The Silk Route Motorcaravan Club.Bulletin 103 (Part 1 of 2).May 2003. Uploaded from Iceland by GSM phone so in two parts with
some photographs here! |
Where to begin? |
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After 100 days travelling (and 10 days convalescence!), I am trying to emerge from the sands of Chingetti and the dust of Nouakchott. I'm happy to note:
As far as our trip is concerned (the Demontes, Barbaudy, Mahaut group), you won't be getting a full account in the immediate future. Just a few bits and pieces (see below). It is not that there is no copy: we had some first-class diarists in the team (Maguy and Michel), but they need time to edit. Even so, during the course of the next few bulletins, I shall be telling you about some of our meetings, and giving you some anecdotes and some thoughts. The first of these follows. There is nothing like a three-month trip with 3 vehicles to understand the difficulties of a 6-month trip with 15. Can the best friends in the world overcome all the troubles that arise during a journey like that? I am still wondering how our partners not only put up with us but also restored our morale, supported us and stayed with us during the hard times. They must have needed some patience to endure the constant 'mahauteries'*. When the track (corrugated in a very sandy area) demands a certain speed (at least 80kph) and one of our vehicles has disappeared over the horizon, it isn't always easy to find a place to stop, wait, even retrace one's steps to look for the slowcoach, to get out equipment (cable, winch). Most of the motorcaravanners in our club who are used to a certain amount of solidarity from small outings, can get over difficulties like these. But not everyone is the same. Travellers who are used to driving on their own do not agree to go with partners except, for example, to cross territories which are reputed to be difficult or dangerous. As soon as possible they will recover their independence without worrying very much about the others. A choice like that has consequences. *'mahauteries': involuntary but repeated jokes with unforeseen effects. A classic example is forgetting to take off the hand brake when everyone is pushing to get the vehicle out of the sand, or, on the contrary, forgetting to put the hand brake on when parking in a ferry. There are many others. |
New membership list. |
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There are a number of changes, telephone numbers, addresses, email addresses, mails, some departures and many new members. Rather than do another one, I have decided to alter the list completely by putting the new members in bold type. Anyone who'd rather not be there but who hasn't told us will just have to grin and bear it. NB, put the last list in your archives! |
I am missing something. |
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When I've been away before I have seldom returned without finding a fax or a letter in very beautiful, straight, precise handwriting. In other words, a hand like the man who wrote it. This time I have only his last letter, dated 20 December 2002, and this phrase, which was perhaps a premonition: 'You departure is getting close: make the most of it, life is wonderful.' We have tried to do as you said. Thank you again, Jean, you will always live in our memory. [Editor's note: this refers to Jean Moriot, a very active and adventurous member of the Club, who died earlier this year]. |
One thousand eight hundred and thirteen mistakes! |
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In bulletin 102, I asked you to excuse any mistakes in presentation, comprehension, spelling. I use a spellchecker in Word which points out mistakes to me, when it recognises them. However, it doesn't always do so when the mistake is another word spelled correctly. Monique Broquet has pointed out that on pages 3 and 8 I several times typed the word 'ballade' with two ls, instead of 'balade' with one. My spellchecker didn't highlight the mistake because it recognises both words. And as the bulletin was printed out for everyone, I have to give you my apologies for 1813 spelling mistakes! Paul Gouwy. |
Small cause... wide repercussions. |
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When I was just a member, the inversion of a couple of digits in the listings wasn't a matter of great importance. But once our friend Mr Mahaut handed over the baby, many of you tried to ring me and got through to a good woman who had to deal with a large number of calls. So, please note in the new listing that the correct number is 03 22 32 40 17. Also the February listing contained an email address which went out of use last May and was replaced by the following: pgouwy@free.fr. Paul Gouwy. |
Anomalies. |
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Please note! Denis Durand points out that he never intended to go to Peking via Kathmandu with old vehicles. Perhaps there's another Durand? I'm sure I received this message by phone before I left (when I was still in possession of all my faculties!). J Mahaut. |
Insurance in the USA? |
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Many people, including new member Gill NAIZET failed to obtain a reply about insurance in the USA as mentioned in the Practical Information section of bulletin 100. This information was also printed by Camping-car Magazine. Replies from the address in France said that they didn't know about this insurance in the USA. I checked and I have documents confirming the information. Possibly there was some confusion. The initials AIU stand for American International Underwriters, and I have some other telephone numbers (800) 343-5761 or (302) 761-3107 - Fax (302) 761-3110. |
South America from 15/10/2002 to 16/02/2003 |
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Teams: Jacques and Christiane Dumas, Francis and Eliane Fabulet, Guy and Mauricette Lebourgeois 16/10/02 We land at Buenos Aires. NB. Stick to official taxis at the airport! 17/10/02 The motorcaravans are arriving on Friday the 18th in the evening. As we can't fetch them before Monday 21st because of the weekend, we decide to go to Iguazu [Falls]. We go to the Delfino Agency at no 439 Saint Martin Street in Buenos Aires and ask for Lilia Rossetti who speaks French very well. (Yves and Annie Polge had told us about her.) 18/10/02 The site at Iguazu is splendid. On our way to 'la grande aventura'. Don't forget mosquito repellents, there are some cruel little 'mariwis' here! 22/10/02 We recover the motorcaravans in perfect condition. But - a nasty surprise! We have to pay a sum of $200 to 260 depending on the size of the vehicle. After shopping in a hypermarket, we set off for the south. 27 and 28/10/02 We drive round the Valdes peninsula. The whales are performing their mating dances while the elephant seals strut on the shore. The roads on the peninsula are stony tracks. 30/10/02 Meeting with the penguins of Punta Tombo. 01/11/02 Few police barriers but there are health barriers. It is illegal to take meat, fruit and fresh vegetables from one province to another. We visit the extraordinary forest of petrified monkey-puzzle trees opposite Puerto Deseado. After passing three closed petrol stations, we are anxious about running out of fuel. When we reach San Jullian, our thirsty engines gulp down the diesel. 04/11/02 As Guy's front left suspension needs repair, we have come back to Rio Gallegos. The repairs are done at the Renault garage. We take the opportunity to buy a bottle of Surgas which we can use because of the English adaptor to fill our French bottles. 05/11/02 Speedy crossing of the Argentina-Chile border where we are asked for our carnets de passages. Cross the Straits of Magellan (14 to 20 US$). Route 3 is not entirely tarmacked. Watch out for your windscreens on the last section of track. 06/11/02 Midday at Ushuaia. In a jewel-box of snowy mountains, the houses with brightly coloured roofs are reflected in the bay. The sun is shining. The howlers and the roarers are quiet. Lago Roca camping 21 km away in the national park is tidy, cheap and the management are very friendly. 11/11/02 Reach El Calafate by Route 5. This charming little town nestles in a green and flowery oasis. At the camping site, which has hot showers, we meet Erwin and Laetitia Munch, club members, who are on a three-year world tour with their two little girls. 12/11/02 What a sight! The varying blues of the famous Perito Moreno glacier (247 sq km) makes the landscape look like a huge sorbet decorated with whipped cream. To reach the glaciers, take route 15, which is asphalted, and not track 11. 13/11/02 Route 40, the way to the pampas. We pass a brave cyclist who is going from Ushuaia to Canada. In the evening we offer hospitality to Jacques-Olivier who is making do with a journey from Ushuaia to Quito. 15/11/02 From Chile Chico to Puerto Guadal, the track is quite usable. Don't take the track going up to a mine (as we did). It is like the unforgettable N 317 in Tibet. 16/11/02 The Austral Way crosses mountains adorned with flowers. 17/11/02 Route 7, tar, track. More suspension problems for Guy, go back 60 km for repairs. 18/11/02 Return to Coyhaique in Chile. The servopump on our van isn't working. We ask our companions to go on without us. We hope to meet up with them at Bariloche or at Machu Picchu. 21/11/02 'Los amigos con cases rodantes' are waiting for us at Esquel, 300 km before you reach Bariloche. We saunter along past waterfalls, windmills, Trochita. 29/11/02 We leave Bariloche after getting the repairs done. The consul Mr Philippe Cheminade, whom we asked to find us a pump, has come to see us several times and we've been grateful for his help and kindness. There is no Mercedes garage in Bariloche and the spare parts are not the same as in Europe. 30/11/02 Visit to the charming island of Chiloe in full sunshine, houses on stilts, walls covered in slabs painted in bright colours, little picturesque markets, delicious curantos and potatoes that taste like violets. Don't miss the Sunday morning market at Dalcahue, or a trip to the peaceful little island of Quinchao. 04/12/02 From Villarica to Orsono in Chile. Lakes, volcanoes, splendid ever-changing landscapes with roses, peonies, brooms, lupins, young leaves. It is spring and in the towns and villages there are beginning to put up the Christmas decorations. 05/12/02 We drive along the Pan-American [Highway] to Santiago. A curious motorway. Along the verges you can catch a bus, buy eggs, honey, bread, vegetables, baskets, chairs, eat a tortilla. Cyclists ride along the hard shoulder, pedestrians cross the road or walk alongside. But there are still tolls to pay. If the van has twin wheels the price is higher! 06/12/02 Visit Santiago, the capital. Hard to find a place to park up, so we spend the night on a large empty parking lot below the cable car terminus at the end of the avenue El Cerro. 07/12/02 On the motorway from Santiago to Valparaiso, thousands of limping pilgrims. A living Christ with a crown of thorns carries his cross. They are heading for Casablanca, where we do not have permission to stop. We take the lifts from Valparaiso and cross the tourist town of Vina del Mar. 11/12/02 To Vallecito in Argentina, near the surprising sanctuary of the dead Correa, we pass two tandems and a child's bicycle. Brigitte and Nicolas are travelling through South America by bike with Mailysse aged 9, Alexis aged 7 and Cyril aged 5. Then they are going to Australia and New Zealand. 12/12/02 The Aqua Negro pass between San Juan and la Serena is closed, so we go back down to Mendoza to pick up the good old Andes road again. We found a camp site in Mendoza in the San Martin park near the town, and a shady parking spot behind a service station on the left, 5km before San Juan. 17/12/02 We are back on the Pan-American going towards Chile after la Serena. Of course we have visited some interesting places: El Puquen, the valley of El Encanto with its petroglyphs and its Inca site, Ovalle, the huge cross of the third millennium at Coquimbo, Vicuna, the pretty valley of Elqui, where the lively markets are decorated with Christmas garlands. It is very hot. I dream of a white Christmas. White surf of the Pacific, sand white hot under a blinding sun. I dream of flowering cactuses like strange Christmas trees decorated with shining garlands and delicate pink balls. Route 5, the Pan-American, is no longer a motorway. It stretches out into a coloured desert where there are few filling stations. 25/12/02 At San Pedro d'Atacama, we are made welcome at the Senora Nora camping site for four nights. The village of San Pedro, declared a national monument, is lively and full of charm. Strolling down its small shady streets is a constant pleasure. The museum is particularly educational. The moving church with its old timbers of cactus wood and its primitive crèche. There are a number of agencies offering excursions to the valley of the moon, the geysers, the salars, the lakes, the volcanoes. Choose your agency carefully. A little comfort is desirable. Travelling for several hours against a burning hot window under a merciless sun, can spoil the enjoyment of the marvellous countryside and make you ill. Head for the north... The well surfaced Pan-American crosses a changing desert, burned by a flaming sun. It is dotted with hundreds of crosses and small chapels erected to the memory of those who have died along the road. It is worth stopping to look at the geoglyphs, huge drawings on the hills. The giant of Atacama, 14km from Huara, is spectacular, and free. 27/12/02 Easy crossing of the border between Arica in Chile and Tacna in Peru. The Pan-American winds its way across a magnificent mineral desert softened by mist and with green quebradas. 01/01/03 We leave Arequipa, a lovely white town after visiting churches, cathedrals and a monastery and taking a jolly trip to the Colca Canyon. For a modest amount we were able to leave our vans in a guarded parking place on Moral Street behind the cathedral. 02/01/03 Nazca. If you're enthusiastic about archaeology, go up in a small plane to fly over the lines of Nazca. If you aren't, then don't make the flight! It is expensive, uncomfortable, you don't see much and it's very difficult to take photos. 04/01/03 After kilometres of hairpins in the mountains and straight road on the Altiplano, we come to Cuzco, the lovely ochre city. You can visit the fertile valley of the Incas in a motorcaravan, camp at Pisaq, stop in a playa de estacionamente in Saphi Street near the centre, but you have to take the train to reach the fabulous Macchu Picchu! 08/01/03 Before leaving Peru at Puno a boat takes us to the spectacular floating islands built of papyrus. 09/01/03 La Paz in Bolivia has grown considerably in the last 20 years. We park the van in the Avenue Arce not far from the Alliance Francaise and go to look for some souvenirs. 10/01/03 On the way to the salar of Uyuni. At Rio Mulatos we turn back as the track isn't useable by a motorcaravan during the rainy season and we climb towards Potosi. 15/01/03 From Potosi, the highest town in the world, we go to Uyuni in the van then to the fairytale salar in a 4x4. The mine we visit reminds us of [the novel] Germinal. It's unthinkable that men work in such conditions for such derisory pay! We refill our gas bottles and get on to Route no 1 towards Villazon La Quiaca, the border between Bolivia and Argentina. Tantalisingly, for several kilometres the stony road runs alongside another road under construction and which is tarred in places. There are no signposts, no village names. Following some incorrect information we take route 702. This crosses a mountainous region covered in cactus and is bordered by long villages built of ochre coloured earth. We spend a peaceful night in Cotagaita in the square with the church on one side and a mass of dahlias on the other. 18/01/03 It is raining, the road is passable, the cactuses are flowering. After Tupiza we run into some difficulties. Luckily for us the rainy season is very late this year and is only just beginning. Taking route 702 has saved us 95 km. At 4 pm we pass through the customs post between Villazon and la Quiaca easily and quickly. Here we are in Argentina. Route 9 which is almost entirely tarmac gives us the chance to admire the splendid quebrada of Humahuaca. 19/01/03 Beautiful Salta! Pity that the sun didn't join us... It is the year of El Nino, the current which heats the Pacific every five years or so and disturbs the weather for several weeks. 02/02/03 Salta, the Calchaquies valleys, Cafayate, Tuckuman, La Rioja and its magnificent lunar valley, San Augustin, Cordoba, Jesus-Maria, San Nicholas. The roads are asphalted. Everything is easy in the north of Argentina. We rest in a playa de estacionamente in Buenos Aires, near the port, and begin the necessary procedure for loading the motorcaravans aboard. Another nasty surprise. We have to pay $100 US to the Turner Agency and $200 US customs taxes. 04/02/03 A little trip to Uruguay, where we visit Colonia and Montevideo. 15/02/03 Flight to France. We enjoyed a warm welcome from the South Americans who are very fond of the French (progress in Spanish assured!). My regret is not to have been to Punta Arenas or visited the magnificent park of Torre del Paine. Following a number of requests, Simone Moriot has put together a new version of their journeys in the New World. Entitled 'Camions aux Ameriques', it is available for 26 euros, including postage. To order a copy send a cheque to: Residence Azur D - 54250 Champineulles. Christiane Dumas. |
Africa in the limelight |
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Is it because everyone followed the example from on high and thought to go to this continent? Or simply because Africa, or some countries there, remain reasonably easy destinations? Whatever the reason, around 20 outfits have been wandering the tropical trail. Following Daniele Peyrin's fine report, here are some extracts from letters, mails, postcards or faxes. [Translator and editor's note. What actually follows here is a mail dated 14 February from Keith and Gerry Wiggs which was forwarded by Les Brook and was originally in English: "I must congratulate and thank you and the rest of the China 2002 group for the fascinating reports on the Web site. We agonised with you all the way through all the difficulties and were also able to enjoy what you enjoyed. Do thank everyone who made it possible for us to share your adventure almost as it happened. We were of course following every step of the way from our temporary home in the Turks and Caicos Islands. We are home [UK] for three weeks and then back there again for another year. I wish I had the time, skill and determination to record our adventures as well as the China 2002 group. In the last year as well as the TCI we have managed trips to Florida, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Jamaica, and Barbados. On our return we are again visiting Florida, and then on to Toronto. Nassau is on the agenda for Easter, and hopefully parts of Central and South America in the next year. Although I am enjoying the work I am doing and it gives us opportunities to visit places we have not seen before, it does get in the way of just doing what we want to do whenever we want to! Did you know you can rent motorhomes in Cuba? The only problem then is getting enough fuel to get round the island. To bring accounts and photos of the 2002 [China] journey to a close, our British friends' site has some press cuttings and stills from the TV. It seems that the adventure has attracted more interest there than here. |
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