Brazil: You can purchase a road book at any corner newspaper stand -- it is called Rodoviario Quatra Rodas and costs 22 reals (less then US$7)-- there is no better map for Brasil. This is not the guide book, but only the map book. It is a map book updated every year, divided by states, with excellent detail, and a variety of mileage grids at the back. It has about 56 pages of maps. City maps are only show the main roads, but that is the only thing that is not excellent. The same company also makes a guide book (Guia 4 Rodas), which lists hotels and comes with a huge (but detailed) fold out map -- the locals swear by the guide, but we found the most economical hotel recommendations a bit pricy for our budget. Stick with the usual foreign guide. Lastly, Quatra Rodas also makes a guide called Praias (beaches), also updated annually, rating the beaches (1 to 4), and very close detail of roads (1 page covers about 70km). It was a gift, but would guess similar pricing (20-24 reals).
http://www.uol.com.br/portalviagem/s...as/index.shtml

Merca-Sur (?) -- Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brasil: There is a map book we bought in a book store in Buenos Aires. It is about 60 pages of maps, and gives better detail of Argentina (some 36 pages) as it is made in AR, but the detail in other countries is still very good -- highly recommend. I have seen it with more than one cover, but do not recall the name(s). We found in a good book store, and paid 20 pesos (when the rate was 1 to 1). It is probably a few more pesos now, but not US$20. It may not be in every store, but we found it more than once in BA.

Good luck!
Chris & Erin Ratay


[This message has been edited by ultimatejourney (edited 30 October 2002).]

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Ride safe, ride far, ride often!
Chris & Erin Ratay - www.UltimateJourney.com
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50 countries, 6 continents, 4 years, 2 motos, and 1 happy couple.


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Just wondering if there are any updates on the map situation, specifically for Peru and Bolivia??

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You can never have too many bikes......

BMW R100GS
Triumph Tiger 885
Yamaha XT600e

Jens is gone, but not forgotten.

You can view a map of Chile online at www.turistel.cl The map is in 6-7 sections starting from top to bottom. You can print it out. When you get to Chile go to a COPEC gas station(they are all over the place) and get booklet map for $3--$4. I tell people back home to go to the turistel.cl website to see where I'm at. Slick. Its the best map I've found for Chile.

Cheers Arlen,

That is a phantastic map-site! Can you buy the same map in chile?

__________________
You can never have too many bikes......

BMW R100GS
Triumph Tiger 885
Yamaha XT600e

Jens is gone, but not forgotten.

The exact same map is available at COPEC gas stations in Chile for $3-$4. The COPEC map has a section of the same one on turistel.cl on each page as well as corresponding information about areas of that page. Map also shows location of all COPEC gas stations. Its the only one I use in Chile.... It shows location of border crossings and identifies if they have border crossing offices etc. Also shows locations of termas (natural hot-springs) and ferrys etc. Great map.

Excellent, I shall have me one of those...

__________________
You can never have too many bikes......

BMW R100GS
Triumph Tiger 885
Yamaha XT600e

Jens is gone, but not forgotten.

Hi,
If it's any good...
I used rough guide maps for Chile and Argentina which were great road maps. showed all the roads and most tracks and plenty of points of interest...cheap too...
I saw that they also did the same quality maps for Peru,Bolivia and Uruguay..I guess they do more.
Have a great trip....z

Hi,
in case you need maps which are good and helpful for planing, have a look on www.touratech.de. They sell old russian military maps from 1945. Ok, they might not be up to date, but I can tell you they helped me a lot. You will get them on cd-Rom and you since you have all the height-lines you more or less know exactely where you are at the moment and where you are heading. You can also use it with your gps (and I do recommend GPS as soon as you leave the major roads or as soon as you enter Bolivia. Mainly in Bolivia there are a lot of roads in very poor condition and you will be happy to have such maps with you to find out where you are at the moment.

Well, I hope you will have a fantastic trip, it is marvelous there.

Enjoy your ride
Burnout1

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www.moto-adventure.ch - just THE page about touring Europe and South america by bike!

Get all the maps in advanced, it will be hard to get them on the road!
In Brasil it is easy to find good maps, every big gas station or bookshop is selling the Quattro Rodas (Exists one for all Brasil costs beetween 30,- and 33,- Reais, and than other ones for the different states of Brasil)! You see exactely which road is aved and not paved, or if it is in bad condition. It is nearly allways right, that´s what i can say after cruising 7 month through all Brasil! But what you will not see on those maps is the altidude!

Good luck, Appie!

You probably mean the Firestone map. Excellent map and good details where I havent found any mistakes. Still 20 pesos last year (aprx 7 US) and can be bought at the magazine stands as well.

I may have missed this in this thread (or others) but do any of you have opinions on the ITMB International Travel Maps. I was given two for South America but the scale was WAY to big (or small depending on how you look at it) :=) I purchased some for each individual country with a much smaller scale and they seem to show the roads well along with "tracks" and "trails" where appropriate and other "landmarks" as well as gas availability. Any use these maps and have an opinion?
Rick