Greetings from Bolivia

Rock FJ

Observer
Hey guys, I just wanted to say hi and send you some pics from Bolivia. I am traveling around the country doing some training to oil field personnel. In the meantime I am testing a Mazda BT-50, a true utilitarian pickup. It has airbags but everything else is manual including the windows. No electronics to fail !! In a couple of weeks I should be taking the 80 series into deep jungle, I will post some pictures of intense off-road! We will test some gear to extremes...

See you soon!
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haven

Expedition Leader
Rock FJ, thanks for sharing the beautiful photos! Where in Bolivia were they taken? Your vehicle looks like a great choice for travel back of beyond.

Where are you heading for "deep jungle?" Madidi National Park is one possibility.

I am more familiar with Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, on the eastern border between Bolivia and Brasil. It's tropical deciduous forest, not true jungle. The park is among the world's largest, and it's a great place for wildlife. I saw Jaguar and Maned Wolf in this park. It's possible to drive to the park ranger station at Los Fierros.

Chip Haven
 

michaelgroves

Explorer
Road looks too wide to be the Yungas road.

Heheh, yes, if the Yungas road looked like that, it would have been called the Yungas freeway! Actually, though, the switchbacks pic look like it might well be part of the Yungas route, or somewhere equally dangerous!
 

DiploStrat

Expedition Leader
Ah Michael,

Now you know why in three years I never drove it. (Beloved Spouse did, and thankfully, her collision wasn't that serious.)

When a fighter pilot colleague came back and said, "Never again!" I figured that there were some experiences I could live without.

EDITED TO ADD: Before anyone asks for the return of my Overlander (or Man) Card, let me hasten to add that the issue is not/not the narrow road; not the waterfalls washing across the track, or even all of this combined with a negative camber (in the wrong direction). Those are easy to deal with and I have done so on other roads in Bolivia and elsewhere. No, the problem is the tractor trailers tearing along in the dust and around the blind corners - it is the human factor, that you cannot control, that makes this arguably the deadliest highway in the world.
 
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michaelgroves

Explorer
No, the problem is the tractor trailers tearing along in the dust and around the blind corners - it is the human factor, that you cannot control, that makes this arguably the deadliest highway in the world.

You forgot "inebriated" in your description of the drivers! Actually, on that particular road, there is no dust because of the wetness, and "speeding" is any speed over a crawl. In principle, uphill traffic has right of way, and traffic keeps to the left, so that uphill travellers hug the mountain rather than flirting with the drop.

The problem we found was that the big trucks coming down the hill would take several metres to stop, so encountering them on the blind corners was always a danger. They'd then be very reluctant to reverse back up to find a wide enough part to let us get past. Apparently the reversing is what leads to a large number of the accidents - one of the trucks gets too close to the edge, and the roadway collapses and down the mountainside they go. Discretion being the better part of valour, I did most of the reversing, when encountering a truck 5 times our size!

Regards,
Michael...

P.S. Bolivia, C.A.R... you must really have pissed off your boss!!! :hehe: Either that, or you're a glutton for punishment! :) I'm kinda jealous, though.
 
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DiploStrat

Expedition Leader
Dry Season

Beloved Spouse did it in the dry. Stopped for a stopped truck and was struck from behind in the dust by another truck.

Annoyed the boss? Eh, been doing it for years. (You missed Cuba and Venezuela.)

Actually, I first visited Bolivia in '76 and it took me years to get an assignment there. La Paz was the reward for three years in M. Castro's little inferno, so everything is relative. Sadly, Evo is doing his best to take Bolivia down to Cuba's level.

The CAR is, on occasion, a challenge. So:

-- Read the FCO travel warning, and then,
-- Fire up Nyathi and come visit. You can park in the yard.

Just remember:

-- The Sahara is closed; go through Mauritania, and,
-- Come into the CAR on the 4th parallel. (There is a road.) Only take the paved road through Boar if you can travel with a big truck - too many zaraguina.
 
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Rock FJ

Observer
Thanks for your input. The road is not the Yungas road. Driven there a few times and it is not that bad. It is getting better and wider every year, so you should come down here before the legend dies. The road where the pictures were taken is very similar, it is the one from Santa Cruz to Tarija. I will post some more pictures soon. Last weekend we did some testing of a new snorkel brand we will carry soon. It comes from Australia and did pass the test. Enjoy the picture!
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p1michaud

Expedition Leader
Last weekend we did some testing of a new snorkel brand we will carry soon. It comes from Australia and did pass the test.

From what I have seen to date in Australia, you need a poper snorkel if you live or travel anywhere but the major roads. Everywhere you go, there roads are "Subject to flooding". Now that looks like a pretty intense test! :sombrero:
 

auboneinc

New member
I am jealous.

I lived there between '82 and '87. If you are in La Paz, Take the road to Chacaltaya and Zongo. Both of them are a treat.

Chacaltaya was, or maybe still is, a Skiing mountain that if my memory is correct summits at 6000 mts. 2 hrs from La paz (3600mts) very, and I emphazise very, narrow and sinue road, that for me was a lot more challenging then the road to Caranavi.

Zongo is a valley also around 2 hrs from La Paz and the road with more switchbacks that I ever seen.
If you make it to the bottom of the valley you will be surprised to find English Tudor arquichecture, but that is because the English built a power generating plant there and had to put their signature to it.

If you take the road fro Tarija to Tupiza, be sure to have a fuel tank skid plate, trust me, it was not fun trying to get the tank fixed in "Tupiza".
 

kevb

Observer
Well, this brought back memories. I was there in 93 for a couple of months on a mountaineering trip. We got 3 guys to summit Sahama at 21,500" and I got to the top of Huayana Potosi at over 20,000. Illimani, and Chacaltai were on the list too, the Corroico trail? Great trip, would love to go back some day.
I remenber thinking it was somewhat ironic that Land Rover gave us some sponsorship which we spent on Land Cruisers:sombrero:
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I would like to point out that I have refined my roof rack packing skills since!

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UK4X4

Expedition Leader
Man that looks like Thor Heyerdahl's boat ?

I loved the books on his adventures

remember to buy your souvenir lama foetus before you come back :Wow1:

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JIMBO

Expedition Leader
:sombrero:Very interesting to me, my wife is from Bolivia

We've been there several times, but I had enough trouble breathing at La Paz

Her uncle Jarme Escalante (Stand and deliver) lives in Cocha Bamba, like a king !!

:costumed-smiley-007:coffee::safari-rig::safari-rig: JIMBO
 

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