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On the 2nd of November 1996 , we set out from Bellingham , WA on our trip to South America. Our plan was to drive all the way through the US , Mexico , and Central and South America , until we reached the southern most drivable point there somewhere near Cape Horn in Argentina. This was the start of the most amazing and exciting adventure of our lives ! |
We drove a 1979 Chevy Blazer that we bought and outfitted specially for this trip. The new 350 engine was tuned up and ready to go. It had a 4" lift with Rancho suspension and 33" BF Goodrich All Terrains , a custom roof rack for 2 spare tires and gear , front and rear trailer hitches for a Ramsey winch , dual battery setup , 40 gallon fuel tank , lots of spares and more . |
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We traveled through a total of 15 countries and along the way we met all sorts of people , saw lots of unusual places and encountered different cultures. We learned a lot of Spanish and even some Portuguese. |
Some of the highlights of places we saw were the archeological sites of several long gone civilizations like the Mayas in Central America and the Incas in South America. |
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Both of us are into the outdoors and we did a lot of hiking and camping and some backpacking trips. Some of the exciting stuff we did were jungle trips in the Mosquito Coast , climbed mountains in Peru , went scuba diving with sharks in the Galapagos Islands and tracked jaguars with not much success in Belize. |
The roads along the way varied from excellent highways to the most atrocious , potholed roads imaginable. However the blazer stood up to the test, (Like a Rock), and got us there and back without too much trouble and amazingly , only 2 flat tires and both in the cities! |
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Some of the more out of the way and wilder areas we drove through include the Peten jungle in Guatemala , the Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia , some of the high passes (up to 16000 feet !) in the Andes in Peru, Patagonia in Argentina and the Amazon in Brazil. |
Took thousands of photographs along the way and opportunities were endless. We saw all sorts of wildlife in places like Corcovado NP of Costa Rica , The Peninsula Valdez in Argentina , the Pantanal in Brazil and the Galapagos Islands. |
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We were in no real hurry and took our time driving south so we could see and explore all the places we were traveling through. After about seven months and 20,000 miles we finally made it to Ushuaia at the tip of South America , the southern most spot we could drive to! A bottle of champagne was popped to celebrate! |
From there we traveled north for the first time. We had the whole length of South America to cross again though we would travel a different route this time , going up the Atlantic coast of Argentina , and through the Amazon where river trips on barges were necessary. We were heading for Venezuela where we would ship the blazer to Miami and fly back to the US. After 9 months and over 35,000 miles our trip was over! |
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