In englishEesti keeles

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Seaman transformation

I decided to transport car to Europe without pontoons. Transport with pontoons was several times more expensive. As pontoons are broken, then no use of old pontoons anyhow. Closest big port for sea transport is Lima, capital of Peru.

Arrived at Lima late evening and looked for place to park car safely and spend a night. Navigation system proposed interesting campsite inside town - Lima Club Germania. At arrival, gate closed. Guards do not speak English. "No, I do not have invitation. No, they do not have campsite. Difficult to recommend hotel with parking for car of that size." Finally one of the passing quests spoke English, and soon everything arranged. Car safely at parking slot of their stadium, next to couple from France with their Jeep. Toilet and showers nearby, what else to wish.

Next morning started my search for 10x6m safe place to disassemble pontoons. Letters sent, FB posted got several replies soon. Tarmo Haud from Estonia had friend in Japan with friend in Firewheels worksop in Lima. Got letter from Ciacomo ja Santiago Podesta from Firewheels.

Wanted to pay for hosting services next morning at Club Germania. Administrator looked at me with surprise, "No, you have not to pay anything" Unbelievable hospitality! I hoped this is good sign for my Lima time.

Firewheel had huge workshop. Filled with clients car partly above each other. No place for Amphibear. Discussed with Santiago, and he proposed immediately another place out of town. Followed his bigger Toyota Land Cruiser with my Amphibear, Prado version and 40 km from Lima to my surprise we reached his mansion. Very nice one! Nice place to dismantle pontoons also.

Pontoons on ground the work begins

Firewheels lended me one pair more of helping hands. As Santiago made his hands with Amphibear dirty also, it all went quickly first day. We disconnected most of mechanical systems by the evening, also part of hydraulics disconnected.

Pontoon now free of most connections with three pair of hands. Santiago Podesta on the right.

Second day worked alone. Sad, sad! So far cancellation was just decision. Here it became the finite reality. To the evening of second day car was separated from pontoons and full of stuff.

Amphibear still there, but not functional any more.

Under driver side front leg discovered unexpected damage. Instead of crack there was real hole in pontoon.


If nothing fits, then it is just matter of next effort to fit it all. 

Next morning at Firewheels.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Titicaca genuine right

This time, explaining what kind of a vehicle we were driving and how to fill in the paperwork took quite some time on the border. Luckily, a young official took us under his wing and explained to everyone how to formalize the process of getting an amphibian car over the border in one piece.

Peru surprised us with its originality. Initially, this was not due to its heritage or scenery. All the people we saw had Indian facial features. This would not have mattered, but it made any 'gringo' stand out. The people looked more European in the southern part of Brazil. You had to really make an effort to find black or Indian people. We were used to blending in, without the car obviously.

The desert continued as a sandy one. There were some huts at the side of the road. These were empty. Agriculture is probably practiced here in the winter.

Still headed towards the mountains, towards the desertous mountains for the time being.

The greenery continued in the valleys that had split the road.

The higher up we got in the mountains, the more beautiful the nature became. Finally, the road rose as high as 4500m.

The emergence of greenery brought along animals as well.

However, the desert, which had started in Chile, continued without change for the time being. We headed towards Cusco, near Cusco is the city called Puna, from which you can get to Lake Titicaca. We did not have a lot of time, of course, since Peter's flight was nearing. Greenery appeared as we approached the mountains. We reached Lake Titicaca in the third evening, after spending our nights in dusty Peruvian towns. The lake made a shallow and boring first impression, rather than a fascinating one. In any case, there were a lot of reeds everywhere. We found out that it would not be possible to see a reed boat within an hour. It would take three hours. And one can only see them on the floating islands. So we went on the excursion.

Amphibear at Lake Titicaca. The car is obviously in the wrong position for the lake, but it had no business in the lake with a crooked frame. 

Upon arrival, a local Indian gave us the mandatory speech about the island, the boats, etc. in Spanish. In the meantime, I investigated whether the island really sways with the waves, climbing the observation tower was beneficial for this. I also went to have a look at the reed boats. Surely, the local boat experts would be willing to tie a few pontoons under the amphibian as well. But I was gravely disappointed. There was blue plastic visible underneath the first layer of reeds. I do not know what was inside the plastic, but the boats were traditional reed boats only as decorations. I touched the reeds as well, they had a very hard outer bark. The ones in Estonia are much weaker. Coaxing tourists into buying souvenirs, which were bought from elsewhere, seemed to be the main source of income for the local Indians. The tour price included a ride in a reed boat. We climbed into the boat, and immediately the village chief showed up with his motor boat, he drove it into the stern of our reed boat and the ride could begin.  It was a nice and quiet outboard motor. The traditional right to do reed side-jobs is an interesting folk tradition.

A bit of dry land and an administrative building near the floating village.

New buildings and traditional round houses. 

The view from the observation tower. The blue plastic does not just cover the boats, it is inside of them as well. 

A more recent reed boat for joy rides.

Close-up of a reed boat.

Listening to the tour guide. 

A motor boat into the stern and off for a joy ride. 

From the souvenir counter.

There is plenty of commerce, we were taken to see shops on the other side of the floating island as well.

Of course, there are more islands further on, these might be more genuine. But what else can you expect, Thor Heyerdhal made this place famous and the resulting hordes of tourists need to be addressed. At least we got to feel the reeds, see the lake and even some reed architecture. A night-time drive to Cusco was ahead as a punishment for going on a three-hour excursion.

Translated by Luisa Translation Agency

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Nahuel Huapi

Bariloche city in Argentina is a famous holiday destination. The city is situated on the shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi. Both the road and the city follow the contours of the bay, thus dividing the city into cosy smaller sections. The Nahuel Calel National Park surrounds the lakes. The temperature resembles that of a beautiful Estonian summer: 25 degrees during the day, 16 at night. The vacation destination is so immense that a continuous stream of cars poured out as we were driving into the city on Sunday, there is a shortage of diesel as well. We were only allowed to refuel 30 litres. However, we later found out that it was possible to refuel some more elsewhere. The shortage was limited to the road to Buenos Aires. Lake Nahuel Huapi is relatively large; not as a single big body of water but more as lengthy coves. There was no wind, the water was clear and clean. Mountains with white peaks were visible from afar and there was a view of a Chilean Volcano from the end of one cove. There are a lot of lakes here and one can travel from lake to lake as far as the Chilean border, both with an amphibian and by local ferries.

Road no. 40 is picturesque and full of curves. The driver faces quite the dilemma of what to look at. In reality, the driver has to hold the camera in one hand and drive the car with the other.
Bariloche city in Argentina is a famous holiday destination. The city is situated on the shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi. Both the road and the city follow the contours of the bay, thus dividing the city into cosy smaller sections. The Nahuel Huapi National Park bears the same name as the lake. The temperature resembles that of a beautiful Estonian summer: 25 degrees during the day, 16 at night. The vacation destination is so immense that a continuous stream of cars poured out as we were driving into the city on Sunday, there is a shortage of diesel as well. We were only allowed to refuel 30 litres. However, we later found out that it was possible to refuel some more elsewhere. The shortage was limited to the road to Buenos Aires. Lake Nahuel Huapi is relatively large; not as a single big body of water but more as lengthy coves. There was no wind, the water was clear and clean. Mountains with white peaks were visible from afar and there was a view of a Chilean Volcano from the end of one cove. There are a lot of lakes here and one can travel from lake to lake as far as the Chilean border, both with an amphibian and by local ferries.
Road no. 40 is picturesque and full of curves. The driver faces quite the dilemma of what to look at. In reality, the driver has to hold the camera in one hand and drive the car with the other.




The views are breathtaking even before reaching the lakes.

While preparing the car for launching it into water, we were approached by Nico, who thought that the next lake would have too steep shores for an amphibian. He promised to get back with more details. Additionally, we were approached by a vacationing Chilean, who started off asking us questions but then spent a couple of hours answering ours. Delightful casual encounters are becoming a staple during this trip.
A perfect ramp for the Amphibear and local boatmen. Judging by the number of trailers on the shore, it seems to be a very popular place. You do not have to wait after anyone, there is plenty of room, the bottom of the lake is solid enough for a car and safe for a boat.

This is where a deep and narrow bay cove leads to Chile.

In the evening it became clear that we would not be launching the car into water due to other travel arrangements and the necessity of Internet. We searched for a local lodging house so that we could continue our journey to Chile around the lake and on the picturesque road no. 40 the next day. We spent the night at another camping site, which was covered in dust instead of grass like the adjacent camping ground. The reason for this was simple - we had run out of Argentinian pesos and neither of the campsites accepted card payments, but the dusty one was willing to wait until the morning. As usual, Amphibear was a hit around the camping ground. Unfortunately, I am not able to give coherent answers to most questions any more. I do not have enough vocabulary to convey all the information. Therefore, English speakers get all of the information and Spanish speakers continue to be informed that we are driving around the world.
Argentinian helpfulness is extraordinary. Once they found out that my pontoons were broken, they searched out a local handyman who can do anything with aluminium. What a pity that this is not enough to continue our journey.

Translated by Luisa Translation Agency