The Buddy Expedition-Austin to Ushuaia!

[TheBuddyExpedition]

Glad it worked out and you two are safe. I find that shouting "I'm American" gets you in more trouble usually.

When I tell people in foreign countries I'm from Hawaii, the love me. U.S. not so much.

We're rolling on Dutch plates and ton's of flag stickers from Countries we've been to and a huge DAKAR emblem as well. I think at first glance, people don't have a clue what to think so it's thumbs up and waves. Other overlanders we've met from Europe and other countries seem to like us as well once we met and get to know each other. I would imagine going through police and military checks with US plates, could be a problem if they wanted. Although I will say when we were in our Landcruiser with Texas plates, lot's of folks waved to us and we had zero issues in Colombia or Ecuador.

It's all about your attitude!

 

[TheBuddyExpedition]

It's good to be so far North and close to Colombia. We're back at Casa La Luna in Otavalo and we really don't want to leave but we need to catch the ferry to Panama soon.

This place feels like home, we were greeted with hugs, great food, a shot of rum and some cool weather. The night we spent behind the mall in Quevado was miserable, but thanks to our Endless Breeze, made in America 12v fan, we slept like babies.

Our next obstacle will be catching the ferry, will he have his permits in line or not? Will we be shipping RORO and getting all of our stuff stolen? Once we hit Panama, its hammer down and gear jammin' to Mazatlan. We're so ready for Baja, some killer food and then we'll be that much closer to California!!

I'd also like to mention that Viv is quite the navigator now as she routed us quickly around Quito without much headache or issues. It can be a handful driving Uma in thick traffic and not seeing the puny signs to direct you and the GPS is not always 100%. Viv used good ol' fashion technology, a nice quality map!!!

Our WAECO is fixed, we chased down a fuse that must've blown when our transfer switch shut down due to cloudy days and not being driven, so yes, we'll still have ice for cocktails in the steamy jungles of Central America!!!

We should be in Colombia tomorrow and heading to Salento, La Serrana Hostel to be exact; that place is one of my favorites!!

Thanks for following and enjoy some pics of random life here in Ecuador.

 

[Wainiha]

Attitude. I agree. Very enjoyable thread, thank you.

 

[TheBuddyExpedition]

This is where we saw UMA back in June 2013, glad to be back here again in Otavalo Ecuador at La Luna Hostel.



The main house



Owners house



Deadliest vehicles on the road







This guy is serious about his job....chromed shotgun and gas mask







Stealth camping behind a mall in steamy Quevado Ecuador







Where we stayed for 12 days during our customs ordeal...not one redeeming quality in Huaquillas, just another border town.



Yep, no electrical codes here

 

[TheBuddyExpedition]

As we entered Colombia, we had just 4 days to reach Cartagena to arrange shipping to Mexico. The Pan American has some very nice roads and really bad ones with lot's of construction, landslides, toll booths,slow semi's to overtake and poor drivers.

We spent an average of 10-12 hours a day driving through the steep mountains of Colombia and getting lost in the slums of Medellin for hours. We also broke one of our rules by picking up a hitch hiker, you'll see his picture at the bottom.

We weren't that excited to come back to Cartagena, but after arriving it's a lot less stressful than I remember, especially after driving though Lima Peru three times. Our friend, Jack Lyons, greeted us with pen arms and quickly arranged a nice condo overlooking the beach in Laguitos. The nice thing is it has a washing machine, fridge and a kitchen which helped us justify the $50 per night rental.

Tomorrow we meet with Rodolfo with JansMar Shipping to set up UMA's trip on a cargo ship to Veracruz. The weird thing is the huge difference in quotes we received. SC Line was $2700 and JansMar was $952. SC Line also quoted an additional $1200 port fee's in Mexico.

Anyway, tomorrow after the meeting I'll begin the fortification of our truck to keep out unwanted "guests" in the camper part of our rig. We'll move everything in the truck to the camper for safe keeping and will screw a piece of 1/4" steel plate over the pass thru as well as weld the side entrance door shut.

View from our condo here in Cartagena





Here's beautiful downtown Otavalo



These indigenous women are tough, she's humping a sack of rice up a steep grade at 10,000' feet!









Our hitchhiker



Camping just North of the Ecuadorian border, what a beautiful area surrounded by waterfalls.

 

[xjaugie]

I just finished catching up on your travels and I have to say I really enjoy reading your posts. I like how you tell it like it is and paint a realistic picture of the ups and downs of travel. Not every thing works out as planned nor is everywhere we stop picture perfect as we had hoped. Thanks for the time you put into posting and you're right attitude is everything.

 

[TheBuddyExpedition]

I just finished catching up on your travels and I have to say I really enjoy reading your posts. I like how you tell it like it is and paint a realistic picture of the ups and downs of travel. Not every thing works out as planned nor is everywhere we stop picture perfect as we had hoped. Thanks for the time you put into posting and you're right attitude is everything.

Thank you for the kind words, it makes it worthwhile to generate these posts and stories.

An update:

We finally got UMA on a cargo ship and she's headed to Veracruz, MX and we fly out on Friday. The shipper made a huge error (in our favor) on the pricing but honored it anyway. If you ever need to ship a vehicle, I can highly recommend JANSMAR, they had the best price anyway, ours just was made a bit sweeter.

 

[gringorick]

Looks like you guys are making a fast track home. Would have liked to meetup on the road somewhere. Maybe next time. Cheers.

 

[TheBuddyExpedition]

After an exhausting 15 hour day, 2 3 hour layovers and 3 connecting flights, we're here in Veracruz MX. What we immediately noticed last night was that folks go to bed early here, the streets were deserted, no horn honking or reckless driving. It is sterile clean and reminds me of the US. There's a room service menu in our room and the food looks incredible, can't wait to try some local fare.

I'm not sure how many folks miss their flights in Mexico City; what a mad house! Typically when you go to your gate you expect to see about 100 people waiting to board one aircraft, right? Not in Mexico City, one gate will have 500 people and 5 flights departing from there. How can you have 5 flights departing within minutes of each other from one gate? What they do is herd you down 5 flights of stairs and into busses that take you to your plane. There's zero signage or direction, you just have to ask someone and hope you understand each other.

We loved South America, but it's great to be back in North America and we're looking forward to driving across to Mazatlan and then up Baja!!! Our shipping agent, Rodolfo with Jansmar Shipping in Cartagena was a real treat to work with and can say without a doubt, he's your man for shipping. He was very attentive and accommodating, totally professional and we're dying to get back behind the wheel and start driving again. I know we have a battery or charging issue to work out, hopefully it can wait until we get underway before causing me any problems.

More to come!!!

 

[BnBRacing]

Finally made it over here to follow your adventure on yet another forum Dean. This is Tyler, LAYNFRM on dualsportridersoflouisiana btw.

 

[TheBuddyExpedition]

Finally made it over here to follow your adventure on yet another forum Dean. This is Tyler, LAYNFRM on dualsportridersoflouisiana btw.

Sounds like I missed another epic camp out....

 

[Jb1rd]

Great posts thank you, my wife and I are heading down to Colombia in June and she being Colombian is petrified of traveling down there, I keep telling her that it can be done and will be showing her this travel log for sure. Couple questions, did you ship your vehicle straight from the states to Colombia, it looks like you started with a Land Cruiser? If so how did you get UMA? What did you do with the LC? We are trying to figure out getting a vehicle down there but have been told by various shipping agents you can only import a brand new vehicle unless you are a diplomat???? Any help or advice you can give? Again thank you for the wonderful posts!!!:sombrero::sombrero:

 

[TheBuddyExpedition]

Great posts thank you, my wife and I are heading down to Colombia in June and she being Colombian is petrified of traveling down there, I keep telling her that it can be done and will be showing her this travel log for sure. Couple questions, did you ship your vehicle straight from the states to Colombia, it looks like you started with a Land Cruiser?

We shipped from Houston to Cartagena. Our Landcruiser was great, but buying the Mercedes was a game changer for us as it allowed us to be more remote with all the amenities of a home. It made us more independent of hostels and food as we could carry enough for weeks.


If so how did you get UMA?

We bought UMA in Otavalo from a guy who was heading back home after 5 years of traveling. I highly recommend an overland rig for comfort and safety.

What did you do with the LC?

We traded the LC to the previous owner of UMA


We are trying to figure out getting a vehicle down there but have been told by various shipping agents you can only import a brand new vehicle unless you are a diplomat???? Any help or advice you can give?

You can bring in any vehicle as a tourist, it just has to leave when you do. Whatever you do, do not over extend your vehicle permit. Talk to Faisal Rana at TranspoTrade in Houston. Make sure to tell him to leave Vangaurd Logistics out of the picture....it's another story.
Again thank you for the wonderful posts!!!:sombrero::sombrero:

Let me know if you have anymore questions!!

 

[joeyabisa]

What're you gonna do with UMA when you get back home?

 

[TheBuddyExpedition]

What're you gonna do with UMA when you get back home?

We imported her in San Diego, so now she's a US citizen!!

She's residing in Albuquerque, NM while we're visiting friends and family....

Not sure what we're going to do with her, but I'll tell you this, she's ready for another adventure. I rebuilt the starter, alternator, had a new radiator built, new brake cylinders and full service. I'd drive her anywhere, it's by far the best vehicle I've ever owned.