To drive the officially closed road 40 from Payogasta to San Antonio, was not one of my best ideas.



To prepare the vanished roads at above 4000m heigh, to put big rocks in the rivers to build a passage you can cross... That was way too much for my condition at that height... Stupid to stay in waist-deep in icy water, who try to wash you away. But it brings me further...




Anway. Very important is to wear the right shoes for that conditions.

At the end I meet a passage which I was not able to cross, and had to return. Back to that roadblock from the morning.. Grrrrrrr...





But I made it on a less adventurous road to the Jungle and to the City Salta. Meet too some animals which I didn't want to meet often.

More pictures and my daily diary you can find here:

Adventure-Overland

Surfy

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Play too hard ends usually in a higher repair bill... I was lucky to reach Salta and don't to had an breakdown on a closed Andean-Pass...



However, soon I could drive further.. A beautiful wild camp on a dam wall in the middle of the Jungle...





I`m trying to reach Chile since 3 days, don't have any food in my fridge, because I had hoped to reach the border on the evening, where they usually confiscate my meat and food...



I just try to reach the border of chile, but the landscape was to beautiful to just drive through!



At this evening I drove from 200m attitude to 4200m and finally reach the border at 4pm. But the border crew don't let me pass. The border to chile is close because of fog. I show them my Thermal-Camera and Monitor setup, that I don't had to care about fog or even smoke - but no chance.

I don`t know what was the problem, then the guys coming from Chile could pass the border without any problems.. So I had to Wildcamp with heavy headache, because of doing 4000m attitude within some hours..

More you find like usual at my Blog:
Adventure-Overland

Surfy

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Trans-Africa over the west coast

I did sleep pretty well directly at the border in my Verhicle, so glad that I`m an Overlander. Many other travellers did had to go back to the last village (aprox. 100km) - to find hopefully a bed to sleep.

As i woke up, there was already a long line of vehicles, who want to cross the border too. To bad that I didnt set my sleep camp directly on the street... So I drove to the end of the waiting line who was strongly growing, during my breakfast



After some hours I was able to cross the border and the sun slowly seems to win the fight against the weather and add beatiful colors to the truely fantastic szenery.

This let me forget that they border crew even got my wood, shrink-wrapped salami and a closed marmalade of argentina - stuff which they normally don`t take away.





Like you all did read already, I did run out of food some days ago, and have to restock now urgently. But the desert at 4000m wants to get discovered a bit.



Soon I did recognice, that also my near 300hp vehicle need to drive in the 4low, because at 4000m the power feels pretty limited.

To bad that the border crew even did catch my firewood - otherwise I`m shure that I would have rest a day more around this place. So much to discover her, so many traces in the desert seems to lead to a hidden place.



So I went back to the road, heading to "San Pedro de Atacama" a town who is one of the places who are well known as touristic places, which you find in places like tripadvisor.

What ever they may write about the small town, it is a dusty area, and anyone by feet or car is causing small or bigger dusty trace. Just the surrounding is worth to come here.





Just a small area is closed for cars, and is a bit nicer - but just for selling the usual tourist stuff.



You can book some trips there, buy the usual touristical stuff - but not much more. The Gas station actually is closed, there is no good way to restock food.
There are some small shops, you can buy chips, bread and many things, but if you look for some steaks, firewood and so on - you dont find many options.

To bad - that this issue let me pass this area that quickly, I had to go to the next bigger city another 100km, to Calama. This is a wonderful spot for restocking all stuff we overlanders need:

I got my rear-tyrebag topped up with firewood, got 3kg of "bife the lomo (beef)", sausages ,got onions, corncob, bread, dulce de leche, honey, marmalade, jam, salami, - now I`m ready again for severall days in the wilderness.

Now I`m ready for the next adventure. I did head out of town - to find a wild-camp for the night, and did choose the geyser fields of „El Tatio“ as next target. Because of heavy rain in the last days, the police was not shure if it is possible to reach this area. Offically the road is closed - so I`m in, or?

The day ends at a uninhabited oasis, which just crowded over the day. I had a wonderful meal and a big camp fire at night.

More as usual - in my Travel-Blog: Adventure-Overland

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

At the next day I found a beautiful dirttrack. After 10 miles i did meet a Police car - which I did query about my Route-plan. "You can try" - thats sounds again like a challenge. So I did follow the track.





Looks I should start to navigate not only with the offline satellite Images on my IPad. I have too offline track & terrainmaps which Shows sometimes a bit more about the route...



Also with near 300 hp I did miss some power after leaving 3500m height in the andes. These steep hills are easyer to climb with Speed, but I had to use 4lo - and sometimes i had to go back and to try another path - also with 2 difflocks & muddies.

Since hours i didnt see a house or Person - an absolutely beautiful area and track!!





Beautiful Colors who you can also see in Iceland.



From the geysers I would have expected a little more, the Hotpod facilities seemed a little unkempt - and the water was for me wimps definitely too cold. So off to the mountains - the track will ultimately lead somewhere.

At a junction, I chose the way further into the mountains - but after another 20km, I discovered that the other track lead deep into a valley - what attracted me magically. So let's turn around and return.

During a short Navigation break some offroaders did meet up. The Offroad Club from Calama. We had a nice Chat, but they told me that my track will have a dead end, and it will be hard to climb up again under this conditions as a single car.



To drive back the same route - Sound great to me - it was such a great ride!

More you will find at the blog as usual: Adventure-Overland

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

I never did finish the trip description in english - time during corona to complete!
---------------------------

I had lost a lot of time, had to be in 4 days in La Paz where my GF will arrive. And I had to head back - many miles more in front of me.

Had a lot of fun while pushing over dirttracks - having fun has mostly their own cost....







After 4 hours having a lot of fun, with pushing with speed over dirt - something broke: My engine hood get hood hangs crooked.

Later I recognize that that Part is broken: Toyota Parts 53420-60050 Hood Hinge Assembly

How easy will the replacement be in Bolivia? Hopefully I`m able to follow my plans with tight timeframe....

I got it welded at a small mechanic at the road side - and did drive again with a bit less speed in direction of bolivia.

Blogpost of the day in German with more pictures: PPP und die Panamericana

With doing more harder offroad stuff - and with speeding in dirt my repair bill starts to get more expensive:

These Parts wasnt available in Salta and my german mechanic has listed the repair parts till today - and my GF will try to bring them from Switzerland, if the parts will arrive quick enough.

53420-60050 Hood Hinge Assembly 43,24€

88710-6B580 Tube Assy, Air Conditioner 340,91€

88460-60400 CONDENSER ASSY 499,15€

That is was can happen - if you have fun during offroad driving.

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast