Preparations nearly complete!
Travel Location: Melbourne,Australia
It’s amazing what you can fit into a few weeks! My preparations for South America were delayed beautifully by my decision to buy a property. That organised, now it’s time to really prepare for my 7th July departure date.
A few things to do first however, move out of the rental property and throw all my gear into storage. A week in Tassie with Kimmy and the Billstar whom I’m really going to miss. Do all the business accounts crap that needs to be done post June 30. Ensure I can access my money while overseas, and take a few precautions for security. Oh, and work out what I’m taking and get my backpack ready.
does anyone understand Tasmanians??
Of course, 2 months ago I started learning Spanish, doing at least an hour each day…well…that lasted for about 3 weeks, and I think I’ve forgotten everything I learnt. Best of intentions and all that! So essentially I’ll be heading off with no Spanish at all…but at least I get to practice by going to Tassie first…does anyone understand Tasmanians??
Kim pointed out that her friends are now making fun of her because she’s not the hiking type and wondering what on earth she’ll do on Cradle Mountain for 5 days…this has got me thinking…firstly as none of us have waterproof boots…what the heck will we do for 5 days…board (bored) games, dvd’s and spa treatments?? Well at least it will be a relaxing lead up to the insane itinerary I seem to have created for South America.
About 26000 kms to be covered in 5 months, travelling on average about 2 hours a day (though I’m sure it will be more once we actually discover the roads). Our basic itinerary takes us from Chile -> Argentina -> Uruguay -> Brazil -> Paraguay -> Bolivia -> Brazil -> Venezuela -> Colombia -> Ecuador -> Peru -> Chile visiting most of the major cities and plenty of country areas.
The temperature in Santiago where we land will be very similar to Melbourne, maximums around 12-15 degrees celcius, which should work out nicely. We expect a chilly July/August followed by a lot warmer temperatures after that (particularly as we head North in September through the Amazon).
The first big challenge when we get to Santiago of course is to purchase a vehicle, for that apparently you need to get a tax ID (RUT), and then once you buy the car you have to wait for a week or so to get a permanent padron (I assume this is the title) before you can cross borders. So hopefully this doesn’t take much longer than a week. Working out how not to get ripped off on the car without speaking Spanish will be interesting. I’ve made contact with a hostel owner in Santiago who is going to give us a hand.
For now however, it’s back to packing the house up and looking forward to a very relaxing trip to Tassie. Mind you I think I could easily spend 5 days with my ass parked in the drivers seat of my Suby on those windy roads…woohoo!!
