unURBAN Adventures - Alaska to Argentina to AFRICA!

[unURBAN]

Peru to Bolivia

...and for those of you who are thinking about driving south in not too far future, here are the details for the border between Peru and Bolivia at Kasani. Nearest towns are Yunguyo in Peru and Copacabana in Bolivia.

http://iloapp.unurban.no/blog/blog?Home&category=7

Another option would be the larger Desaguadero a few kilometers further south, but Kasani is more relaxed (and Copacabana is a nice stop).

E

 

[unURBAN]

Malin,

it probably has been asked many times before, what camera are you using?

Thanks for great feedback on my photos. I am using a Canon G10 and it is great, but now it is getting a bit old so if you would by one now it would be Canon G12. It is good and small enought to put in your pocket. We have also meet several other travellers that use the same camera. This has been our only camera for a long time. Some times we miss having a better zoom, so now we bought a Canon 550D with a 70-300 lens (and a 18-55). Looking forward to try it out!

Malin

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Just read the whole thing...end to end... took 2 days of on and off reading. Wow, great adventures, and exceptional documentation. Thanks to the both of you for sharing! Nice to see that you visited Vancouver Island (my home). Many of the places you have been are on your trip are on my list, actually most of them are.

Subscribed and hooked!

Tragic what happened in Norway, the bombings and the killings. Really brings it home that it can happen anywhere at any time. As you undoubtedly know, some places feel safe, some do not...but it perception is not always reality when crazies are at play.

I am glad to read that your experiences south of the US border have been positive, and you have not had any issues. Keep it up and happy trails!
Greg

 

[unURBAN]

Just read the whole thing...end to end... took 2 days of on and off reading. Wow, great adventures, and exceptional documentation. Thanks to the both of you for sharing! Nice to see that you visited Vancouver Island (my home). Many of the places you have been are on your trip are on my list, actually most of them are.

Subscribed and hooked!

Tragic what happened in Norway, the bombings and the killings. Really brings it home that it can happen anywhere at any time. As you undoubtedly know, some places feel safe, some do not...but it perception is not always reality when crazies are at play.

I am glad to read that your experiences south of the US border have been positive, and you have not had any issues. Keep it up and happy trails!
Greg

Thanks for commenting, Greg!

Vi really enjoyed Vancouver and the island, and in general the Canadian west. Not too different from Norway I guess, but everything is a little bigger.

I think that as long as there are fanatics in the world, muslim, christian, or racists, insanity like what we saw in Oslo will sometimes surface. We just have to be determined not to let it change the way we want to live.

And for Central and South America, I would say it is absolutely possible to travel in and through these countries without problems. But, yes, you do have to be careful, and you should keep in mind at all times that staying out of trouble is a good thing... Most of the travellers we have met along the way haven't had any bad experiences. The few that did, realized afterwards that they had probably been in the wrong place at the wrong time: camped alone at a beach close to Acapulco, walking home trough the city center after a few drinks late at night, etc. But of course, sometimes sh## just happens...

E

 

[unURBAN]

Lake Titicaca and La Paz, Bolivia

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It was late in the afternoon when we drove from the Bolivian border station. From our maps and notes from other traveller we knew there was a hotel in Copacabana that allowed campers in their parking lot. We paid 30 Bolivianos (4,5 usd) and we could sit in their lounge and enjoy the views of Titicaca in front of the fireplace. And WiFi was included.
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The next morning we had a stroll in the town, and it kind of seemed like low season. Plenty of boats and restaurants, but not many tourists.
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On the way out of town we were stopped at a checkpoint, and they wanted 20 bolivianos before we could pass. After driving in Bolivia for a while now, we have kind of become used to this “municipality tax”. And in most cases, it looks like the Bolivianos (not from the actual town) have to pay as much as us.
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From Copacabana the road ends at a small strait where you have to use a “ferry”. The ferry is a small wooden barge, and it is about 10-12 meters (30-35 ft) long. This would definitely be scary in some waves. The barge was relatively “soft” and moved with the waves, and for a moment we were wondering if this was a bad move. Then we saw the bus, and figured we would be okay…
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About two hours later we drove into El Alto, a suburb of La Paz. The traffic is heavy and chaotic, but not too aggressive. Later in the day I noticed a small scratch on the side of my front steel bumper that hasn't been there before, but I have no idea what or when it happened.
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Our mission in La Paz was a visit to Ernesto Hug's garage to see if he could help us change the bushes in our rear trailing arms. These have been bad for a while, but Nissan in Peru could not get us the needed parts. We punched in the coordinates for his garage, and the Garmin Nuvi took us all the way to his front door. We were even allowed to camp in the garage as long as it took to fix the car.
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About time to change these...
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After a couple of days working on the Patrol we finally drove off from the city center and found our way to Hotel Oberland. This is the overland meeting point in Bolivia, and we found of course some fellow travellers staying there. We spent two nights here before driving on, and we also got to try cheese fondue for the first time as this is a “Swiss” hotel.
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In the next post we'll find out if “the most dangerous road in the world” is as dangerous as they say…
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E&M

 

[Dgurley2000]

In the next post we’ll find out if “the most dangerous road in the world” is as dangerous as they say…

Awesome! Looking forward to the post :lurk:

 

[Creature]

Just read the entire thread, what a great adventure you two are having! Thank you for the updates, is great reading!

 

[Frank]

bobDog and Lykos,

Thanks for commenting, and thanks for the kind words! Nothing as motivating for writing travel journals as knowing that people read them...


E&M

You know, my wife and I were in a book store the other day and of course I was flipping through the magazines. My wife asked me if I wanted to purchase any...my reply was that I was not interested in any of the magazines on the rack. I would rather read reports and threads such as this as my "magazine". Great pictures, great information that isn't edited by an editor and isn't summarized in four or five paragraphs.

(BTW, I think a book is different than a magazine...I still think you should put together a book)

Keep it up! I love your thread!

 

[landcruising]

Please convey my greetings to Ernesto, from the crazy flying Dutchmen in his rusted Land Cruiser!

Adventurous greetings,
Coen

 

[tblackj]

I have not posted here yet but I feel the need to compliment you both on a extremely well written thread. I am a father of two little kids and have a wife and run four companies. I am hoping that one day my life will free up enough for me to take a trip like this. Keep up the articles and let some of us dreamers keep dreaming. I am only sad because I see that your trip is getting closer to ending and I'll have to find somewhere else to go to get my travel fix!

 

[bobDog]

X2 on that.......ending thing. Glad you folks have had such a great trip.

 

[unURBAN]

I have not posted here yet but I feel the need to compliment you both on a extremely well written thread. I am a father of two little kids and have a wife and run four companies. I am hoping that one day my life will free up enough for me to take a trip like this.

Thanks for commenting on our thread! And I would say one of the hardest parts of a long journey like this is actually to leave. It is tough to leave life as you know it behind, not knowing for sure what the next day will bring. However, we like to think about it as an investment; in experiences and quality of life! (we'll see how we think about it when we get back to Norway and start looking for new jobs....)

Keep up the articles and let some of us dreamers keep dreaming. I am only sad because I see that your trip is getting closer to ending and I'll have to find somewhere else to go to get my travel fix!

Still a few months to go!! Chile and Argentina are LONG countries! And who knows what we'll come up with then...

E&M

 

[unURBAN]

Please convey my greetings to Ernesto, from the crazy flying Dutchmen in his rusted Land Cruiser!

Adventurous greetings,
Coen

I think I got his number from one of your posts, actually.... Thanks! And thanks for commenting! Too bad we went for the Pacific route, otherwise we would probably be enjoying a cold one in Guyana or Surinam right now. Next time, next trip....

Safe travels!
E&M

 

[unURBAN]

And Dgurley2000, Creature, Frank, and bobDog:

Keep up reading and we'll keep up writing!

E&M

 

[unURBAN]

Death Road Special!

It took us more than an hour to cross La Paz from Hotel Oberland to Road No. 3 going north east. Today there is a new road going from La Paz, over the La Cumbre pass, and then drop more than 3500 meters (10500 ft) to the town of Coroico. From here it continues north and east into the Amazon jungle.

On our way up to the pass we came across this funny motif of a military troop preparing for a shooting exercise. Notice the local women doing their laundry a few meters away. Hope they aim good…

The view from the pass is stunning, as most of the highlands of South America. More on that particular subject a little later.

The new road is also supposed to be an engineering marvel, but we wanted to find “the old road”, or “The most dangerous road in the world”, as it has been referred to for years. We took off from the paved road onto a small dirtroad, and around a bend we saw it…

The Death Road

We are pretty sure that this really was a scary experience when all the trucks were driving this route. However, these days all the traffic you encounter is downhill cyclists and a pickup truck carrying their lunch and some spare tires.

Still, there is definitely a reason that this road had its share of accidents. The sides are STEEP, and there are no safety fences. We read that the worst accident on the road was a bus dropping off the cliff and killing more than 100 people.

Fortunately we didn't meet any vehicles on our way down, and I guess we will describe the drive as a relativealy average Andean mountain road. Spectacular, but so are they all! (sorry.......)

Down in Coroico we decided to find an alternative route south, and ended up driving rough dirt roads for three days, well beyond any maps (the “best” map; the German Reise Know-How was WAY OFF!).

Our biggest challenge (after trying to find the right way...) was to find fuel.

This part of Bolivia is also known to have the best "chewing coca" in the country. It is a huge area, and we drove along coca fields for hours and hours.

Back on the “overland route” in Ouro, we decided to make a run for it, and drove 610 kilometers to Sucre. Good to fill up in a normal gas station again...

We settled down for a few days in Alberto's garden in the middle of town. This certainly is an oasis in Sucre, but it is not an official camp site. PM us for coordinates. Here we also teamed up with toyotours.com for driving to Uyuni and Ruta de Lagunas. More about that in the next post!

E&M