Illiniza Norte, Ecuador - one of our planned climbs during our trip A lengthy road trip like this one has many moving parts, and trying to put a plan together while still allowing for some flexibility to stop and enjoy local sites and culture presents a unique challenge. Another complicating factor is the short time in which we have to cover a long distance - most overland trips are completed over the period of several months, not five and a half short weeks.
We have found five main components to our trip planning: 1) Purchasing a vehicle; 2) Shipping and importing said vehicle; 3) Route Planning (including modes of transportation, road conditions, locations of sites of interest, accommodation, gas stations and border crossings); 4) Navigation while on the road; 5) Disposal of vehicle at the end of the trip. Over the next seven or eight weeks, we will delve into these topics a little further in order to give you an idea of our preparation for the trip, what we hope to see and do, and, once we are on the road, how our experiences actually differ from our plans (with predictably hilarious results!). The great advantage in preparing for this adventure is the wealth of resources available on the internet - in this case, our motto "Ordinary guys, boldly going where others have gone before" is right on target. There are at least a dozen websites dedicated solely to overland trips; these websites list the good, the bad and the ugly of life on the road in South America, and have provided the basis for much of our trip planning. Need a step-by-step tutorial on how to get your car imported into Colombia and out of port in Cartagena? It's right there, with pictures and maps. Need to know the road conditions between San Pedro de Atacama and Cerro Toco? Look no further, with a Youtube video to boot. One thing we know for sure - no amount of planning will prepare us for the unexpected, memorable experiences that we will encounter on our trip...
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Once we decided on a road trip, the search was on for a reliable 4 wheel drive vehicle that would be able to transport us (in relative comfort) 11,000 kms over mountains, through deserts and on a wide variety of roads, ranging from smooth asphalt to washboard gravel.
We decided we would purchase a vehicle in North America and have it shipped to South America - this would give us some familiarity with the car, and some time to "break it in". Simply put, buying a used car on the spot in a foreign county where your Spanish language skills consist of "My shaved monkey will pay" is a recipe for disaster. In the coming weeks and months, we will relate our experiences on shipping our vehicle to Colombia, which promises to be an adventure in itself. The most important factor when car shopping was to find a vehicle that we would be able to service in South America - after reading a lot of overlander blogs, we learned that finding compatible parts for a North American vehicle is often a challenge. That brought us to two choices - either an early 2000's Toyota 4Runner, or a Nissan Pathfinder of the same vintage. Five weeks of scouring Auto Trader and Kijiji and a dozen or so test drives in Winnipeg gave us an idea of what the local market held for these types of automobiles - slim pickings... David would often take his nine year old son Daniel along on the test drives, and Daniel would give his (brutally) honest opinion on the car directly to the seller. This good cop, bad cop routine went on for a few test drives, until Daniel gave his opinion on a particularly beat up 2000 Nissan Pathfinder to the heavily tattooed, 300 pound biker who wanted to sell his vehicle. After that point, Daniel was told that his opinions should be stated quietly to his dad. Finally, the right vehicle appeared in mid-March - a one-owner 2002 Nissan Pathfinder SE. After some appropriate haggling, we had our vehicle! Bob graciously offered to drive the vehicle over the summer in order for us to find any niggles or quirks, and the vehicle continues to perform well, after another 10,000 kms. The most important part of our story fell into place quickly - what were we going to name our vehicle? Adam swiftly came up with Manuel before he even saw the Pathfinder. The Spanish play on words with Manual transmission seemed like the a natural choice, especially since the vehicle is an automatic! So Manuel it is.... The final piece in the puzzle was a personalized license plate - as you can see, nothing screams "TURISTA!" more than a license plate that says GRINGOS. The plate has already garnered some laughs (and even a selfie) and is definitely a conversation point, especially with people who speak Spanish. Here's hoping Manuel can carry us through South America safely and easily! "Where are you going next?"
This is often the first question that gets asked by friends, co-workers and clients after we arrive back from one of our adventures. This question is also asked, sometimes with much less enthusiasm, by family. There is often more than one answer to this question - while David and Adam have enjoyed some memorable adventures together, they each have embarked upon "solo projects" with other friends and family members. Most recently, Adam and his daughter Sophie conquered the Canadian Arctic, while earlier in the year David and his wife Anne traveled to Peru to trek on the Inka Trail. However, it's now time to talk about getting the band back together (apologies to the Blues Brothers). Back we go to August, 2014 and a small three star hotel in Istanbul. We had just arrived in Turkey after a rather hasty 1:00 am departure from Southern Russia, fresh from Mount Elbrus where we had been climbing just a few hours before. A quick shower, a meal , a few toasts of vodka and before we knew it we were in Turkey. After collapsing, exhausted, into our own rooms and enjoying our first sleep (alone) in a real bed in a week, the email came in (we will not divulge which Flatlander sent the email and which one received it) - the header said "9 of South America's Most Legit Road Trips". One click, and we had the basis for our next trip, before the last one was even finished. The idea of making our next adventure a road trip seemed like a natural evolution - we have embarked upon our previous trips to climb mountains, but the summit is often overshadowed by experiences and events that are more related to the people we have met and the places we have visited. To try and combine these experiences was to be our next challenge - and hopefully we have succeeded. After a lot of planning, our adventure began to take shape about a year ago - South America is a vast continent with very different geography, cultures and political climates. Priorities included spending time in Patagonia, as well as in Ecuador, and after that our route began to fall into place. In the coming months, we'll fill you in on the specifics of the trip, our trusty steed Manuel, and the trials and tribulations of getting a vehicle from Canada to South America. When we are on the road, we will post here regularly, and also maintain a daily log of our travels on our Facebook page. In the meantime, Adam is busy learning how to say "My shaved monkey will pay" in Spanish. Cheers. |