Moglanders Travels - So this is South America?

[mervifwdc]

Hi folks,

I decided to open a new thread as the last one was mainly about Morocco, and a bit of travel around Europe. We've since arrived in South America, and we are now in Northern Argentina on our way to see Iguazu falls. This is right up north between Paraguay and Brazil, and after the falls, we will start on a path down South, with a rough plan to get to Ushuaia for Christmas.

We arrived into Montevideo in Uruguay via the Grimaldi Freighter Cruiser ship, the Grande San Paolo. It can take up to 12 passengers, and their assorted vehicles. This meant that the paper work was very simple, and FREE in Montevideo. No customs, stevedors, port, storage or other fees of any kind. We had a trouble free sailing, and all the accompanied vehicles arrived intact, with no damage or theft of any kind. After all the stories we heard before shipping, I really expected to find just a chassis and gearbox sitting in the ship where we had parked our truck. But, all is well.

We did have some tricky jobs to do, mainly to get Gas. we brought no gas bottles as we had read on the internet that we could not transport bottles on the ship - this is WRONG! Accompanied vehicles can indeed bring bottles, full or empty. As we had done, we tried to get local ones, but their physical size meant they would not fit in the truck! They are almost twice as wide as a "normal bottle", and much shorter. We bought a small 3kg bottle and cooking ring to keep us going until Argentina, where we bought a 10kg bottle that worked perfectly. We also bought a local gas regulator as the fittings are different to the 3 regulators that we carry. Now we have 4

As to why we drove 1000km north when we arrived? Weather - we like it warm, and also we may not get to pass through this part of Argentina again as we plan to see a lot of Chile on the way North next year.

Anyway, for anyone thinking of freighter cruizing, we have put up a couple of posts (one and two )on our blog, I hope they are useful to anyone thinking of doing such a trip.

Cheers for now!
Merv and Sarah

 

[Sidebar]

Hey guys.

We will be following in your tracks soon so we look forward to meeting you. But first... your post got us really curious. How on earth did you manage to land the truck in MV without paying any customs etc. Do you have a contact? We will be shipping to MV and clearing at the end of this month.

How is South America treating you?

Cheers

Graeme

 

[mervifwdc]

Hi Graeme,

South America is wonderful! we're only here a little over a week, but it's shaping up really well.

As to shipping: There seems to be 2 types of shipping, accompanied and not-accompanied.

We went accompanied, i.e. we sailed on the ship, and in the same as as on an airplane flight, we brought baggage which we did'nt have to pay customs / fees on. As we were on a ship, our "baggage" was the whole truck. So, We drove to the port in France, drove onto the ship and parked the truck, sailed on the ship and then drove off the ship in MV to a customs car park, and after some paperwork (which was all done for us by the Grimaldi agent) we were told we were free to go. We were given our visas (may have been a port pass / visa), and a temporary import form for the truck and told we could go. As easy as that.

However, we know someone who shipped their truck on the same ship as ours, and it was non-accompanied. i.e. he and his wife flew down. He DID have a load of fees to pay, and I think he will be doing up a blog post to explain it all. in Dutch I'm afraid, but chrome seems to make a reasonable fist of it: http://joopenadriewaarheen.blogspot.com.ar/ NOTE: His is a large truck, 12 tons and 8 metres long. Some of the fees are calculated on weight and size (it seems). I'm not sure what his final fees were, but at one stage he was looking at $4,000 but he got that down "Somehow".

MV is a nice first stop. Turn right out of the port, and behind the Ibis hotel (6km or so) there is a supermarket. After there, continue along the coast road, and you can stay free parked beside the lighthouse. When your in the port, the customs office is also used as a tourist embarkation point for a ferry (to BA we think) and it has free wifi there. Also you can park there for free when you are in the town.

Hope this helps!

Merv.

 

[DiploStrat]

¡Bienvenidos y que tengan buen viaje! An' y'all come visit, hear?

 

[Sidebar]

Hope this helps!

Merv.[/QUOTE]

Hi Merv.

That is really helpful! I assume the Mog didnt go in a container. I think that is where our costs come in because there are unloading and dock transportation fees. Keep the tips coming btw. We havent been overlanding for a while so it might take a while for us to get back into it

 

[mervifwdc]

Hi, Very correct, the mog and all the camping trucks/4x4/vans drove on. There may have been other 4x4's in containers, but we would never have known. Their costs are structured differently I think, as you have a "stuffing" and "unstuffing" fee to pay - basically loading and unloading the vehicle into and out of the container. It can be crazy! but it is meant to be the safest way to ship.

but as the photo shows, that's not 100% safe either. I took this shot on our trip, but in fairness it was the only damaged container out of thousands that we saw.

Merv.

 

[mervifwdc]

We are moving along quite well. We are now in the North East of Argentina, and plan to visit Iguzcu falls over the next few days. After that, may go across paraguay towards the west, or may head South. Anyways, we've done up a blog post on what we've seen so far.

Our next thing to get sorted is a usb modem and sim card. Hopefully tomorrow. But we have been impressed at the amount of wifi that can be found in the towns and petrol stations. Many town squares have it too, and all free.


Good road in Argentina.


Dirt road, even smoother driving, but dust gets everywhere. I've not been on one of these after the rain, but based on the depth of the wheel ruts I am guessing it can get quite bad.


The local wildlife can be quite snappy

 

[kevb]

Lookin good Merv, keep us posted .... more photos please!

 

[Sidebar]

Awesome Merv. Keep the reports coming... we will be following in your wheel tracks soon.

 

[mervifwdc]

¡Bienvenidos y que tengan buen viaje! An' y'all come visit, hear?

Esta Muy Buen! One day at a time, and that suits us fine.

 

[mervifwdc]

We travelled a bit more North, up to Puorto De Iguazu to see some of the most spectacular falls in the world. That's their claim, and they are right! Superb!


They have a boat trip into the mist, here it is getting ready for a run into the spray.

And yes, it's wet! We gave it a go and it's superb!
[video]http://youtu.be/LNosT1BOU_w[/video]

We met up with fellow travellers that we had met on the boat over from Europe, a German couple. It was interesting to see how they were getting on, and where they had been and planned to go to. Maybe our paths will cross again - I hope so as they are very keen on the fishing and I'm keen on the BBQ, so it's kind of a good match!

We then crossed into Brazil. The Argentina - Brazil border is probably the most relaxed ever. No swarms of helpers like in Africa, and for the first time ever, a customs agent gave me a smile and shook my hand.

We stayed in brazil for a few days, and parked at a new hostel that is to cater for travellers. Mainly bikes but also 4 wheel vehicles. They have a nice secure yard with a decent gate, and 2 very nice dogs that keep an eye on things. And they cook up a pretty good Asado!


More info on our experiences in Fos in Brazil here.

We are now going to start slowly back South, we plan to go see another waterfall today, and keep moving South as it warms up. We're hoping to avoid the real chilly weather if possible. We are now back in Argentina (with a fresh 90 days on our visa!) and debating about skipping Buenos Aires completely. The country towns are so nice we think we might just stick to them.

 

[mervifwdc]

Our trip has ground to a halt. Worn wheel bearings will do that to a trip. We're now stuck in the town of esquel waiting on new bearings to come from Buenos Aires where we found a unimog parts dealer. Shipping in bits from abroad seems to be frought with customs issues and large customs fees getting slapped onto things.

Since the last update, we've had a pretty good time in Argentina. We travelled from Iguazu down to Cordoba over the course of about 2 weeks. We thought the drive was ok, the scenery was a bit so-so but as we had not seen much different it was fine. After Cordoba we went over to catch Ruta 40, and to head south. WOW! What a road. We've seen some amazing views off this road, met some great people and had a brilliant time. Definitely the west side of Argentina is the place to travel. We've made a short 2.5 minute movie to show the various bits of the route we took.



We have put up maps to track our route here.

We ended up stumbling into (and falling out of) an Octoberfest weekend! This was in a little town called Villa General Belgrano, which was a strange place to visit as it felt so European. Irish pub included, though we avoided that. You can see more photos from that weekend here.


And we got our first fine of the trip, for not stopping at a stop sign. Hard to argue with it, even if no-one was stopping. They were processing and fining people like we were on a conveyer belt!


Anyways, once this wheel bearing arrives, we should be back on our merry way again!

 

[mervifwdc]

Disaster still strikes! The bearing arrived, but when we got the hub stripped (had to be done by a press) it turns out our large drive gear (portal axles use reduction gears) is in rather poor shape. We have a complete replacement hub on its way in for not much more than the cost of a replacement gear, so we have 2 things ahead of us.

1. We will have a big pile of spare parts as we will have a complete extra hub.

2. We will have a long wait, it's coming from the u.k.

If anyone is taking a spin through esquel, drop by for a coffee! We will be here another few weeks.

Merv. :-(

 

[Sidebar]

Hi Merv. We are heading North while you are heading south. I am sure we will meet up somewhere along the way. The southern Brazil coast has been awesome and cheap with plenty of safe camping. Bon voyage.

 

[Dan Grec]

Hey guys,

You're in for an amazing trip! I drove from Alaska to Argentina from 2009-2011, and absolutely loved Ecuador, Bolivia and Patagonia

You'll probably find http://wikioverland.org The encyclopedia of overland travel really helpful for your trip.
It has info for all the countries in Central America and South America like border crossings, gas prices, camping, maps, bribery, etc. etc.

If you see something that's out of date, please take 5 minutes and click "edit" and update the page - that way it will be better and more useful for everyone.

A good starting point for you might be the Pan American Highway page. From there, you can click through to all the countries on your route.

Thanks, have fun!

-Dan