Click on a photo to enlarge it.
02. - 15.10.2019: Back in Uruguay. Via Brazil and Argentina to Encarnacion, Paraguay
We flew back to Uruguay in South America for our fifth season with our motor home that had been left in storage. We were due to be picked up by taxi from Montevideo airport but our taxi wasn't there when we arrived. According to Timo from UY Storage we were supposed to share a taxi with two other Germans who were flying in from Madrid. It got a bit complicated because the only flight from Madrid had landed two hours before we arrived and we weren't sure if the others had already taken the taxi!
So we contacted Timo who gave us the number for the other Germans, Regina and Wolfgang, who were less than 5 metres away from us when we phoned - we could hear their phone ringing!! They flew from Sao Paulo not Madrid and had been on the same flight as us!!!
Our taxi arrived a few minutes later and our driver, Gabriel, also took us to Tienda Inglesa, a large supermarket that sells various goodies from Germany and England, so that we could pick up supplies. There aren't any shops near to the storage place so we were really happy we could buy food and share the taxi costs aswell. Instead of $60 for the taxi for the two of us, it cost us only $45 including the extra shopping trip. Double bonus!
Winnietwo was already waiting for us on the campground and we were hugely relieved that everything was fine inside. We just needed to wipe off a film of dust that had accumulated as we had left our skylight partially open to avoid mould.
We stayed for two nights on the campground, mainly to catch up on sleep after our long haul flights. Our plan was to drive up to Ecuador and Colombia and we were going to go via Bolivia but decided to go via Paraguay instead so we could see Claudia and Uwe. They were already in Independencia looking after Bruno and Renate's house again. So we drove through Uruguay and spent several nights on various free campgrounds along the way and then went through Brazil and Argentina to get into Paraguay.
16.10. - 07.11.2019: Independencia - Altos - Asunción (Paraguay)
We spent 9 nights visiting our friends along with their lovely dog Mia (we're her number one fans!) and also met Lola, Bruno and Renate's dog. Claudia and Uwe also have three horses to look after! Pia, another traveller we know, was also there with her dog Arcas, staying in the bungalow whilst her husband Werner was getting various repairs done on their motorhome.
We also managed to get a few repairs done as there is a very good mechanic nearby. Egon was born in Paraguay but has worked for 20 years in Germany as a mechanic and has worked on a lot of Fiat Ducatos in his time. We needed an oil change, new diesel filter and air filter which we had with us. Our axle covers needed replacing again. They'd only just been done before we put our motor home in storage and we hadn't even driven 1,000 km. Egon told us they were the wrong size!! Our exhaust needed to be soldered and re-bent to stop it from banging against the rim. We sounded like a helicopter every time we stopped for a red light!!
We also needed a new belt and a new pipe for the water to wash our windscreen as our old one had simply dried up and fallen apart! As far as the knocking noise from the front right side every time we turned hard left or right was concerned, UY storage had said it could possibly be our universal joint but Egon said that was fine. What we needed was a new buffer in the joint. He wouldn't be able to get one here but he knew a man who could make one!! Wow - a human 3D printer??
Last but not least we needed to get our lights sorted out at the back - the back left side wasn't working and Egon needed to solder a connection and replace a bulb. Including new windscreen wipers, the whole lot cost only $170 US (approx £130) including around 8 or 9 hours labour. Not bad huh?
Regula came to stay in Independencia for a night but had to return to Hasta La Pasta because she was selling her motorhome. So she didn't have much time because she had to get back to meet up with the future owners and sort everything out. We only stayed for another two nights and then drove to Hasta La Pasta ourselves. We only planned to stay a couple of nights to see Marion and René but the temperature soared over 40°C and we knew that going to Asunción would be unbearable. It gets around 5 degrees warmer there!! So we ended up staying 11 nights.
Sylvia and Erich were also there - we had met them in our first year in South America on the way south to Ushuaia but hadn't seen them since. Regula was now staying in the bungalow and was having a hard time saying goodbye to her motorhome which we could completely understand. The new owners are a newly married couple from Holland and Switzerland.
We could have spent weeks there as its the best campground in south America but we really needed to get going otherwise we'd never make it to Ecuador and Colombia in the north!
We had to change our route north because all of a sudden there was unrest in several countries virtually at the same time! In Ecuador thousands went on the streets to protest against the rise in petrol prices because the Government scrapped subsidies. The protests turned violent and a curfew was imposed. The president was forced to reverse his decision which was good for us as we wanted to visit!
But then we had a problem of which route to take to get to Ecuador. Our first choice was to drive through Bolivia but there had just been an election where President Morales had used illegal means to try and win it. The result was that people went out onto the streets to protest and the borders were closed! Two people at Hasta La Pasta had just about managed to get out of Bolivia with the last drops of diesel in their tank. No petrol station would serve foreigners as they wanted to keep the petrol and diesel for the locals, something we could completely understand. But that meant we couldn't go that route north.
So we thought we'd go through Argentina and Chile ... next problem. In Chile their president had just increased bus and metro fares which lead to ... you guessed it. Everyone went out onto the streets to protest and those protests also turned violent with road blocks and a lot of damage, particularly in the capitol Santiago. And ... Argentina was due to vote!!! Aargh!
South America had been relatively peaceful except for Venezuela and yet all of a sudden several countries were up in arms for various reasons and we were wondering what on earth was going on! How were we going to get north?
We left Hasta La Pasta and drove down to Asunción where we got our windscreen repaired. We'd been hit by a stone being thrown up from a new road in Uruguay and we wanted to get it sorted out before we went into high altitude and possibly very cold temperatures that could cause the whole windscreen to crack. We ended up paying a tourist price of $34 US but there aren't many places who do such repairs.
We stayed for two nights at our usual spot - Hotel Westphalia. On the first evening we met up with our friends Chantell and Cesar and had a meal together at the hotel. They live around the corner from the hotel and we always enjoy getting together with them to catch up on what's happening.
We kept our eye on the news and it seemed that the election in Argentina didn't cause any protests and seemed like everyone was happy to have Christine Kirchner back in the government despite possibly being responsible for the financial crisis that has caused the country so many problems. So we decided to drive through Argentina and Chile, hoping that the protests in the Chile would either die down or not affect the area where we would be.
On the way to the border we stopped at Casa Rica where a lot of German food items are stocked so that we could pick up lots of apple strudels. Unfortunately for Kirsten, they didn't have any Christmas Stollen yet! (Christmas marzipan bread) She'll have to wait till next Christmas!!
07. - 10.11.2019: Argentinian Chaco - Purmamarca - Paso de Jama - Salinas Grandes
The border officials were all very nice to us - unusual because they tend to be a bit grumpy! We had two officials checking through the inside of our motorhome and were intent on knocking on every wall/floor surface and looking through cupboards. Normally they just take a cursory look! At least there are no restrictions on apple strudel. So they're safe! Phew!
Then we headed initially south towards Formosa and drove straight into a hefty rain storm. It bucketed down sooo much that our new windscreen wipers just couldn't go fast enough to get rid of all the water. I could barely see and also had to contend with big lorries coming in the other direction who sprayed us with sheets of water!! Yikes! Welcome to Argentina!!
Then we turned west and headed through the Argentinian Chaco - a large area of desert and few towns. We were not looking forward to that part of the trip which is why we'd wanted to go through Bolivia. There are not many places where we could stay and the heat was unbearable. It was over 40°C by day but in the sun it was even hotter. At night we had to cope with 33°C.
The scenery isn't particularly inspiring as we drove through the dusty, heat scorched area where there are only a few towns inhabited by poor indigenous people. We had to slow down for cows, goats or pigs crossing the road but barely saw other vehicles. Unfortunately we went through an area where there were lots of dead calves and goats on both sides of the road every 5 metres or so. The road is raised and there is quite a dip on either side which is where all the dead animals were. My only guess was that there must have been a flash flood and the young calves and goats had been caught in the dip and couldn't get out. It was very spooky.
Thank goodness the road had been recently re-surfaced and except for two small areas was really good to drive. As a result we managed to smash our driving record and drove 560km in one day!! Our previous record had been 412km. It meant we got through the Chaco in 2 days and stayed overnight on petrol station forecourts.
For the second night we'd managed to get to the outskirts of the Chaco but didn't like the look of the first petrol station and went to another in the next town. Kirsten got out to direct me into a parking slot but nearly started retching ... a horrible stench hit her, possibly from some meat going off in the heat!! Yuk! So we ended up driving another 45km to another petrol station, and this time there were no smells!! Kirsten went straight into the shop and bought an ice cream to cool down!!
Once we'd parked up I went into the shop and sat inside to eat my ice cream so that I could cool down a bit. It was still 35°C even though it was going dark! At least we had no problems staying there but the WiFi wasn't really good enough to watch our football team play the next morning. We had to follow a live written report instead.
Afterwards we headed towards the hills and cooler weather and stocked up at a supermarket en route. We got to Pumamarca in the afternoon and could finally breathe in cooler air. We were up at around 2350m and the temperature inside our motorhome fell from 36°C down to 24°C quite quickly. Wow! It felt really good!! I went out for a walk to see the colourful mountains. Kirsten also went for a jog and we made a soup for our evening meal. It had been so hot over the last few days that we haven't cooked. We've been living off fruit, muesli and bread.
Overnight the temperature went down to 11°C so we needed a quilt and a fleece blanket! Brrrr! Now we're cold!! Then we overslept! We had a long driving day of around 380km the following day so we should have set the alarm. Fortunately the sun woke me up at 9-30am and I got a shock when I saw what time it was. After a quick cuppa and fruit with muesli we set off at
10-45am.
We had already been over the Paso de Jama between Chile and Argentina but we had driven from Chile and we had hit fog and cloud by the time we got to the switchbacks and didn't quite make it all the way down to Pumamarca. This time we were driving in the opposite direction and the weather was good so we finally got to see the switchbacks in all their glory. Great drive.
Salina Grandes - 360° Panorama
(move mouse over panorama and click on the arrows)
We stopped at the Salinas Grandes for photos and videos. It's the third largest salt flat in the world and the largest in Argentina. It covers an area of over 500-sq-km some 3400m above sea level. The former lake that dried up in the Holocene era is now a crust of salt up to half a metre thick.
Traditional tools such as axes, shovels and spades are used to open rectangular pools 50cm deep to extract the salt crystals. A pool produces around 2.5 tonnes of salt a year. Once the extracted salt has been dried by the sun, it is piled into mounds and packed into 50kg sacks. The price of a tonne of unrefined salt is $18. It takes around a day and a half. The salt is sold in Argentina's Southern provinces where the kilo price is $1.50.
Work conditions in the Salinas Grandes are hard. In 40°C temperatures and at an altitude of almost 3500m, strong winds burn the skin and the salt dust erodes the lungs if inhaled. Salt miners wear balaclavas to minimise these harsh effects.
From December to March the salt valley lies under water during the rainy summer season. For the rest of the year a few dozen local men make a living here extracting the 95% pure sodium chloride. Most of the workers are indigenous Quechua people. They have been working here for generations and live precariously on the outskirts of the salt mines.
And the future will change everything for the people and the landscape here. Large mining companies from all around the world are currently trying to buy the rights for mining lithium - the white gold - which is a key ingredient in high-tech batteries that power cellphones, electric cars and other products. Salinas Grandes is one of the most lithium-rich places on earth and Argentina has the third largest lithium reserves after Chile and China.
But the 33 indigenous communities in the Salinas Grandes area are trying to protect their land and their rights. Lithium extraction requires drilling holes in the salt flats to extract salt water from the centre. To do that they need fresh water from surrounding areas. Precious water needed for the survival of people and animals will be lost.
Up at 3500m you need to be careful in the sun because it reflects off the salt flats and you can quickly end up with sunburn! We got up to the border at 4480m at 3-30pm and stopped at a petrol station to use up our last Argentinian pesos in diesel. It was also coffee time.
Border formalities were dealt with within 30 minutes and the officers were really friendly. They are probably happy that tourists are still visiting despite the recent unrest. After the border the road goes up over 4830m and we stopped for photos of two James flamingoes that were close to the road. Normally they are too far away to be seen.
At km 72 we stopped for a photo of the ALMA radio antennas that are up on the 5100m high Chajnantor plateau. Then it's basically downhill. We had a super sunset on the way but had to drive the last part in the dark. Fortunately we already knew where our parking spot for the night was because we've stopped here before. So there was no problem finding it in the dark. It's about 15 km before San Pedro de Atacama on the Chilean side of the pass.
We were pretty exhausted after driving 1500km over the last four days so we decided to stay an extra night here. Kirsten went out to take photos and a small lizard ran under our motorhome - that's why she saw all the grease and oil! Our axle cover had come off on the right hand side and all the oil and grease had leaked out. It took a while but we managed to get it back on but have no way of fixing it on properly. So we were hoping it would simply stay on. We'll find out over the next few days I guess!
12. - 13.11.2019: Highway CH5 to Arica
Well our axle cover stayed on and we drove straight through Chile over the next few days. On our way through the large mining city of Calama we saw the first signs of road blocks. Most of them had been moved aside but we could see the damage on the tarmac from burning tyres that people had used. Some tyres were still smoking so they must have been on fire recently.
One set of large blocks were still blocking one of the roads so I followed a local vehicle over onto the wrong side of a dual carriageway so we could turn off further down the road. We were going to the tourist office for mine tours. The Chuquicamata copper mine is the largest in the world and the last time we were here, two years ago, there were no tours taking place because a new tour company was taking over and hadn't started doing tours yet.
When we parked outside the office we spoke to a security guard who told us that the tours had been stopped because of the unrest and might start up again in a weeks time. So for the second time we weren't able to get to see the mine. Oh well, maybe third time lucky??
On the way to a large Jumbo supermarket we passed a large group of female protesters - maybe students protesting about fees? Chile is supposedly one of the most stable countries in south America but the difference between rich and poor is one of the worst on the continent and getting even worse. The protests started off because of higher train and bus costs in the capital but then continued because of other issues. The protests had already been going on for at least 2 or 3 weeks and there had been 10 deaths.
We drove north through the desert and stopped at some petroglyphs where we chatted to three German women who'd rented a small camper for two weeks. They'd started off in Santiago but hadn't seen much of the protests going on.
The next day we stopped at a petrol station near Pozo Almonte to fill up with water. Two German travellers in another Ducato told us they'd wanted to stop here overnight the previous night but there was a road block and people were attacking cars with sticks. They even heard shots being fired! They had turned around and headed away from the area to find a different spot for the night! Good job we'd stayed at the petroglyphs!
We drove further north through the desert and had another quiet night at the Presencias Tutelares which are some sandstone sculptures about 20km south of Arica. We would be out of Chile tomorrow and into Peru - a country we haven't been to for 17 years!
Cross Countries: our long drive through five countries of South America
