After 6 months home, we are back in South America. First we will enjoy the Dakar Rally which happens to be 100 % Peru this year, and also 100 % sand... It will be a lot of fun for both of us : Sophie with the medical assistance and Jeremy as spectator !

dunes 5

We leave Lima heading north, on the Panamericana highway which follows the coast for some hundred kilometers.

panam

We arrive in Ecuador via a tiny border post, nested in the jungle between high mountains. Needless to say there’s no internet and the customs paperwork takes a few hours.... But the people seem immediately very friendly and come to great us, to talk car and travel. They all come with their advice on what to visit in their country.

lama cajas

In order to avoid the excessively wet weather we had in the mountains the last days, we decide to head to the coast and its white sand beaches. Even if it rains, we’ll get to swim !

puerto lopez 3

Volcanic archipelago a bit more than 1000 km off the coast of Ecuador, the Galapagos islands host an incredible diversity of fauna and flora, in which some unique species. This fragile biodiversity is protected by a national park with very strict rules and high entry price.

marine iguana

We have decided to pay ourselves an extra with this 5 days cruise totally out of budget. The goal is to discover the more remote island, therefor the wildest, which are only accessed that way, on a cruise with an official guide. We will also enjoy resting and being spoiled by the crew.

iguane seymour

Back on the mainland, we are greeted by a strong earthquake which woke us up in the morning, and again lots of rain ! So we rush out of Guayaquil to the cordilleras.

cayambe llama

Once the border between Ecuador and Colombia crossed (after some time due to the flow of migrants from Venezuela), we continue our way on the Panamerica road towards the North.

san agustin 2

In Colombia, the Andes cordillera divides in 3 parallel branches, which we will cross another time east to west, another chance to see very various landscapes.

rio magalena pano

Colombians are proud of their coffee, which they think is the best in the world. The area where it is produced, recognized as world heritage, is in between the central and western cordilleras. The landscapes are very pretty, with green hills, and as background the high summits of los Nevados volcanoes. No wonder there are many tourists in this area!

zona cafetera

In this big cosmopolitan city, we will meet with Carolina and Pablo, a colombian couple of climbers we met in Marseille 2 years ago. After studying in Italy for some years, and traveling a bit through Europe, they recently came back home, where they welcome us with open arms.

medellin

When leave Medellin, we drive across the western cordillera, the less high of the 3. As we drive, the vegetation gets more dense, the rivers wider and the temperature rises : we head to the caribbean coast!

antioquia

That’s the youngest and highest mountain range of the country. Its northern end spans up to the Venezuela, on its west slopes flows the Rio Magdalena, the biggest river of Colombia, and on its east lies the Amazon basin over hundreds of kilometers up to Brazil.

cordillere orientale 2 playa de belen

For once, this article is not completely chronological. As a matter of fact, here in Colombia, the colonial cities are to be found everywhere : at the foot of the mountains, in the jungle, in the desert or on the coast! Each one has its particularities, but they are all built around a shaded central square, a church and make the colombians proud!

plaza villa de leyva

We continue our route down from the mountains of El Cocuy national park, across some colonial cities, to the plateau where bogota sits. It is called the bogota savanna and has a rich history. The indigenous Muisca used to live here before the spanish conquest.

raft

With Sophie back to France, I decided to spend a few more days in the Bogota area, in order to have some work done on the car. Actualy, there is a very good garage here, specialized in restoring the old Toyota 40 series. They do some off road preparation too, and that is exactly what i was looking for.

academia winch

With the Panama only accessible by boat, and the current situation in Venezuela, Colombia is a bit of a dead end for overlanders right now. My first days of solo travelling will then be backtracking all the way south through Ecuador to Peru. I won't visit much on the way, but I'll drive as much as possible on different roads than on the way north 3 months ago.

andahuaylas

My goal for the next days will be to drive to Manaus, via the BR319 highway, which is often refered as the "Brazilian worst highway". It's actually more of a 600km-long muddy trench in the middle of the wet forest than any kind of highway you can think of.

BR319

The area between Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana is know for its landscape of savanna, and beautiful wild table-mountains. Few of them are accessible in some days walk. I did not think of going there because of the proximity to Venezuela, but a lucky coincidence gave me that chance.

roraima day 2

I continue heading north from Brazil to the guyanas. The road from the brazilian border to Georgetown, the capital of Guyana, on the Atlantic coast is called the Lethem - Linden road, by the names of the 2 cities on each side. It stands on the top 3 of bad south america roads along with the BR319 in Brazil. Yet, I am confident as i know there is regular traffic on the road.

rainbow on the savanna

I decide to settle in an hotel of the city in order to wait for the reopening of the ferry service. I spend the next few days walking the city and looking for contacts who can give me indications on when the border will open again.

corriverton 1

When the barge leaves me in Belem, I don't stay long since I will anyway come back here in a few days, and drives east to the north east coast of Brazil.

nordeste road

Back in Belem, I have to find a boat that can take me to Macapa, on the other side of the Amazon delta, some 350 km north west, in order to eventually reach the french guyana.

FG1

About 40 days after the first attempt from Guyana, I eventually cross a border into Surinam.

la gabrielle