The province of Mendoza is Argentina’s wine capital so we indulged in some wine tasting. There were some very nice wines there and some of the wineries ship to the UK so keep your eyes out for them!

We took a little detour from Mendoza to the west to the Puente del Inca a natural stone bridge with a thermal spring under it. The surrounding rocks were dyed vivid yellows and oranges due to the high sulphur content of the water. There are stalls here selling items that they had put into the water and turned the colours of the rock. We declined the tempting offer of an old sulphurised boot!!

Nearby was the peak of Aconcagua the highest mountain in the western and southern hemispheres.

Our final crossing between Argentina and Chile was the Paso Agua Negra. It was a beautiful pass up a narrow ravine which was good as we had lots of time to look at the scenery. Lolly struggled a bit up this pass. The ambient temperature is in the mid 30’s most days now, couple that with altitude and she doesn’t fare well. Our first resort was to jam the bonnet open to allow more air in while boiling ourselves gently with the heaters on full blast. That didn’t work, we were still stopping every kilometre to let her cool down so the last resort was to take the bonnet off and strap to the roof! This eventually worked once we were high enough to catch a cool breeze! Due to the length of time it took us to get over the pass it was really late by the time we got to the other side so we decided to camp up and go to the border first thing in the morning.

About midnight there’s a loud knocking on the side of the landy. John looks out to see a gendarmerie guy holding a rather large machine gun! It turns out they had come looking for us as we hadn’t presented at the border that day and they wanted to make sure we were ok! The guys at the border the next day thought it was very amusing and asked us if we had slept well!!

Over the border we had an historic moment when we closed our circle of South America just outside the town of Vicuna in the Elqui Valley. The next historic moment was when we arrived in La Serena 9 months to the day we were there the last time!!

From there we had a marathon drive to reach Arica where we are now. Along the way we met another mad English bloke in a Land Rover who’s doing our America’s trip but the opposite way round so we were able to swap advice and tips. His journey is twice as long as ours and made us green with envy!! We’re still looking for someone to sponsor us to travel! Any offers?!!

We will be here for a few days while John gives Lolly some serious tending to. Due to the number of kilometres we have covered (over 32,000 since we were last here!) she is due some major servicing including new tyres .We had to swap one the other day as it had split down to the metal wires inside!

From here we will farewell Chile and cross to Peru and into Ecuador where we will ship to Panama, hopefully, so who knows where the next instalment will come from!

Several people have asked us how our time scale is going and if it is the same as we originally planned. Hopefully we will get to see as much as we planned in the north but we will be back for Christmas this year. We both decided we quite liked the idea of Christmas at home this year (our first for 5 years!!) and it gives us 6 months before the wedding to finalise all the nitty gritty. So make sure you have your party hats at the ready for then!

We hope everyone is well and that 2005 is shaping up well for everyone.
Take care,
Love,
John, Linz and a pampered Lolly Pop

(Diary entries list)

 Chiloe Chile 21st December ´04 - 21/12/2004

Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas)
Well we made it before Christmas, just!! This last month and a bit has included glaciers, national parks, raspberry beer and chocolate!! We have also seen more rain in that time than in the preceding 7 months but we still managed to do everything we wanted to.

Our last email was sent from El Calafate and in the following few days we did a boat trip to five different glaciers which included the Upsala Glacier which is considered to be the largest in South America. However, the highlight was visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier partly due to the scale of its front wall and being only a few meters from it and partly because we spent two hours hiking on it visiting ice caves and sink holes. We spent one night in a camp site about 7kms from the glacier and we could still hear creaking and groaning like an old man!

Further up the Ruta 40 is the windswept town of El Chalten in the most northern part of the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares but the only reason for going there is the trekking around the Fitzroy Massif. We intended to camp but due to wind, rain and general Patagonian weather we opted for the warmer option of a hostel. We managed to do some walking and did see Fitzroy as the rain clouds parted briefly!

Our route then took us to the Parque Nacional Perito Moreno which is no where near either the glacier or the town of the same names! The park is a well kept secret which is a shame as it is one of the best run and organised of all the parks we have visited. Maybe we just liked it as no one else was there! It is really only accessible for people with their own vehicle and even then it really needs to be 4WD.

We continued our trip up the Ruta 40 with one night at Estancia Telken one of the farms in this area that resorted to tourism after the eruption of Volcan Hudson in 1991 which buried the area in ash and killed millions of sheep and other live stock. The farm is still running and their hospitality is wonderful. In the area is Cueva de las Manos (Cave of hands) which has hand prints from over 10,000 years ago.

We passed through the town of Perito Moreno on our way to the border crossing at Chile Chico and Chile. We had a beautiful two day drive along the edge of Lago General Carrera (or Lago Buenos Aires in Argentina) to reach the Carretera Austral. This road is meant to be one of the most expensive to build in the whole of Chile and you can understand why as the road is blasted from solid rock and clings to the cliff sides. The next few days we drove the central part of the Carretera Austral which is stunning through scenery which is reminiscent of the Alps. Green, hilly and the odd snow capped mountain! The end point for this section was Coyhaique.

We ended up spending 10 days in Coyhaique as John needed to have a medical check up. He had been losing weight (and as we all know he doesn’t carry much). Anyway the outcome was a heavy dose of antibiotics to remove the parasitic hitch hiker! John is now feeling a lot better and reckons he is putting weight on although Linz is yet to work out where!

After our enforced rest stop our road took us north through Parque Nacional Queulat where we visited a small but spectacular hanging glacier and then to the most northern point of the Carretera Austral (on the main land) in Parque Pumalin. This is an interesting park that was set up by an American billionaire (the owner of Esprit clothing line) and is seen as one of the most important conservation projects in the world. It has some of the oldest Alerce trees in South America and these giant trees are really old, some even reaching 4000 years!

We back tracked slightly to go over the pass at Futaleufu and return to Argentina briefly. Our three stops were the Parque Nacional los Alerces (more old trees), El Bolson and Bariloche. El Bolson is an old hippy town but now famous for its artesanal beer which we spent a happy hour tasting including raspberry, honey, smoked and many others. The ice cream they produce isn’t bad either! Bariloche is the capital of chocolate in South America and it would have been rude not to stop and partake.

Back into Chile through the southern part of the famous Lake District. We spent one night in the hostel where we are spending Christmas which is distinctive for its grass roof. Then further south to the island of Chiloe. The weather finally gave out on Chiloe and in the week that we have been here we have seen a lot of rain and even more cloud. However, we have still managed to visit the national park and watch the large Pacific rollers thundering onto the beach, as well as visit a few of the 16 churches that are so characteristic to this island that they have received UNESCO World Heritage status.

We are now at the north of the island in the town of Ancud where it is raining. Yesterday we did manage a trip in beautiful sunshine to the coast where one of the interesting sights is watching the locals gather and then dry sea weed which is destined for Japan.

The next few weeks will hopefully see us return to the mainland for Christmas in our grass roofed hostel and then the New Year in Pucon where we hope to climb a volcano (if the weather is kind) and also do some horse trekking.

Where ever you are for Christmas and New Year have a great time and we hope that 2005 is a good year for all of you.

Love
John, Linz and a Christmassy Lolly Pop


(Diary entries list)

 El Calafate, Argentina 19th November '04 - 19/11/2004

Doesn’t time fly when you are having fun? Well that’s our excuse for being late with this global!!

This last month and a half has seen us reach our most southerly point and go trekking in some spectacular scenery, but to continue from where we left off.

After having our fill of Welsh tea we set off in search of more penguins and we weren’t to be disappointed. At Punta Tombo on the Argentinean east coast there is another large colony (for large read noisy) of Magallenic penguins where we spent a few hours watching these amusing creatures. Every where you looked there were black and white blobs on the horizon many of them sitting on their nests which at this time of year have 1-3 eggs in. We caught up with our overlanding friends and the six of us found an excellent wild camping spot on the beach. The next morning after spending a few hours burning CD’s (once upon a time you swapped books with those you met now most of the overlanders are carrying lap tops so swapping music is the norm!!!) we continued our dirt road adventure down the coast to Cabo dos Bahias where there were (you’ve guessed) more penguins!! The real reason for coming here though was to try and see the fur seals which we saw but the Hubble telescope would have been useful given how far away they were! After another night wild camping with our friends (and it was a wild night, at 4am we had to give up and close the roof tent and retire to the front of Lolly due to gale force winds not uncommon in Patagonia) we bid farewell to our overlanding friends (and their wonderful heater!) who were heading west.

Our southerly course now took us past the Bosque Petrificardo (Petrified Forest) which is an area of trees that were buried by volcanic ash several thousand years ago and have now in effect turned to stone and slowly become uncovered as the landscape changes. It is quite an incredible landscape and the trees were obviously huge.

The next stop on our route was Puerto Deseado which in fact involved a slight back track. Our time here was spent sheltering from the wind and off roading. The first trip we did from here was up to a light house where we finally got to see our fur seals up close. The second trip involved more ‘interesting’ driving through a series of canyons to find quite a rare species of cormorant. Easily identified by its bright red legs and beak. We were lucky enough to find a nesting colony of them.

We took the lesser used route out of Puerto Deseado and after seeing no one all day we arrived in Puerto San Julian which is a good place to see the Commerson Dolphin. The ‘divas’ of the dolphin world, with their black and white colouration they look very like a baby killer whale!

One very long day of driving saw us reach Rio Gallegos. Long not just for the distance but also due to winds which for most of the afternoon were strong enough to push a 3 ton Land Rover all over the road and when parked on a hill the wind held us without brakes! In Rio Gallegos we spent a frustrating few hours trying to find accommodation out of the wind but ‘every man and his dog’ had obviously arrived there that day as there was no accommodation. We ended up camping but using our other tent and sheltering behind a very thick hedge! This was our last stop on the main land and we crossed from just south of here to the north of Tierra Del Fuego and back into Chile.
Our first four days on Tierra Del Fuego were spent exploring the western (Chilean) side. It was during this time that Lolly came the closest she has been to being stuck but with determination born of desperation due to the knowledge that there was no other 4WD for at least 50 miles we got clear and turned back. During this time we also visited two spectacular lakes, Lago Blanco and Lago Deseado which are well of the beaten track only really known to the local fishermen. Here we played in the snow and had our closest encounter with the Andean Condor yet.

We crossed to the Argentinean side of Tierra Del Fuego and made our way to our most southerly town of Ushuaia. We loved Ushuaia and ended up staying two weeks. The campsite owner came to know us well (Fernando dos noches mas por favor) to the extent that on our final night Fernando cooked us a traditional Argentinean Asado (BBQ) with his family. The two weeks weren’t all spent in Ushuaia as we also visited the national park nearby where we did some beautiful walks and saw beavers. These were introduced here by a thoughtful north American for their fur and for sport!! We also visited Estantia Harberton which is the oldest farm on Tierra Del Fuego still owned by the original English family.

We crossed back to the main land via Provenir and the ferry to Punta Arenas, Chile’s most southerly mainland town. It was on the road south of here to visit an old wood fort that we had our first flat tyre. Not bad in over 7 months and over 25,000km’s. Schumaker won’t be hiring us for his tyre team but we were back on the road pretty quick.

We had a quick stop in Puerto Natales where Lolly got a general service which she was due and then it was on to the Torres Del Paine national park in rain! We overheard someone in the park nicknaming the place Torres Del Rain. We were very fortunate that although we walked up and down the Torres in cloud and rain, the clouds parted for a brief hour when we walked up for sunrise. However the following day the weather cleared and we spent the rest of our time in the park with blue skies and sunshine. The highpoint of these last three days was Glacier Grey.

That brings us to El Calafate and Argentina again where we have celebrated Linz’s birthday. The next few days we are hoping for a continuation of good weather as we are trekking on the Perito Moreno glacier and visiting some of the surrounding glaciers by boat.

Thanks to our friend Martin’s invaluable help (i.e. he did all the work) we have finally got around to setting up a proper web site. It’s still a work in progress as Martin battles to make it idiot friendly (i.e. so that John can’t break it) however please have a look. The address is www.lollysglobaltrek.co.uk.

Hope you are all well and enjoying jobs and life in general. We will endeavour to get another global out before Christmas but if we don’t manage it we wish you all a Merry Christmas where ever you are and all the best for the New Year.

Lots of love
John, Linz and Lolly

(Diary entries list)

 Gaiman, Argentina 11th October ‘04 - 11/10/2004

Como estan nuestros amigos?

(John never thought he’d be glad to be back in a Spanish speaking country)

So here we are again one month (almost) and two countries later. We also passed another milestone last week when we reached six months on the road. Scary it doesn’t feel like that long!

Lolly was released from intensive care in Porto Alegre which meant we could finally leave Brazil (with only a week left on our three month visa’s) and cross into Uruguay. It was sad to be leaving Brazil where we have spent far more time than any other country so far and where we have met many wonderful people and made some great friends. It is also a country of so many parts that we have seen jungle, beaches, wetland and highland areas.

Uruguay had to be a whistle stop tour but given it’s the size of a postage stamp (or as the Brazilians are fond of pointing out “its smaller than their smallest state”) we still managed to see at least half of the country.

We crossed the border at the southern most point of Brazil and spent our first half an hour in Uruguay answering a tourism questionnaire for the Brazilian tourist board! We spent the first night in the Santa Teresa park which is also home to an enormous fort which the Portuguese started to build and the Spanish kicked them out and finished it. After finally getting Lolly sorted our stove chose this moment to pack up and even with much tinkering by John it was pronounce DOA.

Driving in Uruguay is like driving in one huge National Park as all the road verges seem to be nicely kept and there are very few cars, let alone lorries on the road. What cars there are, are mainly 1920’s American gas guzzlers which are being held together by string and luck! There are also many Land Rovers here but mainly of the series one and two variety i.e made in the 1940’s!!

Our second night was spent in Minas whose claim to fame is that it has the largest mounted horseman statue in the world. The campsite we stayed in also had some of the most tame Rhea’s (like Ostriches) who decided that John’s bowl of frosties looked very appetising. The road south and west from here led us to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. We arrived just in time for the Dia del Patrimonio and although we aren’t sure what this is in aid of it meant that there was a party like atmosphere and all the museums were free. After the Brazilian cities, Montevideo was a dream to drive and walk around and it is quite beautiful.

The next town along the coast was Colonia which is a beautiful colonial walled town which boasts the oldest church in Uruguay. It also does a pretty mean hot chocolate although as you will hear it lost this accolade to an Argentinean town a week later. From Colonia we drove north to Fray Bentos and the San Martin International Bridge which links Uruguay and Argentina over the river Plate. It’s a beautiful and extremely long bridge. It was at the border crossing that we discovered that somewhere in the preceding three days we had changed time zones and had been blissfully unaware of it. Luckily Argentina is on the same time zone as south Brazil so we left our watches alone.

After one quick overnight stop outside Buenos Aires we made it into the capital of Argentina and managed to navigate our way across the widest avenue of any city in the world (9th de Julio). We spent a lovely week with Linz’s Dad and Philippa exploring the sites and night life of BA. One of the highlights of this was going to a concert in Teatro Colon which is as sumptuously decorated inside as it is architecturally impressive on the outside. Afterwards while on a guided tour of Teatro Colon we found out that we had been sitting in the Presidential suite which is used by him on state occasions. Not a bad place to celebrate Linz’s Nan’s 90th birthday.

During this week we also spent a night on an estantia in a small town just north of BA which has THE best chocolate shop this side of Switzerland and amazing hot chocolate! Our visit to BA would not have been complete without a visit to the local Land Rover garage so we could buy a new clutch master cylinder which John has now fitted!!

After bidding our farewells we continued south on the Ruta three which will now carry us all the way to Tierra del Fuego with just a few side trips. The first of these was to Sierra de la Ventana where we wanted to climb the peak which gives the range its name as it has a collapsed cave which forms a perfect window. However the weather beat us and we were forced to do some lower level walking.

The second side trip was to Las Grutas which is a series of caves in sand stone cliffs but more interesting are the parrots that burrow into the cliffs to nest. Noisy little beggers!!

The third and definitely the best so far was our trip out to Peninsula Valdes which is home to the Southern Right Whale as well as the only continental colony of elephant seals. We spent three days on the peninsula and got within meters of elephant seals as well as the whales and with feet of the Magellanic penguins that nest at the north of the peninsula. Here Lolly had a close encounter with a very curious Armadillo. While camping on the peninsula we also saw our first overlanders since La Paz including one couple who we met in La Paz. However, one of the new couples is driving another Land Rover so at least John knows where to get parts when he needs them!!

So that brings us to Gaiman, home of the Welsh tea. It is an area that was settled by the Welsh in the 1800’s and the teas are rightly famous. Today it had a definite Welsh feel with low cloud and rain.

From here our road leads south through Patagonia to the southern most city in the world.

Hope everyone is well and thanks for all the news from home.
Love
John, Linz and Miss L Pop

Kilometres travelled: 22,627
Litres of diesel burnt: 3,006
Number of Land Rover garages visited 4 and still counting

(Diary entries list)

 Porto Alegre, Brazil 10th September ‘04 - 10/09/2004

Bom Dia, Todo Bien? (our Portuguese is slightly improving)

The fact that this is slightly less than a month has a lot to do with the fact that once again Lolly is under going major surgery. If the last could be likened to knee surgery then this is much more like open heart surgery. For this one John hung up his surgical overalls and called in the professionals (if your unsure why, have a look at the photos). It was touch and go for a while but we have been assured she will make a full recovery. For those in the know one of the key pats of the transfer box (similar to the gearbox) has decided to wear out requiring the complete removal and dismantle of the transfer box. At one point yesterday Linz was heard to remark “does it go into any more bits!!” as the mechanic continued to dismantle in a frenzy of activity.

But, to return to where we left you in Rio, Linz’s mum and auntie Jean did return to the hotel after missing their flights so we had a bonus afternoon and evening before they left early the following morning. We also left Rio that day and drove a short way down the coast to Paraty which is a beautiful small colonial coastal town set on the edge of a bay full of islands. The town centre has been declared a national historic monument in its entirety and has the interesting feature of flooding at high tide in parts. We had stunning weather and the first day there was spent sailing around the islands on a schooner, visiting various beaches and bays. The weekend that we were there also coincided with the national Pinga (local firewater) festival which tended to kick off each evening at 11pm and finish around 4am!!

Feeling slightly sleep deprived we left Paraty and headed to Praia Baleia (whales beach) where friends from Santos have a beautiful holiday house 30 seconds walk off the beach. We spent the weekend with them there before following them to Santos. The weather decided to deteriorate and so Santos was seen in the rain however it is still a lovely city and we had two lovely days with them and their sons.

Next stop was Sao Paulo to meet up with the rest of our friends from the Land Rover club we met in the Pantanal. A lovely if some what boozy evening was spent with them and we also spent a day exploring the old centre of Sao Paulo which has some lovely buildings. However, Sao Paulo is a very large city with a lot of poverty and, due to imminent elections, many road improvements (requiring large holes to be dug in main roads!!) We also visited the Land Rover garage in Sao Paulo but this time only for some extra parts to replace those used up.

Returning to the coast to go further south to Cananeia and more importantly Ilha Comprida which has a 90 km beach which its possible to drive on, which of course had to be done! Long straight beach and water was far to inviting for John who had to take Lolly for a paddle! The only slight concern came on the return journey when an incoming tide meant some interesting off roading through dunes and waterways!!

A short distance further south was Ilha do Mel where no vehicles are allowed so we reverted to foot transport and after being adopted by two lovely dogs we walked up the island to the fort, Fortaleza da Barra that controlled the straights leading to the major port of the region. It was meant to stop invaders and marauders (mainly the English). That night after a few hours driving we spent the night in a pousada run by a Brazilian/German couple who have built it along the lines of an English B&B but the building has a replica light house at the top affording incredible views along the coast.
An even shorter drive the following day saw us arriving in the beautiful coastal town of Porto Belo and one of the best campsites we have been in so far. We spent a very chilled afternoon here before a final days drive to Florianopolis. If Rio is the party capital of Brazil and Sao Paulo is the power house then Florianopolis is the surfers paradise with over 170 beaches! We spent an afternoon driving around the island and it was amazing how quickly you left the city behind and were in rural country side again especially in the centre of the island.

Leaving Florianopolis also meant leaving the coast for the first time in about a month as we climbed up into the costal range to visit the only area of Brazil which receives snow. They were having an unseasonal hot spell while we were there and so we managed to visit Brazils wine region and two national parks in beautiful sunshine. Some sampling of the wines was done and the wine makers encourage you to really test their produce by giving you full glasses of each wine you want to taste. Needless to say by the end of two wineries the walk home was far more enjoyable! The first park was the Parque Estadual do Caracol which has a 130 metre waterfall where the Caracol river tumbles out of thick forest. The second park contains the Itaimbezinho Canyon which is 7.8kms long and 720 metres deep.

It was while we were staying in a campsite near one of the national parks that John discovered that Lolly was in need of professional assistance and so a previously unscheduled stop was planned in Porto Alegre where there is another Land Rover garage. This means that we have now visited the entire Land Rover dealer network in southern Brazil!

So that brings us to Porto Alegre where Lolly is being worked on as we type and the rain is really coming down hard. We shall have a brief visit to Uruguay on our way down to Buenos Airies to meet Linz’s Dad.

Hope this finds you all well and enjoying life. Enjoy the photos and thanks for all the emails.

Love
John, Linz and a recovering Lolly.

Kilometres travelled: 18,700
Litres of diesel burnt: 2,451
Number of Land Rover garages visited 3 and counting

(Diary entries list)

 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 17th August ‘04 - 17/08/2004

Greetings from Rio

Yes we did make it eventually! It is nearly another month since our last email and a lot seems to have happened!! We left you in Minieros with a poorly Lolly. We are pleased to inform you that after major surgery she made a complete recovery.

We finally left Minieros after 7 days and joined Amy and David (our new friends and Lollys angels) in a Pousada about 100km’s further up the road. The Pousada is set in its own private park and it was here that we got our first glimpse of a large ant eater although he was definitely camera shy. The park also houses some 11,000 year old cave paintings which are in excellent condition.

After dropping Amy and David to catch a bus back to the wonderful Minieros we carried on towards Brasilia. One further overnight stop and we finally made it into the capital city. It’s a strange city, for any of you that have been to Canberra there are striking similarities. It is also the most frustrating town to navigate around, however it does have some beautiful buildings. One of our favourites was the Dom Bosco church whose walls are almost totally made of blue glass giving an amazing light inside. After so much trouble to get here, we were quite glad to leave but it was worth the trip. A bonus of the trip to Brasilia was Linz sighting a giant ant eater and a baby on its back! In fact she was so excited that she couldn’t even remember the name of the animal and just shouted ‘Stop’ which sent John into heart failure!!

From Brasilia we headed south for the 17th century gold town of Ouro Preto via another small town called Tres Marias. Ouro Preto was lovely, built in rolling hills with very, very steep (Lolly in low box) cobbled streets. The gold boom brought a lot of money some of which was used to build some stunning churches and many large mansions. Almost all of the centre of the town has been preserved and is now considered a UNESCO heritage site.

Very close to the town of Ouro Preto is Caraca which is the site of a 16th century Monastery set in the heart of its own park. The Monastery was beautiful and there were many walks through the parkland. The big attraction though was the Maned Wolves which they feed on the steps of the Monastery each night after Mass. Its an incredible sight as they look quite like our English fox except that they stand nearly a metre tall. While walking in the park we also managed to see two different types of monkeys, the Common Marmoset and the endangered Southern Masked Titi.

We spent one more night in Ouro Preto before continuing south to Rio. We stopped at a place called Juiz de Fora where there was supposed to be a campsite. We did eventually find it however it was closed, hence the complete lack of signs but again the Brazilian hospitality came to the fore and we were allowed to stay for the night. No running water but lovely views over the lake.

The next day we finally made it into Rio which was a lot easier to navigate than we expected but once again our helpful web site of camping grounds was completely inaccurate and we spent nearly 3 hours before finally finding a place to stay. The only benefit of this circuitous drive was that we stumbled on a Land Rover dealership which we investigated the following day. The people at the sales room weren’t particularly helpful however they sent us to their workshop where we found three English speakers and the entire staff were intrigued by our journey and Lolly Pop. They gave us a quote for the work that we needed that was far to good to be missed and so Lolly went in the following week and came back sparkling both inside and out. She probably hasn’t been that clean since she was repainted in Oz!!

Rio has been interesting and a lot of fun partly due to meeting up with friends and family. First we saw Amy and David who were on their way back to the States. We were then joined by Linz’s mum and aunt and while they were here we also had an evening with Luke (another travel friend) who was passing through on his way to the States and then Europe. We have spent a week in Rio staying in Copacabana and have managed to see all the sights as well as going to an evening show that gave us an idea of what Carnival must be like.

We were invited to join Linz’s mum and aunt on their trip to Amazonia and have had an amazing five days up there with them. We have seen many more monkeys, birds as well as the cultural side of that area of the amazon by visiting the villages near our lodge. The place we stayed was built entirely on stilts on the edge of the Negro river. One of the most special activities was an hour spent feeding and then swimming with the pink river dolphins. They came up and took fish out of our hands! Our final day included a visit to the meeting of the two rivers that then form the Amazon. This is an amazing sight as the Negro is a black river where as the Solimoes is a very light coloured river and they do not mix for nearly 11 km’s due to differences in pH, speed and temperature.

We are now back in Rio and have said our first good bye to Linz’s mum and aunt, however due to a slight mix up with flight times we are sitting here expecting them back at the hotel very soon! More tears tomorrow!!

Tomorrow we will make our way towards Sao Paulo with a few stops on the way down the coast.

Rio has of course one very special memory because we got engaged last week and were able to celebrate with family and friends. To answer the questions that we know are being asked hopefully you will find a picture of the ring attached which is an Imperial Topaz (very rare and only found in one mine in the world which is in Brazil), we haven’t set a date but we will let you know when we do.

So until next time, we hope everyone is well and you will find some more pictures on the site.

Love
Linz, John and a much better Lolly Pop

Kilometres travelled: 15,662
Litres of diesel burnt: 2,106
Insect bites: Lost count in the Amazon!!

(Diary entries list)

 Mineiros, Brazil 21st July ‘04 - 21/07/2004

Bom Dia (Portuguese is not improving!)

Now no-body faint with shock that we’ve e-mailed so soon! There is a very good reason we’re basically stuck in a town where there’s not much to do but they have 3 e-mail cafes!

So we thought we might as well update you on what we’ve been up to over the last couple of weeks

From Bonito we travelled slightly north to another campsite run by a lovely man called Jose. We had the place to ourselves, water views and the monkeys playing in the trees behind his house! They were very comical and quite cute. He was feeding them oranges and bread and it seemed to be a competition to see who could carry the most stuff back into the trees.

From here we kept going north we were going to take one of the less travelled routes back to the main road but Jose said the road was really, really bad so we opted against it. We passed by Camp Grande where we had stayed before and kept going. It was on this stretch of road we met another land rover driver. He followed us for a way with his son out the window videoing us then he overtook and flagged us down he didn’t speak any English but there was lots more picture taking and videoing. He gave us his card and it turns out he owns a restaurant in Sao Paulo so we’ll have to pay him a visit when we’re there. We reached a town called Coxim where Jose said there was a campsite but we never found it. We had spotted a sign 5km out of town for a fazenda with camping so we gave it a shot. The family were lovely and again we had the place to ourselves by the river. We were the first foreigners they had, had to stay so we were a bit of a novelty and there was lots of picture taking (we’re getting used to this!)
In the morning they brought us freshly cooked cheesy bread which was delicious.

The weather that day was foul it rained all day – hard. At one point we were stuck for an hour at an accident which closed the whole road. Not surprising when you see how they drive. Lorry drivers are the worst they overtake on blind corners and summits!!
We followed a couple of cars who seemed to know a way around which was straight through a farmers field! But we got round and on the other side of the crash was a 5km tail back of trucks!

Despite this we made our destination of Cuiaba that night though it was quite late by the time we got to the hostel. It wasn’t the best of places it cost the same for a double, prefabricated room as it did in a decent hotel and they tried to charge for use of the kitchen! Correct us if we’re wrong but isn’t the whole point of staying in hostels because it’s supposed to be cheaper and you can cook!! Anyway when we checked out they hadn’t charged us for the internet or the beer we’d had. Linz felt guilty about the beer but we conveniently forgot about the internet!!

Cuiaba was not as nice as Campo Grande and is supposed to be the gateway to the north Pantanal but there is no tourist information and all the tour companies we had in our guide book were non-existent! It was a very frustrating day but we found a guide listed who also ran a hostel where we tried to stay but there was no parking. He was very helpful and told us of a couple of places that had camping. That night we treated ourselves to a very nice chinese meal with wine and spirits which came to a grand total of 20 pounds!!

The north Pantanal was just as beautiful as the south, though a bit larger. We got up early on our first morning there to try and see some of the nocturnal animals. We didn’t see them but we did see an amazing sight. Hundreds of birds were gathered at this one spot of wetland, roseat spoonbills, great egrets, Jabiru stork to name but a few and the water was alive with fish jumping it was really incredible. We pootled along for the rest of the day seeing lots more birds and the odd abuti (like a giant rat but with no tail!).

We hit another tail back at one of the bridges where a bus had gone over but hadn’t lined himself up properly so he’d gone through the bridge and his rear drivers side wheel (for us) was in mid-air! It had obviously happened a while ago as there were lots of people around and there’s not that much traffic on the road. There was a lot of beer drinking and gesticulating and the phrase too many cooks leapt to mind! John tried to help but with little Portuguese it was a tad difficult and Linz in true Brit fashion made a cup of tea!! It took an hour while we were there for them to get the bus off the bridge to a great cheer and the people wasted no time moving on.

The bridges after this one got worse and worse with big holes in them and some looked like they were part of a rollercoaster ride with the decks of the bridge on slants from side to side but we made it safely through.

We stopped at the first campsite we got to and 5 mins later our friendly land rover driver from a few days ago drove in, very bizarre. He disappeared and 5 mins later returned with some friends who were very interested in Lolly so again more picture taking. One of the guys spoke some Spanish which made things a little easier. They knew of a better campsite 500m down the road so we followed them across and it was much nicer and there were fewer mossies! Then the strangest thing happened, we were setting up camp when a load of cars drove in the gate. Linz said to John a couple of those look like land rovers. We stood and watched 20 land rovers drive through the gates! It turned out to be a land rover club from Sao Paulo on holiday for 10 days. We were put out on their radios and over the next few days we had many visitors who were fascinated with Lolly and our trip. Most of them spoke English which was great and we have many contacts and new friends for when we get to Sao Paulo. Despite them being complete strangers there was a sense of familiarity and we immediately part of their family and all because of the car we drive!!

They passed us the following day on the road to Chapada dos Guimeres a town and national park north of Cuiaba and invited us for drinks that night at their hotel. We decided it would be easier to stay where they were so we did and it was very nice!

We spent 3 days in Chapada which is very like the Blue Mountains in Sydney for those who know it. The only thing about national parks in Brazil is you can’t see them without a guide and as we only have 2 seats we can’t take one and they don’t have transport. This problem was solved when we met a couple at our campsite who invited us along one day to visit a part of the park. It turned out his Dad works for the national parks so he had a key to the areas where you normally need a guide. It was beautiful day and Linz went swimming in the waterfalls.
After Chapada we headed to another national park which was off the road to Brasilia near a town called Mineiros. We turned up in the hope we could camp and see the park. Again we needed a guide and there was no camping. The guy who was there said come back tomorrow and I’ll take you. We were a bit dubious but we returned the next day and after we woke him up he took us round the park. It was a misty morning which gave the park a mystical air. We spent 6 hours there and saw lots of wildlife including an Armadillo! The giant anteaters and wolves still eluded us though.

During our trip round the park Lolly had developed a worse clunking than she already had so on return John investigated. This was not good the joint at the rear prop shaft was broken. No problem John had the parts and although it took a day he managed to fix it. It was as he was putting that back into place he noticed oil on the back of one of the front wheels – this was not good. He investigated thinking it was the hub oil seal that had gone which was bad but again we have the parts and John can fix it. It turned out to be worse. Not only had the hub oil seals and bearings gone but also the swivel pin housing seal had gone which we don’t have the parts for. We thought it was going to be a shipment from the UK job but thanks to Nath in the UK and our new friends in Sao Paulo we have found a dealership in the next town to us who have most of the parts we need and will deliver them here which is great. It’s also thanks to our American friends who we’ve met staying in the same hotel who have translated for us.

So here we are in Mineiros where we will be for another couple of days while we get the parts and put Lolly back together.

And here we were thinking we’d got heaps of time before we needed to be in Rio!! After here hopefully we will make it to Brasilia – we know we keep saying it but it may still happen! And after there hopefully to a Monastery where they feed the maned wolves at night.

We hope everyone there is well keep the e-mails coming it’s great to hear from people and hear the goss.

Take care,
Love,
Linz, John and a very poorly Lolly

Kilometres travelled: 13,051
Litres of diesel burnt: 1,765.64
Insect bites: Not as many but still itching!

(Diary entries list)

 Bonito, Brazil 6th July ‘04 - 06/07/2004

Bom Dia (this is the only bit of Portuguese that we know!)

Before any of you say anything it isn’t quite a month since we last wrote, there is at least two more days!! This last month has taught us that you shouldn’t drive through green lights at least not in Argentina (more about this later), Brazilians love sleeping policemen especially ones the size of small mountains on major highways and you don’t get old you just become advanced!!

Well the road blocks didn’t abate in Bolivia in fact they appeared to be getting worse, so we cut our losses and headed out of Bolivia through Peru and into Chile. The only time that we have crossed two international borders and been in three countries in one day, and boy was it a long day. John slightly lost his sense of humour on the Peruvian/Chilean border at 8.30pm at night when customs asked him to empty the entire Land Rover (if you go back to the beginning of the pictures you will see just how much you really can pack in a Land Rover). After swearing under his breath (or so he thought) the senior Chilean in very good English said that it would all be ok and we ended up only taking out a few of the boxes. This all goes to prove that you should stick to the lessons you learn and not try to cross borders late at night when you are tired!! That night we made it to Arica and a lovely hostel run by a Kiwi called Ross. Ross was well known to us as he had helped a couple of friends who had nick named him Dad after all the help he gave. Little did he know he was going to take on this mantle again and end up taking us to the same workshops that he visited with them!! We ended up spending three days in Arica while John overhauled the rear brakes which were both leaking and had the water tank re-welded.

From here we drove and drove and drove! We crossed Chile back to San Pedro de Atacarma (which is where we started our trip into Bolivia) and then crossed the Paso Jama into Argentina. The first night back in Argentina is memorable as it was perishingly cold with us wearing our thermals to bed and our drink in the tent turning to slush puppy!! The next day we followed the main road, which turned into a farm track (including going through someones back garden!!) until we eventually asked a farmer who pointed out the beautifully tarmac road about 500 metres to our right! Never trust a GPS!! That night was spent in the back of a petrol station which was very comfortable.

The third day in Argentina we took the low road (as friends had told us that they aged twenty years on the high road). We drove nearly 600km’s that day (which at an average of 60km/hr is a long day) and three blocks from the campsite we were going to stay at John made a fundamental driving error after turning left through a green light. Now I know that most countries allow you to proceed on green but not when you are driving a foreign plated vehicle in Argentina in front of two Argentinean “police”! We were pulled over by two men on a moped, who informed us that we had committed an ‘infraction’ (a word we were going to come to love and understand) by going through a red light (given our Spanish this took us a little time to understand). They wrote us a ticket and then proceeded to tell us we had to follow them to pay our fine. What it all boiled down to was that they wanted money and once we got them to start the negotiations we parted with twenty US (half of what they wanted) and they became our best friends!! Five minutes later we were in the campsite and drinking a cold beer. We would like to say that this is not a true reflection of the majority of the Argentinean people who have been really nice and helpful.
From here we made a brief stop in Formosa before crossing into Paraguay. Again here we found our newly acquired word of the week ‘infraction’ came in handy. We were stoped at a police check point, of which there are many, and the officer took our paper work over to the Captain. Then he called me over and informed us that we had an infraction (there’s that word again). Linz shouted from Lolly ‘Why?’ and after about five minutes I finally understood that he was saying we weren’t carrying two warning triangles (this was a feat as he hadn’t even opened lolly at this point). Ah ha I said and went over to Lolly and produced two triangles, ah ha said the police man you don’t have a first aid kit, ah ha I said producing our beautiful first aid kit, ah ha said the police man you don’t have a fire extinguisher, and with a grand flourish I produced a fire extinguisher, ahhhh said the police man and waved us on our way!! One beaten twenty thousand to go!

Following this we spent three wonderful days on a ranch in Paraguay where our every whim was catered to. The manager spoke no English which made life interesting on the first night (but we managed) but the next morning he had roped in the services of a peace corp volunteer, an American girl working nearby. She ended up acting as a translator and second guide.

Our next destination was Puerta Iguazu, back in Argentina and this time we did have to unpack most of the Landy and put it all through a scanner. When Linz explained to the man we were only staying two days he relented and didn’t insist on unpacking everything including the roof tent! Puerta Iguazu is the Argentinean gateway to the Iguazu Falls. We spent a whole day in the national park and shot a lot of film. They are stunning. We got right up close, in fact literally underneath one of the main falls, on a boat!!

After the Argentinean side we went to the Brazilian side and it promptly started to rain (it wouldn’t stop for another five days). We spent one day washed out in the campsite (see photo’s) and then decided to brave the weather and visit the falls. The weather stopped raining for about 2 hours, enough time to see the falls through the mist.

Now back in Brazil we headed north and spent a night at a beautiful campsite which was actually open but the owner took pity and let us stay for free and brought us bottle of home made Absinth (about 59% proof) to ward off the chills! Having struggled with our Spanish we are now struggling even more with our lack of Portuguese. John was even heard to remark that he would be glad to be back in a Spanish speaking country!!

Our next stop was Campo Grande which was our entry to the Brazilian Pantanal a huge wet land area, which has few roads. We spent three days and nights camping at a place called Passo do Lontra which is another working farm plus hotel and camp ground. We saw loads of wildlife including iguanas, toucans, water pigs (which are 70kg guinea pigs), caimans, ant eaters (see the photo of him in his yoda pose) and heaps of bird life. Unfortunately where there is water and wildlife there are mosquitos by the million and so we came to Bonito for a break and to let our bites heal. Whilst here we have visited some caves including one which had a stunning blue lake in the bottom.

Our plan now is to head north and see the northern pantanal before heading east to Brasilia (which is like Canberra, a purpose built capital city) in the shape of a bow and arrow! Then from there we will head to Rio, so it may be another month before we speak to you all again.

We hope you are all well and enjoying life.

Love Linz, John and Lolly Pop.

Facts:
Kilometres travelled: 10,200
Litres of diesel burnt: 1,464
Insect bites: Too many to count!!

(Diary entries list)

 Copacabana, Bolivia 9th June ‘04 - 09/06/2004

Hola,

Apologies for our rather slack communication (we’ve just noticed its exactly a month since we wrote the last group email). Since then we have come almost full circle and decided that Peruvian road signs are not much better than Bolivian, however both countries pedestrians need to have suicidal tendencies! Pedestrians DO NOT have right of way!

We made it to La Paz with little difficulty only stopping on route at Ouroro which was a fairly insignificant place, although we did sample our first South American Chinese which wasn’t bad.

La Paz, the highest capital city in the world, is an amazing sight as you drive down into the crater. Its suburbs cling to the surrounding mountain side and have a back drop of snowy peaks (when you can see them for the smog). Our three abiding memories of La Paz will be street demonstrations every day by different groups, the llama foetuses in the witches market and the ‘most dangerous road in the world’.

The latter of these we decided to cycle down with a company called ‘Gravity’. The road starts from a height of 4,700m and falls (quite literally) 3,800m over a distance of just under 70km. The first 26km is tarmac but from then on it is single track dirt road which is used in both directions by lorries, buses, cars and of course us cyclists. The scenery is stunning, when you can spare it a glance, and we needed the beer at the bottom. Just to prove its not all sales hype, a friend of ours about a week later came off his bike and smashed his shoulder and has had to return to NZ to recuperate.

From La Paz we headed north west to Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca. From here we visited the Isla Del Sol, which is the site of the main Inca creation myth. A beautiful island and a lovely days walking.

Due to unrest in Ilave (a Peruvian town between Copacabana and Puno) we decided to go up the east side of Lake Titicaca. Not a well travelled route (there are no buses) and for that reason very unspoilt. It was a beautiful drive only marred by the fact that there is no immigration for either Bolivia or Peru on this side of the lake. There is however customs for both countries (work that out if you can). Due to this we had to detour to Puno to try and sort our immigration status. Peru was no problem, however the Bolivian consulate wanted nothing to do with us and told us we had to return to the border (via Ilave). At this point we rang the British consulate in Cuzco who told us not to go near Ilave but to come to Cuzco, which we duly did.

Once in Cuzco we started looking around for the ‘Inca Trail’ a four day trek to Machu Picchu. However, to our dismay the earliest we could get on a trek was June 10th (two weeks later). We found a tour company which was offering a new alternative trek which still ended at Machu Picchu but took seven days (six full days of trekking and a full day at Machu Picchu).

The trek was considerably harder than we had bargained for covering 130km in six days but with a pass to climb each day often meaning a loss and gain of at least 1000m per day. The highest pass on day five was over 4,660m. However, due to the newness of this trek we saw no other tour groups and we did see some stunning scenery and Condors or the second day. We also visited another set of Inca ruins which although not as famous as Machu Picchu are thought to be considerably larger. The trek was made even more enjoyable because we had a good group consisting of an Argentinean family who live in Switzerland and an Australian from Melbourne.

Machu Picchu was even more amazing than the photo’s that we had seen. Apart from a couple of hours in the middle of the day there weren’t that many people around the ruins and in fact in the early evening we were quite alone.

After our return to Cuzco we booked a horse trek to see some other ruins nearer to the city. We decided that we had done enough walking. Linz had a horse that was definitely spirited, the first sight we had of it was as it ran down the road away from the guy trying to saddle it. John’s horse on the other hand had two speeds, dead slow and stop. Getting from one to the other required its owners as it paid no attention to anything John did!

The following day we visited some more ruins at Pisac and Tipon with a well rested Lolly Pop. Tipon was interesting as it appears to have been an agricultural laboratory for the Inca’s.

From Cuzco we have headed south again back to Bolivia down the west side of Lake Titicaca as the problems in Ilave have now abated. However, on reaching Copacabana we have found that the road is blocked by protesters, although as yet we have no idea what it is that they are protesting about. We have been told that the military may be going in to clear up tomorrow but we shall wait and see. If the road remains blocked then we may have to go around via Chile. Still there are worse places to be stuck!

Our aim if we can get through is to head to Cochabamba and then on to the animal refuge where we hope to work as volunteers for a couple of weeks. From there we head to Brazil and an area called the Pantanal which is meant to be full of wild life. From there it will be Rio de Janiero to meet Linz’s mum and aunt.

Hope this finds you all well and enjoying life.

Speak to you all again soon, we’ll try not to let there be such a big gap between emails. You should find some new photo’s on the web.

Love
John, Linz and a well rested Lolly Pop

Facts:
Kilometres travelled: 5,794
Highest Point on Foot: 4,668m
Insect bites: 55 (Linz whilst trekking)

(Diary entries list)

 Potosi, Bolivia 9th May ‘04 - 09/05/2004

Buenos Tardes

Welcome to the next instalment of “The Continuing Adventures of Lolly Pop”. Since our last instalment we have discovered that the national pastime of at least three South American countries is sweeping, Bolivian’s don’t believe in road or street signs and the Southern Altiplano rocks (see the new photos on the website).

But to start where we left off we didn’t end up sampling many wines due to an elongated bike ride to see a river that is a trickle in the dry season (which is now). We did find one winery open which is the oldest in the valley of Cafayate. Their quality wines were introduced to us by a lovely, lovely man who then proceeded to show us around the museum. The wines were excellent!

From Cafayate we drove to Salta through some stunning scenery including the Quebrada de Cafayate where there are a number of named rock formations including “the toad” (see pics). Salta is a beautiful city and while we were there we treated ourselves to an extremely nice hotel owned by one of the wine families from Cafayate. We were only going to stay one night but somehow that became two!! One other distinguishing feature of the hotel was its waiter who was an older version of Manuel (aka Faulty Towers) who chatted away to us in Spanish as if we were natives.

Our next stop was Antonio de los Cobres which is a mining town up at 12,600ft however this first required us to cross the Abra Blanca pass at 14,600ft. The only reason for stopping here was that we had shelter from the biting wind and cold. The following day we crossed over the Paso Sico and back into Chile. To quote the Footprints guide “ the road on the Argentine side is good and on the Chilean side ….. it may be bad between Socaire and Toconao”. This is the largest pile of bull we’ve read yet. Just to prove this the bit between Socaire and Toconao is actually the best bit as its paved! The rest of the road can only be described as driving over a continuous cattle grid which required our average speed to be below 30km/hr if we wished to remain intact.

We did find an amazing campsite on the Chilean side which had panoramic views of snowy capped mountains. We know they were snow capped as it was snowing on us as well as them. It was a little chilly!! Linz was disappointed to wake up and find no white blanket around Lolly.

Our destination from this crossing was San Pedro de Atacama which is a strange little town in the middle of no where which appears to purely exist for tourism and not just backpackers. It is one of the major gateways to Bolivia and the Southern Altiplano. This fact gave rise to an interesting conversation with the customs agent. When John was asked by the customs agent where we were going (remembering that this is the entrance to Chile from Argentina and Bolivia) replied “Bolivia” which left the gentlemen perplexed. Linz came to the rescue with Spanish explaining we were staying six days in Chile first.

We saw more backpackers in San Pedro in four days than we had seen in the previous four weeks. After stocking up in San Pedro and discussing the possibility of following one of the tours going across the Altiplano to Uyuni with the owner of one of the companies we set off early one morning. Unbeknownst to us the owner had organised for the guides to wait for us at the Bolivian border and make sure we got safely to Uyuni. This was made very clear when the guide drove a Bolivian vehicle into Chile to come and find where we had got to. Lolly was struggling with the long climb to the border.

The next three days can only be described as scenically stunning but testing for man and machine. The road/track or complete lack of it led to some of the most extreme off roading that we have so far encountered. However, the pictures will show you it was a worthwhile trip and our only casualty was the exhaust which now sounds like a V8!! Our means of navigation was by map (very poor), GPS (not much help without a map) and dust trail (Bolivian guides have two speeds fast and supersonic). The best piece of driving of the three days was across the salt plain (Salar de Uyuni) which is the highest and largest (12,000 sq km) in the world. Even doing our top speed of 80km/hr across the salt plain our guide still became a distant speck!

Not much to say about Uyuni as it was a recuperation point however there is a pizza restaurant run by an American and his Bolivian wife who make the best pizza’s this side of Italy (it gives Trattoria’s in Balmain a run for its money)!

From Uyuni we have driven North East to Potosi over slightly better roads. Potosi is famous for the silver mines that the Spanish started in the 16th Century and that are still going today. It is said that enough silver has been removed from this one mountain to pave a road from here to Madrid. It is also said that over 8 million miners have died in or on the mountain in the last five centuries.

We took a tour into the mines to see how it all works. Not much has changed in the last five centuries! Much of the work is still done by hand in extremely cramped conditions. John has decided that the underground mines in New Zealand and Australia aren’t such a bad place. (For those of you at Jamieson’s I will be recommending that David and Ivan make a sales visit down here!) The finale of the tour was blowing two large holes in the ground with Dynamite, now there’s a real boys toy!!

The town of Potosi consists of a maze of narrow, cobbled and unnamed streets which requires a psychic ability to navigate as was proved the other day after an hour of circling the city until we stumbled upon the road we wanted.

From Potosi we are heading for La Paz, Lake Titicaca and Cuzco.

Until next time, hope you enjoy the photo’s and thanks to everyone for their emails. We will try to send more personal replies we promise. Hope you are all well.

Love
John, Linz and a slightly bruised Lolly Pop.

Facts:
Kilometres travelled: 3,374
Highest Point: 16,100 ft (across the Southern Altiplano)
Mossi bites: 3 (all John)

(Diary entries list)

 Cafayate, Argentina 23rd April ‘04 - 23/04/2004

Buenos Dias Nuestros Amigos

Since we last spoke to you we have changed countries, proved both people and cars can get altitude sickness and appeared on the local news!

But to start at the beginning we left Santiago about a week ago and headed north on the Pan American Highway (boring but fast, well as fast as a three ton land rover goes). Linz wanted a beachfront camp for her first night but after leaving the Pan American and searching she had to settle for a dirt road in the bush beside the highway.

We decided due to the boredom factor of the highway that we would go cross country to the Elqui valley well known for the production of the local fire water called Pisco. The road turned out to be more cross country than we first thought which deteriorated from a bad tarmac to gravel track to goats track!! We found an excellent campsite just outside La Fundina in the middle of nowhere. It was at this campsite that we discovered we had nearly set light to both Lolly and ourselves due to a permanently engaged car cigarette lighter in the rear of Lolly. Thankfully this only resulted in melted plastic and blown fuses in the fridge (soon fixed).

From here we visited the village of Pisco Elqui, passed through Vicuna which is where three of the largest observatories in South America are (the night sky’s were amazing) and ended up in La Serena. However, before we could reach our destination we were held up in a goat jam while trying to negotiate a tunnel. Who said anything was simple!!

The highlight of La Serena was our hostel run by a lovely Chilean lady called Maria who basically just wanted to mother everyone and make them tea! Lolly received some much needed TLC on her breaks before we attempted the pass over to Argentina.

From La Serena we headed north to Copaipo and the beginning of the San Francisco pass. Linz proved that her Spanish lessons had not been in vain when she managed to get directions for a Cambio de change and then found said cambio!! Here we managed to procure some Argentinean pesos which we thought might be useful on the other side of the border.

The road up to the pass was dirt but had been nicely compacted by the mine vehicles who use this road (that’s right John still managed to find a mine). After we passed the mine there were few people and fewer vehicles. After passing through 10,000 ft Lolly began to struggle. The symptoms of altitude sickness in Land Rovers are clouds of black smoke similar to a large tyre factory on fire, high temperature and overall inertia. Shortly after passing through Chilean customs (which was easy) John smelt burning and on investigation found one of the cooling fans had burnt out from excessive use. Not what you need when you still have several thousand feet to climb!

We finally made it to Leguna Verde after a very slow journey. A beautiful spot (as you will see from the web) but very very windy and very very very cold. Required fleeces, down jackets, beanies and gloves (and that was to sleep in). Our campsite was at 14,300 ft.
After an atrocious nights sleep we headed up over the pass (15,000 ft+) and down through Argentinean customs (which was again no problem) to Fiambala. A lovely spot with its own thermal springs. In fact Leguna Verde had thermal springs but nothing was going to convince John or Linz to take clothes off!!

We got up the following morning to find the local TV crew waiting to interview us. John declined this celebrity status however Linz rose to the occasion and gave a performance worthy of an oscar using Spinglish! We are not sure who tipped them off but as Linz remarked later a large red and white Land Rover with foreign plates and a map on the side needs little to give it away. Next stop Hollywood perhaps “Driving Miss Lolly Pop”.

At present we are in Cafayate and about to sample a few local wines for which it is renowned. From here we head to Salta and then over another pass to Chile (yes we are gluttons for punishment)

Hope this finds everyone well and enjoying life. We’ll speak to you again soon maybe Chile, maybe Bolivia, who knows.

Love
John, Linz (and a tired) Lolly Pop.
xx


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