August 1, 2019 – August 4, 2019
The ferry from Newfoundland to Labrador actually lands a few kilometres south of the east-west Labrador/Quebec border in the remote town of Blanc Sablon. From here you can drive about 70 kilometres east along the south shore of Quebec, then take a series of ferries to hop from town to town, or you can drive north into Labrador. We headed north.
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June 16, 2019 – June 26, 2019
We arrived at Tim and Tasha’s place and were greeted by Tasha’s father, Gerry, who, along with Tasha’s mom, Cathy, lives in a nearby house. Tasha was at work, and Tim was on his way home from the airport where he had gone to pick up Randi and Amy. Gerry told us they would be back soon and that we should make ourselves at home. Just then, Tim rounded the corner and came up the driveway.
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March 9, 2019 – March 11, 2019
Iberá Provincial Reserve is a little visited, remote area located in the Argentinian province of Corrientes. The reserve is a mixture of swamps, bogs, lakes and lagoons, and, of course, the associated wildlife, and is about 13,000 square kilometres in size. We headed to the small town of Colonia Carlos Pellegrini, where we camped for the night before hiring a small panga to take us out into the waters of the reserve for a safari, Argentina style.
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March 5, 2019 – March 9, 2019
The distance between real tourist attractions on the east cost of Argentina are large. We try to visit an interesting destination each day, but sometimes the distances are too great. We then, at least, try to find a nice spot to camp for the evening.
December 8, 2018 – December 13, 2019
We camped for a night on an island in a river that runs through the town of Junin de los Andes, then headed to San Martin de los Andes, which reminded us very much of Banff townsite, with its outdoor gear shops and candy stores. The next day we headed out of town towards the border with Chile where we camped for a couple of nights in a free park-run campsite at the end of a mountain lake….I will let the photos tell the rest.
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November 13, 2018 – November 19, 2018
We returned to La Serena to take Seymour into the Dodge dealership for diagnosis. We arrived early, left the truck at the garage and walked, with Piper, to a nearby outdoor mall to kill some time. We moved from shady bench to shady bench as the sun made its way across the morning sky. We snuck into the Sodimac (South America’s version of Home Depot) to use the washrooms. We watched the security guard watch us. We went for a coffee. We searched for an outdoor plug to recharge our phone and tablet. It was a little like being homeless for 6 or 7 hours, except, of course, we knew we would have a nice warm bed at the end of the day.
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June 6, 2018 – June 8, 2018
The main highway from the city of Bucaramanga to the capital city of Bogota is a two lane highway that winds itself through the foothills and mountains of the Cordillera Occidental, part of the Andean Mountains. Because of the large rigs, the steep curving roads and the complete lack of passing lanes, short distances take a surprisingly long time to drive. Our route for the day was only 77 kilometres but took us approximately 2.5 hours to drive.
We drove to a little restaurant near the access road for Calakmul, a set of ruins deep in jungle. The access road is about 60 kilometres and we had read that it could take about 2 hours, so we wanted to spend the night close and then head in early in the morning. We started to set up, then immediately had to move to another spot, as Derek noticed a tarantula escaping into its hole right beside our camper steps!
We drove to the coast making a quick side trip into the outskirts of Cancun to visit the bank, then headed south towards Puerto Morelos. We had decided to spend a night at Acamaya Reef Hotel & Cabanas, where they let you camp in their sandy parking lot for the night. We knew it was going to be expensive, but we decided to check it out. 660 pesos for the night, about 45 Canadian dollars. It was a cute little place sandwiched between two small all inclusive hotels, and one of the few places along the strip of beach that wasn’t an all inclusive resort. The family that owns it is sitting on a gold mine!
Chichen Itza is maybe one of the busiest archeological sites in Mexico, so we knew we wanted to get there early. We found a great little spot for the night camped in the parking lot of a small hotel and restaurant a few kilometres from the site. Hotel Delores Alba had two nice swimming pools. We were able to camp next to a large palapa beside this cool pool. It had a natural floor that consisted of sand and limestone that was lit up at night with lights that cycled through different colours.