We literally stuck in the border town San Antonio in Venezuela, because the custom office is closed on weekends. We reached the border on a Saturday morning. After we got our immigration stamps we wanted to apply for the vehicle permit. But the Venezuelan custom office was closed – like Read more…
A lot of slow trucks, countless construction sites and extremely steep roads Herbie had to manage the last days, while we were heading northeast towards Venezuela. It was very exhausting driving an average speed of 12 mph (or 20 km/h) for hours. We passed Barbosa, Bucaramanga, Pamplona and Cúcuta – Read more…
The last days we finished the work on the Mexican. A lot of screws were replaced by stainless steel screws. The new steering knuckles slammed the bug 6cm! A bit too close, isn’t it?! Pictures of the finished bug will follow!
Herbie brought us back to Colombia. We left the Pan-American Highway heading east towards Venezuela after we passed cities like Pasto, Popayán and Cali. We were driving right through the heart of Colombia’s capital, Bogotá. Our plan is to visit Venezuela before we’ll put Herbie on a vessel going back Read more…
After spending the night in Latacunga, we followed our “Evacuation Route” out of Ecuador, passing Quito, Cayambe, Otavalo and Ibarra, crossing the border in Tulcán. We left the country with carrying more than 25 gallons (or 100 liters) of gasoline and we’re still running on it, as gas prices in Read more…
Flo and his dear friend Lisi made a trip to the capital of Hungary. Flo and his bug already knew the way because they had been there in the past as we had reported. It was a wonderful and funny trip. “Thank you Lisi for the day! I’m really looking Read more…
Domi loves drinking fresh coconut juice. Herbie prefers gas without ethanol instead. One coconut ($ 1.00) is more expensive than one quart of gasoline ($ 0.38). Ecuador has the cheapest gas prices we’ve experienced in America so far. A complete full tank for our Love Bug costs just 15 US-Dollars Read more…
We just entered Ecuador on our way back north. Although this country is not a “Banana Republic” within the political discussion, it has definitely the biggest banana production in the world. Below you can see “Herbie goes bananas” while the sun was setting. The Love Bug reached the border between Read more…
Herbie continued riding the longest road on earth, the Pan-American Highway, heading further north on Peru’s Highway No. 1. We passed cities like Chimbote, Trujillo and Chiclayo. Lambayeque is the name of the town where we stopped for the night. The “Pan-Am” along Peru’s coast is full of sand dunes Read more…
…and no end is in sight! Yesterday we painted the tank and the stabilizer and today we have assembled the axle and welded the spare wheel recess on a few points.
Our final destination after South America will be the Mojave Desert in the Southwest of the United States. We are not there yet, even though the landscape of Peru’s coast looks quite similar to the area around Herbie’s camp in Ridgecrest, Kern County, CA. Today we were following the “Pan-Am” Read more…
After catching up with new post on Herbie’s World Tour, checking the motor oil level and tire pressure, we hit the Pan-American Highway again. We left Camaná, heading north and passed Nazca and its desert and stopped for the night in Ica. Peru’s coastal desert dunes and the Pacific ocean Read more…
Go west, Herbie! We traveled all the way across the Andes with altitudes over 14,850 feet (or 4,500 meters) to the west coast of Peru again, passing Puno at Lake Titicaca, Juliaca and Arequipa, ending up driving in Camaná at the Pacific ocean. In Puno we met Juan Carlos, a Read more…
After riding Herbie on unpaved roads across the Bolivian jungle while it was dark during the night and police men asked us for money, we finally reached Santa Cruz de la Sierra and moved on to Cochabamba and La Paz towards Peru and Lake Titicaca.
We were actually planning to go all the way back to Colombia by heading across Brazil on Highway No. 319 reaching Venezuela. Unfortunately we had to change our plan. The Brazilian Highway No. 319 is well-known for one of the worst “roads” in the country. And as we have the Read more…
We entered Brazil coming from Paraguay. On our way through Brazil we passed a junk yard for old Volkswagens. But it was more like a burial site for “Fuscas” – that’s how they call Beetles in this country. Rest in peace!
The soil is red and the people are very nice – we traveled through Paraguay on Highway No. 3 towards Brazil, after meeting Jorge, his wife Natalia and their friend Osvaldo, in Asunción. Paraguay was an unexpected beautiful surprise!
Jorge Ortiz, an air-cooled Volkswagen fellow from Asunción, and his wife, Natalia Florentin, as well as his friend, Osvaldo Espínola, president of Classic VW Club Paraguay, welcomed us in Paraguay – the “Heart of South America”. Jorge showed up with his totally new renovated red VW Beetle made in Wolfsburg. Read more…
After sandblasting we changed the contract joints and painted the steering knuckles and suspension arms of the ‘84 Mexican!
Herbie made a long way riding from General Güemes on Highways No. 34, 81 and 11 to Clorinda, at the border to Paraguay. Tomorrow we’ll enter this country in the heart of South America. Although we won’t spend much time there, we’ll have a very warm welcome. Jorge Ortiz from Read more…
As we were heading north on Highway No. 68 from Cafayate to Salta, we passed a truly amazing area full of red rocks. This region is also well-known for its unique wine production, benefiting from the low-humidity mild weather. We stopped for the night in General Güemes, a city east Read more…
We spent the night in Fiambalá, after crossing the Argentinian border via “El Paso de San Francisco”. On the next day we cruised across Catamarca, one of Argentina’s provinces. Remote and vast landscapes accompanied us on our way southeast.
The Love Bug made it! The border between Chile and Argentina levels 15,505 feet (or 4,726 meters) and its way up there is called “El Paso de San Francisco” – the toughest section of the world famous Dakar Rally. Paved roads were hard to find and the weather was windy Read more…
Herbie is driving through the driest area on the earth – the Atacama Desert in Chile. We’re heading further south besides the Pacific ocean. Right after we’ll leave the “Panamericana”, climbing the Andes a very last time.
After meeting the President of Bolivia, we finally entered Chile at Colchane and headed downhill towards the Pacific. We are now following the coast line further south, before we’ll cross over to Argentina.
Herbie made it to the end of the road in Bolivia. According to our maps and the natives we’ve spoken to, the street towards the border should be totally paved and in perfect condition, but we got surprised! We had to drive parts of it on an unpaved path for Read more…
After spending three nights in Oruro, in the South of La Paz, we’re going to leave this town for good, heading towards Chile. Tomorrow we’ll probably cross its border. We had a good time in Oruro, taking a rest from rallying across the Peruvian Andes. We stayed at an old Read more…
We spent our last Peruvian night in a small town named Juli and entered Bolivia right besides Lake Titicaca. Bolivia is obviously different: Here you get two different gas prices, one for the natives and one for foreigners like us. The so-called “international price” is three times higher. Meanwhile we Read more…
We listened to Simon & Garfunkel’s version of El Cóndor Pasa – originally a Peruvian folk song, which means “The Condor Goes By” – while we were climbing passes higher than 14,000 feet (or 4,000 meters) and visited cities like Cusco and Puno, right at Lake Titicaca. Tomorrow we’ll enter Read more…