New Blog Address

I have been having major computer problems for the past few weeks,  and as a result I have just splashed out and bought a new computer. I went with an Apple Mac because I thought if I was going to learn 2 new systems in Windows 8 and then Windows 10 in a couple of months time, I might as well see how I got on learning a Mac !!  Anyway, the result is that my Blog here is now presently unable to be worked on from my new computer (until I can find someone to help me) so I am starting a new blog called "And on to Europe....", and the address for it is https://explorineurope.blogspot.co.uk

So if you want to bookmark that, that is where I will be posting from now on.
However I will finish putting the Best of the Best into this current blog, so this is then a complete record of this recent trip to South America.

Thanks for your patience, and look forward to having you join me in Europe. Next week I am off to France, and then up to Scandinavia and the Arctic Circle for the summer ! 

See you there,

Giles

0260 On a Narrow Boat on the UK canals

UPDATE 8th July 2015.   I have reentered this post and photos into my new blog from Europe, so please look there for details of my adventures -  https://explorineurope.blogspot.co.uk





The body of this blog will be written shortly, but I just wanted to get the photos up.

Photos are here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0260NarrowBoatOnCanals?authkey=Gv1sRgCMXXloSBzt3KGQ

0255 Best of the Best Part 3 - Cartagena to Santiago

South America - Cartagena to Santiago.

10^th October – 19^th December 2014.  71 days, 5 countries, and 11,006 kilometres.

We flew to Cartagena Columbia on a Friday, the ship carrying our car arrived that evening, and not only did the port not work at weekends, but Monday was a National Day holiday, so it was Tuesday 14^th before we could even start our paperwork trail to release our car. Due to inefficiencies by our agent, idiocy in the port, and delays in customs, it was 3 frustrating days before we finally drove our cars out of the docks on the evening of Thursday 16^th.  We even had a Spanish speaking Peruvian with us, so it was not a lack of Spanish language that delayed us ! The up side was that Cartagena is a GREAT city, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there, in a great little hotel, good restaurants, and so much history to explore – And Francis Drake the infamous English pirate (?) plundered here too ! 

0254 Best of the Best Part 2 - Mexico and Central America

Mexico and Central America.

29^th July – 9^th October 2014.  73 days, 6 countries, and 9,808 kilometres.

After getting some pesos from a cambio man, a pleasant early morning border crossing into Mexico at Mexicali saw me headed south on the quiet Hwy 5 by noon, with the heat building steadily, and headed towards Mike’s Sky Rancho up in the mountains that I had been told about by some bikers. After experiencing my first Military checkpoint and inspection without too much hassle, I headed into the mountains.  A big stop for competitors in the Baja 1000, the Rancho was now deserted, but cool, and a good place to let the ambience of Mexico soak in for a couple of days. The 20 km dirt road in is best done on a bike or a good 4WD, but only adds to the experience. 

0252 Best of the Best Part 1 - Alaska, Canada, and the Lower 48

Best of the Best Part 1.  Alaska, Canada, and the Lower 48.

BEFORE I START :-

Where do you begin when you’re trying to condense one of the most incredible years of your life into a few short paragraphs, when you try to condense some 5000 photos of that year  into just 300 of the best ones  ? – And those are the numbers just for part one of this Best of the Best !!  And to make it more difficult, virtually every single one of those 365 days contained a highlight, and on every single one of those days you were actively doing something amazing ?  Consequently, in a summary like this, a lot has to get glossed over, or worse still, left out completely – And that just detracts from the whole memory and experience.  But this summary, and indeed this whole blog over the past year, has not been intended solely for our family and friends, enabling them to keep up with our travels, and to vicariously share and enjoy them with us, but more importantly (and selfishly !) it has been for my own benefit.  If I did not write down the many adventures, and sort out the photos on a daily basis, then I would have quickly forgotten the details due to my increasing senility. This blog, and this “Best of the Best” summary, will also enable us to relive every moment of the journey whenever we want, remembering the great times, the wonderful people we met along the way, and that means that the journey need never end................

0251 The end of this part of the adventure

I will start a new blog for Europe.  I will finalise it shortly and post the new address link.

At the end of my 13 month Americas Adventure, I have tried to summarize my trip. I am longwinded, so it would take a very long time for anyone to try to read my whole original blog from start to finish.  So, as I did with my Alaska 2012 blog, I have tried to summarize the trip into smaller, more easily digestible pieces, giving a rough outline of the trip, and trying to get just the best photos.  Unfortunately it is still quite long - Well, it was a long trip, and to trim it down to just 2 pages of writing and 20 or 30 photos is absolutely impossible.  Well, it is for me !  So I have done four last posts - A Best of the Best Parts 1-4.  One for USA and Canada, one for Central America (Mexico to Panama), one for South America down to Santiago, and one for South America from Santiago to the end in Uruguay.

I hope you enjoy it.  I have certainly enjoyed doing it, despite daily wifi and computer battles !   I use the blog a lot to remind me of what we have done and seen - Without the blog and all the photos, much of the Adventure would be forgotten - Especially as my mind finds it harder and harder to remember everything !  And that would be a shame. 

We now look forward to the next Adventure - Europe 2015 !!  I hope you can share it with us. 

0250 Sea Voyage across the Atlantic

2nd May - 2nd June 2015  Sea Voyage across the Atlantic

3.5.15    S35.04.13.5   W55.04.58.21

2.30 pm    Off Punta del Este, Uruguay

Hardly any sleep.  Breakfast of bread, cheese and coffee, then up on deck to watch for departure.  Car loading ramp pulled up slowly at about 9 am.  Depart Montevideo at 10 am.  2 tugs to pull us off the jetty in high, cold winds.  Chinese fishing vessel unloading frozen tuna beside us straight into a refrigerated 40ft container.  Bulk tanker loading with wheat.  Head out of harbour. Lunch at 11 am, then siesta in cabin as we sail up the coast, past the campsite of the past 3 weeks, and past the mountain we climbed outside Piriapolis 2 weeks ago.  Heading up the coast to Paranagua, south of Sao Paulo.  Quite a lot of movement due to high winds whipping seas up.  No stabilisers on commercial vessels !!

0249 Paraiso Suizo to Grande Amburgo, Montevideo

2^nd May Paraiso Suizo to Grande Amburgo, Montevideo

We finally depart Uruguay and get on board our ship to Europe

Thank goodness I had packed up my rear awning and tent in the sunshine yesterday, because tonight it rained and everything  would have got wet just before I had to leave it packed up on the ship for 4 weeks !  As we didn’t have to be at the port till 2.30 pm, we had a leisurely pack up, and after saying goodbye to everyone who was on a different ship over the next few days, Franz & Ingrid in the Unimog, and I eventually set off at about noon, with a plan to stop at the supermercado in Aventida en route to buy some wine.  We had heard a rumour that there was limited or no alcohol available on the ship, so we decided to stock up a little in case, and if the rumour turned out to be false, we could always take it with us into Europe and drink in later !

0248 Waiting, waiting, waiting.....

17th April - 1st May 

It is now beginning to be a bit frustrating, waiting on the Grande Amburgo to arrive.  The car has been cleaned, and trying to make the food last until the ship comes is proving a little tiresome.  I went back into Piriapolis on the 22^nd April for hopefully one last shop.  It was nice to just get out of the camp site for a while, and I went into town past the old church I had photographed previously.  When I had mentioned this church to Heinz (the camp site owner) previously, he had explained to me that it is actually “being built”, not an old ruin !  But when I say “being built”, it is actually not being currently worked on – An interesting tale…….

0247 Around Paraiso Suizo

16^th April 2015
I climb a mountain and find a Jaguar "at it" !

While it is peaceful sitting around the campsite, chatting to like-minded people, and generally relaxing, there comes a time when something needs to be done.  First of all, one needs to go to a supermarket to buy some more beer and wine to enable one to keep on relaxing.  (And also some more food supplies, of course).  Additionally, one feels a need for some exercise for other parts of your body than your drinking arm !  With this in mind, Swiss friends Simone and Michael and myself agreed to combine a trip to the shops in Piriapolis (about 15 kms down the road) with a climb of Cerro Pan de Azucar, Uruguay’s third highest mountain.  So I dusted off my crampons and oxygen tanks, and we set off for an adventure.

0246 Punta del Diablo to Jaureguiberry

10th April 2015
Almost the end of an amazing journey……..

Well the morning certainly didn’t go as expected !  The Army soldier from last night didn’t come back before I was ready to leave with any stickers or patches as he had promised, and then when I set off out of the park I went out on a totally different road from that on which I had entered last night, and not only found a very impressive fort, but shortly afterwards got pulled up by soldier at a guard house who requested paperwork I didn’t have before he would let me out of the park !   This looked like being an interesting day !!

0245 Rio Grande Brazil ro Punta del Diablo, Uruguay

9^TH April 2015
Into Uruguay for another day full of surprises.

Today I crossed in to my sixteenth different country since I started this adventure almost exactly a year ago.  But it was actually my 32^nd border crossing – Not counting going back to Australia at Christmas.  It will be my last border crossing – Until I get to Europe, anyway ! .    And I have to say it was one of the easiest and most pleasant, although maybe not the quickest.

0244 Gramado to Rio Grande

8^TH April 2015 

From the mountains to the sea

After breakfast and packing up, and a quick visit into the rabbit infested hotel lobby to get my blog up to date and do the banking from home (yes, some things never change !), I hit the road out of Gramado.  The first couple of hours down towards Porto Alegre were winding and slow, through little country villages – Many of which were seemingly of German origin, as well as a number of German style breweries advertising their brews. 

0243 Canela and Gramado

7th April 2015
A crazy day in Toy Town

After getting myself sorted at the camp site, I headed in to town to find out what all the Easter Bunnies and Chocolate are about.  And having spent most of the day in there, I have to admit that “I don’t know” !!

 

 

 

 

0242 Florianopolis to Canela

6^th April
From the tropical coast to the freezing mountains

I ended up spending Saturday and Sunday on Florianopolis.  Saturday I just lazed around and read my Kindle and walked on the beach, and then on Sunday I went to explore the northern part of the island, and alternative possible camp sites.  When I woke up it was trying to rain, and by the time I got going, it was raining quite hard, so it was just as good to be driving around in it as sitting in a camp site !

0241 Registro to Florianopolis

3^rd April 2015  

Mountains, jungles, and beachside resorts !

Last night had to be one of the noisiest nights ever in a roadside gas station !  I got a couple of hours sleep to start with but was woken up around midnight, and when I pulled back the curtains I looked out at about 100 big tourist coaches all parked up nearby, and disgorging 1000’s of tourists !  They must have all been heading somewhere for the Easter weekend, and have stopped for a midnight break, because by 2 am they were all gone again and it was back to peace and quiet ! But I haven’t seen so many big coaches all in one place ever before, I don’t think.  I got back to sleep again once they were all gone, and woke up later to have my breakfast, and a great shower in the services centre, before hitting the road.  Some of these freeway fuel stops in Brasil are superb, with shops, restaurants, wifi, and really great and clean shoers and facilities.  Some other countries could take lessons from these.

0240 Ubatuba to Registro

2^nd  April 2015
Miles of gorgeous coastline in Brazil

I got up slightly earlier than usual and went with Giovanna in the car when she took Pedro to school. After dropping him off, we made a quick stop at the local panaderia for bread, some for breakfast and some for me to take with me, and then headed back to the house. After the usual filling breakfast and great coffee that Giovanna makes each morning,  I said my goodbyes and set off down the road at about 9 am. I had enjoyed 8 wonderful days with Mauro, Giovanna, Leticia and Pedro – They could not have made me more welcome in their home. And it has enabled me to get a real feel for southern Brazil – a place not unlike Queensland in so many ways.  But it was time to start heading back to Montevideo to catch my ship to Europe, and while I have plenty of time to get there, I want to leave some spare time up my sleeve in case I find somewhere nice to stop for a few days – Or even in case something untoward delays me !!

0239 In the jungles of Ubatuba

1^st AprIl 2015
Into the Brazilian jungle with The Medicine Man !

Some days ago Mauro had said we should go for a walk up a local mountain – but he had not told me what was involved.  Then yesterday, while we were shopping in Ubatuba, we had met Washington, a friend of Mauro’s, in a shop, and we arranged to go up and see him the next morning.  So I presumed this was instead of the mountain walk.  So after our usual hearty breakfast, Mauro and I head off in his 4x4 – But at the bottom of his lane we do a V turn, and head up a dirt track right behind Mauro’s house !  Within 2 minutes the dirt track had deteriorated and Mauro was in low ratio 4 WD as we chugged up steep muddy inclines, through fords, and with the jungle encroaching all around us more and more as we headed up the hill.  Where on earth were we going ???

0238 Ubatuba

28^th – 31^st March 

Presents, surfing, and birthday lunches

After breakfast, Leticia gave  me a present – A lovely little plate with “Ubatuba” written on it, and a picture of two  little fishes making eyes at each other – And signed by Leticia !  Gorgeous.  It my take me a while to get it home, but I know I will find a great place to display it when I get there ! Thank you, Leticia !

Soon afterwards we set off up the road, back to Itamambuca Beach for another

surf.  This time Giovanna came with us as well – Not because she wanted to go surfing, but because she wanted to just sit on the beach !  She settled down with a fresh coconut drink while Mauro and Leticia went surfing !

It was lovely to see Mauro and Leticia going into the surf together, and even catching a first way in together – And I was lucky to get a photo of it ! 

0237 Off to the beach in Brasil

27^th March 2015
We go surfing at  Itamambuca Beach

Mauro and Leticia were going surfing this morning, so I went with them to see how it is done in Brasil !  We went to Itamambuca beach about 15 minutes north out of Ubatuba, and this is a private beach which is part of a gated housing community.

I wasn’t in the mood to hit the surf myself (I hadn't brought my special

board wax), but it was a lovely beach, and I spent most of the first hour splashing around at the water’s edge, trying to get photos of Mauro ad Letitia surfing.  The problem is that with my (increasingly poor) eyesight, bright sunshine, and not exactly the most ideal camera, it was hard to see who I was taking photos of !  But I got a few really good ones (not all of Mauro and Letitia, as you can see from the pics !) before my camera battery went flat………