On the Road Again

23.12.2014 – 24.12.2014
Route: Buenos Aires – Behind Esso Petrol Station in Laboulaye - San Luis – Park National Sierra de las Quijadas (895 km)

Driving out of the city of Buenos Aires was experienced before – at first one has to get to a larger road and then try to take over to the motorway. It takes almost half an hour to reach there. Getting used to the traffic again takes some time, as many things that are not practiced in the meantime.

But in the long run having had the right feeling the car is on motorway and I can drive to the right direction. This time the right direction is towards Mendoza,

Down the motorway in a traffic jam. In 100 meters, it is necessary to make a left turn and then there is a theoretical possibility to gain access to the motorway again. Succeeded. And the further from the town the sparser the traffic.

Museo Beatle

18.12.2014.
Buenos Aires.

The information about The Beatles Museum caught my eye first of all in Argentina Lonely Planet book. According to the book it was supposed to be the only one of this kind in South America.

Looking for additional information it turned out that because of its largest collection of items the museum belongs to the Guinness Book of Records. And it is situated in the center of the city.


The ticket office has the theme of the yellow submarine. The visit hours are a bit unusual - as always - it opens at 10 am in the morning, but closes the doors at midnight.

El Zanjon

18.12.2014,
Buenos Aires.

To begin with - a practical guidance on - "How to extend the temporary license of bringing the car to Argentina."

Searched the internet first for information but- no luck. This means that no information about Argentina. There was certain information for the regulations about Peru and Chile but this kind was not necessary at the moment.

 Christian - the owner of Andean Roads (current accommodation facilities) mentioned that there really should not be any problem concerning the extension and would take perhaps only a day. And phoned to the customs to be sure of the information. In short, the next morning I was back in the center of the familiar 25 Plaza Mayo square, as it was located just opposite the office.


At the customs everything worked extremely well and all the process took less than half an hour. No byreaucracy whatsoever. Very friendly attitude and perfect service.

Some Technical Issues, Dec. 2014

So a bit of technical talk for a change. Surprises usually appear from totally unexpected places. This time – the new radiator, made in Salta, was the source of surprise.

The first story is the following. On the day of the arrival of returning to Argentina I started the bus and let the engine work for about twenty minutes in order to charge the batteries. The seats were moved up to have a good look at what was going on by the engine.

At first everything was ok, but then I noticed that the area by the censor of tosol level was wet. Freshly. At first it seemed that the sensor had come loose although while standing in the same place this should not have happened. Having switched off the engine I tried to fix it back, but for some reason the sensor was only moving around in the socket.

Here`s the picture. Says more than a thousand words.


In short – a kind of reaction had influenced the different kind of metals. The upper part of the radiator is made of copper and this sensor – probably bronze and the place of the thread was made of unknown material.

Teatro Colon

15.12.2014.

On the list here The Buenos Aires Opera House has got the third place. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/opera-houses/.

Buenos Aires, La Boca

12.12.2014

La Boca, now an Italian style district of the city with colorful houses, was once the first port of Buenos Aires. A legend says that the houses of the Italian immigrants were built from old boats and oddment of the shipyard.


And the houses were decorated with the overage of the paint.

Buenos Aires Bus Tour

12.12.2014
Buenos Aires, Argentina.

As I hadn`t joined in any Bus Tour of Buenos Aires earlier, I decided to take one now.

Although I had driven around in the city quite lot, it is not the same. While self-driving - the main attention is paid at traffic and traffic lights. And to enjoy a real view of the city – the tourist bus is a good solution. And simple. A map of the city is given to the tourists as a present as well.

Another option toobtain an overview of the city would be to climb somewhere high, eg the local television tower, if there is one, and there is a viewing platform too, or choose just some higher building. My previous experiences with different coaches confirm that one should plan for the tour a whole day, as only one round lasts for more than 3 hours.

Buenos Aires, Déjà vu

04.12.2014

It is always interesting to visit new places, but sometimes it's nice to come back to some of the familiar one. To this kind of a place which – while visiting it for the first time  you could not have a thorough review.

Buenos Aires is one of these kind of places. You walk in the center, and the overall picture is familiar and already comprehend which is the next street and square.


Plaza de Mayo.

Season 3 - South America

30.11.2014– 01.12.2014
Journey: Tallinn – Amsterdam – Buenos Aires (KLM).

At first just a sentence from Woody Allen:"If you want to make God laugh, tell him your future plans." 11/30/2104. It is 4o`clock p in the afternoon. Checking in. I will give over one suitcase as my baggage , and hope to see it soon. Or just plan to get it back soon.

 
Last hour at Tallinn Airport. This time this is only one -stop flight. Leaving at 6 pm Tallinn and arriving at Amsterdam two and a half hours later. And then proceed immediately, so that the next morning at 7 I should be in Argentina. All together 16 and a half hours of flight time and a half hour for changing the flights.

Monturaqui Crater.

Days 1145-1146,
08.04.2014 – 09.04.2014,
122 445 km, since the beginning of the journey
The Route: Sam Pedro de Atacama – Paine – Monturaqui Crater - somewhere in deserted area - Calama (386 km).

“One of the most impressive meteorite craters in South America is Monturaqui Crater” stated a google search. And it is located only 150 kilometers from San Pedro de Atacama. Just a good reason to visit the crater. It seemed to be a pretty good change to salt lakes.



Wikipedia also had a couple of paragraphs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monturaqui_crater, but no longer story. And from the blogs of other overlanders could not succeed in finding any references either. On the map got from San Pedo de Atacama Tourist Information Office the object was totally there. In the midst of gorgeous Sierra Agua Colorada mountains.

Only no road seemed to take there. The same story was also with other paper maps.

San Pedro de Atacama IV, Miscellaneous.

Days 1142-1144,
05.04.2014 – 07.04.2014,
122 059 km since the beginning of the journey,
The Route: Talbre - San Pedro de Atacama (80 km)

It is quite interesting to see in the morning the overnight places chosen in the dark.

Sometimes in the morning it turns out that much better / smoother / less muddy /more shaded / quieter / or whateversite is located, for example, about in about 100 meters and a bit further of the road.


This time it was just plain land all around and ahead the so-called "million dollar view” at Salar de Atacama.

Laguna Chaxa And One More Story

Days 1140-1142,
03.04.2014-05.04.2014,
121 979 km since the beginning of the journey.
The Route: Laguna Chaxa - Laguna Leija - Talabre - San Pedro de Atacama (233 km).


An overnight place in the middle of the crossroads and an extra spacious view in the morning.

San Pedro de Atacama III, Salt Lakes

Day 1139
02.04.2014
121 826 km since the beginning of the journey.
The Route: San Pedro de Atacama – Laguna Cejar – Laguna Tebinquinche – Toconao - Laguna Chaxa (132 km).

While in San Pedro de Atacamat, it could be interesting besides The Moon Valley, Death Valley and Cordiella de Sali , to visit the salt lakes near the town as well. Laguna Cejar and Laguna Pedra are 15 kilometers away, and 10 kilometers further is Laguna Tebinquince.


Laguna Cejar.

San Pedro de Atacama II

Written in Calama.

San Pedro de Atacama is a nice town, small enough, and everything necessary for life is close at hand. Only a few hundred meters from the overnight place. There are some so-called main streets in the center of the town for which are designed for pedestrians and on the sides of which are predominantly either hostels or tourist services companies, or both together. For a change, there are some restaurants and souvenir shops.


The following is a typical street scene at noon.

San Pedro de Atacama, I

San Pedro de Atacama is a small town of less than 4,000 inhabitants in the region of Antofagasta (in the year of 2012, the number of the inhabitants was 3899). The town is believed to have been founded in 1450 and the main source of making living is mostly tourism.

In the center of the town there is a 17th-century white church - Iglesia de San Pedro de Atacama.


The first night was spent in a familiar place – in Camping Los Perales, which was exactly in the same condition as almost a year ago. Even the price is the same - 5,000 pesos per night, (in euros it would be as 6.67).

Paso de Jama

Day 1128,
22.03.2014
121 549 km since the beginning of the journey.
The Route: Susques – Paso de Jama (ie Argentina Chile border) – San Pedro de Atacama (267 km)


Paso de Jama.

Abra de Acay, ie the highest point on the Ruta 40 will currently be unvisited. As the allowed time of staying in Argentina (90 days) will end soon. And besides in such a sparsely populated area one should always have some spare time for getting around. And on nice weather Polvorilla viaduct and its surroundings are worth to spend there at least half a day. So it does not make sense to drive to the spot in a hurry, take some pictures from the car window before a cloud of dust reaches on the ground, and then drive to the direction of Chile anyway. So better calmly proceed toward Chile.

Ruta 40, Susques

Days 1125-1127
19.03.2014 – 21.03.2014
121 282 km since the beginning of the journey
Journey : From behind the stone - Coyagua - Coranzuli - Susques - Huancar - Puesto Sey - Huancar - Suscues ( 305 km).

In the beginning the direction is southwards.

Llamas

La Quiaca

Day 1124
18.03.2014
120 977 km since the beginning of the journey
Day`s journey: Abra Pampa – La Quiaca – Cieneguillas – Paicone - Pirquitas – and so on, total 231 km.

Just like in Patagonia - also in the northern region of Argentina it is recommended to use every opportunity to refuel. Last night at the petrol station I was told that diesel will be brought in the morning, but it seemed that morning at 10 o'clock there was not morning enough. Diesel will be brought later. In fact, it did not matter at all, just makes one feel safer to have got sufficient supplies.

Sufficient supply means to be able to drive to an x place, where a gas station should be located and if not, then to reach to some next one.


La Quiaca was less than 90 kilometers away. At the border of the town was the first tourist information board, but there the construction was of unfinished appearance. The doors were open and electrical wires were hanging on the wall. A few hundred meters further - the next sign " Information Turistica ". I made a stop.

Iruya

Days 1122 - 1123,
03/16/2014 - 03/17/2014,
120,746 km since the beginning of the journey,
Route: Humahuaca - Coctaca - Iturbe - Iruya - Iturbe - Casillas - Iturbe - Tres Cruces - Abra Pampa ( 279 km)


The small town of Iruya lost between the mountains.

Humahuaca

Day 1121
120 467 km since the beginning of the journey,
The Route: Salta – Humahuaca (252 km)

Humahuaca Valley (Quebrada de Humahuaca) was inhabited as early as 10,000 years ago already, and later, in the 15th century an important Road of Trade of Incas proceeded along the valley. Since 2003 the 155 km valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ruta 40, Cachi - Payogasta - Poma …

Day 1107,
01.03.2014
120 215 km since the beginning og the journey
Route: Cachi – Payogasta – Poma – veel 20 km põhja suunas – jälle tagasi - Payogasta – kaktuste park - El Carril – Salta (285 km)

In the morning the plan was clear – it was made several days ago already. Plan A. To drive to the mall town of San Antono De Los Cobres by 2 pm. The reason - at that time on March 1, there was going to begin the carnival. And then the next day - again down from the mountains to reach Salta on March 3 to see the Salta Carnival. In theory entirely possible because from Cachist to Cobrese was supposed to be directly 101 km and along the road - 144 km. To take off at ten in the morning, one should reach there around two o'clock. Or a little later.

For the road conditions are not completely ordinary, as the road will be, of course, the famous Ruta 40 again, and namely that part of it which has is the highest mountain pass - 4972 m high Abra del Acay. For a long time that has also belonged to the category "must visit - must see" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abra_del_Acay. In fact, of course, totally unscheduled Plan B came into use.

Plan B meant that if there was some kind of problem, then the priority was to reach Carnival of Salta by March 3, all other places could wait. The Salta Carnival is enough famous and enough big to arrange other issues accordingly.

Parque National Los Cardones

Day 1106,
28.02.2014
119 940 km since the beginning of the journey
Route: Cachi – PN Los Cardones – Cachi (137 km).

The previous posting will continue. Cachi.


Parque National Los Cardones (area 650 km²) is a huge cacti park and it is located by the road of Salta - Cachi. It is the same park which I intended to visit in January already but didn`t make it this time.. About twenty kilometers remained missing

Cafayate Wine Museum

Day 1105,
27.02.2014,
Cafayate, Argentina.

Cafayate is a small town in Salta province with the population of 11 thousand inhabitants. The town is located 1,683 m above sea level.


"Bienvenidos a Cafayate" says the sign at the border of the city.

Cafayate Valley

Day 1104
26/2/2014,
119 639 km since the beginning of the journey
The route : Salta - Cafayate ( 194 km ),

The below-described tour in the southern and western mountains took place almost two weeks ago , during the last days of February. And as it sometimes may occur- the material was left uploaded.


The morning of February 26.

The sky is just like in the picture above. Suspiciously cloudy, although the sun is shining from between the clouds. The dark clouds promise rain, but only perhaps some three drops of water fall on the windscreen. But it's not important at all and what really matters is the issue that the major heat wave is over and the temperature is no longer +35 or more.

Pictures of Salta Carnival

Day 1110
03/03/2014
Argentina, Salta.

Some photos of Salta Carnival, held on March 3, 2014.

The first hour of the event was a bit drier, then decent rain lasted for about an hour, and finally after midnight the raining was over. But the rain almost did not disturb the arrangement and event. When waterproof clothing and boots are available, they must be used, even to protect the camera. And cameras are not waterproof.

But the event itself was awesome.
    

San Lorenzo Automobile Museum

1103 päev
25.02.2014
Reisi algusest 119450 km
San Lorenzo, Argentina.

Visiting the Salta Tourism Information Office again and reviewing all kinds of advertising issues I found out that there is a Car Museum in San Lorenzo, a few dozen kilometers from Salta.

Anniversary of the Battle of Salta

Day 1098,
20.02.2014,  
119,409 km since the beginning of the journey,
Argentina, Salta.


Morning in Salta.

I am walking towards the city center, it is like an ordinary Thursday morning, but something is somehow different. Less traffic and most stores are closed. More people on horseback. Groups of two, groups of four, everybody moving in the direction of the city center.

The first thought – perhaps a Car Free Day. The second thought – a Horse Day?. In short - there's something going in that direction. For a moment I am trying to keep up with the horses, but yeah, no success, so I'll have to slow down, and go to the Tourist Information center to find out what is going on. It turns out that this is the 201th Anniversary of The Battle of Salta " Aniversario de la Batalla de Salta ", which is celebrated by The Monument of February 20. The battle itself took place on February 20, 1813. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Salta

Regular Maintenance

10.02.2014 – 14.02.2014
Salta, Argentina

After spending for two days on the mountain roads, I returned to Salta to be present at the service again on Monday. The time has come to have the regular exchange of the rear leaf springs.

By now almost three years have passed since the previous replacement in Nairobi and all the three attached leaf springs are damaged again.. In fact the leaf - attached in Estonia shortly before departure - was also broke, so there was a need for four new spring leaves – two for both sides.

Only from the internet I could not find – how often this exchange should be made. The top leaf and the bottom two ones are originals, most likely from the year of 1987


The story continued this way that the springs were taken off, nothing was necessary to be cut loose, and then just I had to wait a few days until the springs would be fixed together in a certain workshop.

400.000 km

09.02.2014,
119 047 km since the beginning of the journey,
Ruta 52, Argentina,
(GPS S23 41.626 W065 42.854).

Just a nice round number, with many zeroes, and almost an anniversary.

Salinas Grandes

Day 1087 continues,
09.02.2014,
Route: Purmamarca – Salinas Grandes – San Antonio de Los Cobres – Polvorilla – Salta (400 km).

In Argentina there are actually four salt lakes, and all of them are called Salinas Grandes. At the moment the story is about that salt lake which is located in north-west of Argentina,in the provinces of Salta and Jujuy. The lake has an area of 211 km ² and the altitude is 3450 m. from the sea level.

Purmamarca

Day 1087
09.02.2014,
Purmamarca, Argentina.


Cerro de Siete Colores, or " seven- colored mountain " is the most famous attraction of Purmamarca. Especially in the morning sun.

Tilcara

8.02.2014,
Day 1086,
The Journey : Salta - Tilcara - Purmamarca ( 258 km),
119,000 km since the beginning of the journey.

And then on the road again. Meanwhile the big heat wave has been slightly diminishing and it has been even raining, but Saturday morning is sunny again.


Before leaving the city I manage to get a bit more colored photo of the February 20 th Monument. The Battle of Salta took place on February 20, 1813 during the Argentine War of Independence. You can read more about the battle here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Salta.

One More Technical Post .

03.02.2014 – 07.02.2014
Salta, Argentina

And by Monday night all the spare parts , ordered from Paraguay, had arrived as promised.

Still in Salta

Day 1079.
118,731 km since the beginning of the journey.
Salta, Argentina.

And at the moment it seems that at least until the next Monday. The positive side of the situation is that the city of Salta will become more familiar. While walking in the streets all kinds of vehicles from the seventies of the last century catch the eye.


Some are decent...

A Temporary Solution, Part 2.

Day 1073,
118 726 km since the beginning of the journey,
Salta, Argentina.

Two days later I'm back in the shop to get the ordered " new - used " replacement, but this time it turns out that it is not possible to order this part of the car as in this country Mazda is too rare and unique. So I am returned my pre-paid sum of money and will continue searching.


In the streets there are different kinds of vehicles and from somewhere the owners of them have somehow found them spare parts.

Iguazu Bird Park

This post has been written in December last year.

The attraction number one of Iguazu is, of course, Iguazu Falls. And number two is the other half of the Falls located in the neighbouring country. But besides the Falls there are other interesting attractions here as well.

The greatest Bird Park in South America or Parque Das Aves, was opened in 1994 and is located on the side of Brazil, about 200 meters from the entrance to Iguazu Falls.



There are a great many smaller cages and three hangar - sized birdhouses here where it is possible to walk inside.

50% of the birds are either confiscated from the smugglers or transferred from other rehabilitation centers. 43 % of the inhabitants were born in the park. The endangered species have their own area. Read more on the website : www.parquedasaves.com

Salta

Salta is a town in the northwestern part of Argentina. This town is also the capital of the Salta Province and has more than half a million inhabitants. It is located in the valley of Lerma (Lerma Valley), 1152 m above sea level. The town was founded by the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma on April 16, 1582.

The July 9 Square can be considered the center of the town.


Here is located The Salta Cathedral, built between 1958-1882.

Temporary Solution.

17.01.2014 – 19.01.2014
118 726 km since the beginning of the journey
Argentina, Salta.


The next morning I walked through the morning town of Cachi to the car service. Yesterday I was told that by eight o'clock everything would be ok and so it was as - at nine the welded driveshaft was waiting on the table. All together the price was 100 pesos - which means less than about 10 Euros.

On the Road Towards Cachi

Day 1062,
118 551 km since the beginning of the journey
Argentina, Cachi. 

Dakar has moved on in the direction of Chile, and there are still several hundred pictures in the computer waiting to be sorted and uploaded. During the past three days I have begun to practice to get used to high altitudes. That means - in the daytime driving about 3500-4000 meters high and for the night coming back to lower altitudes.

The lower place was Quiano Campo , a splendid small town with a decent municipal camping site but almost with no internet connection. Even 2G did not want to function, but it's not important at all right now. Right now - a completely different story.


The Andes

Dakar 2014 Trucks

12.01.2014
Day1059
Las Cuevas, Argentina.

First kilometer.


502 M.Kolomy/D.Kilian/D.Kilian (RCH) Tatra


533 G.DelZotto/A.Memi/P.Aguirre (ARG), Man

Dakar 2014, Salta, Day 2

Day 1058
11.01.2014,
Salta, Argentina

The next morning, however, great thanks to The Estonian team of Dakar Rally, I was lucky to get behind fence . But there are not many pictures as after a long time it started to rain heavily until in the evening.


The maintenance work of the rally vehicles.

Dakar 2014, Salta

Day 1057
Salta Argentina,

Back in Argentina again and for many reasons.

One can always find a reason, like - the entire part of northern Argentina remained unvisited or that the Dakar Rally has to be seen at the spot. As later one can think – what a powerful event and it will take only two or three days to drive there, and - so why not go there from Brazil! So - no regretting for not participating with other fans! And again after some years the Estonians Mart Meeru (117) and Toomas Triisa (133) are taking part in the Dakar


Watching the numbers of the participants and daring not turn it away for a moment as the vehicles are arriving constantly but still was lucky to see Toomas.