Having said good bye to Ivan at Belén, we journeyed north on the famous Ruta Nacional 40 towards the wine producing area of Cafayate. On the way we spend the night at the Quilmes ruins, an ancient settlement set on a hillside with fortifications higher on the hill. We stopped next at a roadside distillery (Francine tried one or two […]
We first met Ivan, an intrepid Spanish Overlander, a year back in Buenos Aries, we were both waiting for our trucks to arrive, ours from South Africa, Ivan’s from Panama and we met for a meal in one of the city’s great cafes. We went our separate ways but met again recently, at San Antonio de Cobres, with our vehicles, […]
There we were, driving merrily along a ‘ripio’ dirt track from the Salinas Grandes salt pan to San Antonio de los Cobres, in the middle of nowhere, when there was an almighty noise from underneath Big Bertha. We stopped quickly, expecting a puncture. But no, it was something much worse, the front propshaft, along with the transfer case output shaft, […]
Returning from the UK at the end of May we spent the first few weeks at MAN in Santiago getting a few issues fixed for Big Bertha. Whist there, we were invited to an asado by Mauricio and Patricia whom we met at Puerto Tranquiol earlier in the year. We had a lovely meal with the family. Leaving our friends at […]