TravelStream™ news feed for member aleman on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/aleman en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 23 Jan 2009 08:18:30 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1204157100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1204157100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1204157100/tpod.html Fri, 23 Jan 2009 08:18:30 -0500 With VW Bus Vanagon (RV, Westfalia) all through America

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San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Last update: THE CAR HAS BEEN SOLD !

I am selling a 1985 VW T3 Vanagon Westfalia GL Camper Van with popup roof, full kitchen, fridge, watertank
and full camping equipment.

The Van has US registration. (so can be sold as tourist vehicle with a contract (notar) )

A car with US or european plates has no restrictions in going all the countrys (it is regarded a Tourist auto that only stays in a country as long as its owner),
and you will always get a tourist car permit. Not so if you have fe. an argentinien car!

Car has to be picked up near Buenos Aires ,Brazil, Uruguay Triangle in May 2008.

Ideally someone who is doing the reverse trip and takes it back to the states, or just travelling southamerica.

looking to sell soon as i want to go home. (have to, my daughter says!).


if interrested, email me at: busaleman@gmail.com


++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Car:
Its a 1985 VW Vanagon GL Westfalia. 2.1L 100HP Gasoline engine with digifant ECU and working! 9 month old Bosch O2-Sensor. This is very important when you go into the high Andes of Bolivia. Its the only way your engine knows there is less Air and so less fuel shall be injected. If O2 not work, you use a lot of gas in high altitude. If it works you use a lesser fuel the higher you get.

Engine and Transmission are pretty new (2003) with 50 000 milage. The car itself has 200 000 milage.

The Car originates in Germany and was brought to South Carolina (sunny climate). From 2004 it was in
Wisconsin. There is very little rust underneath.
The Color white is still original. There are small dents on the left and right hand side and rear(barely visible).


++++++++++++++

Westfalia Equipment:
For those that do not know Westfalia, its a german factory that converts Vans into Camper Vehicles.

The Camping equipment is all working. Especially the fridge works(very important) on gas/12V/220v.

There are 2 flame gas cooker, a 50 liter watertank with electric pump.

The front seats are Captan Chairs (armrest) and can both turned backwards to be used as interior seating.

It is the GL version that has the luxury polstery which is really nice to have.

There are 2 beds. one in the botton where the bench folds down to a double bed 160wide, 190cm long.
The second bed is on the roof and can be used when the roof is popped up. it could sleep two as well.

The Propane Tank can take about 5 kilos of propane which lasts about 3 weeks with fridge running on gas all the time. There is a filling adapter and hose for south amerika and the originally autogas adapter.

The car is completely Mosquito proved (also important), as it has protection on all openings.

Along with it you will get all the camping gear , dishes, blankets, tools and parts i have accumulated.
Thats:
- Big warm double sized Blanket
- sleeping bag (2)
- real dishes for 2 persons: plates cups forks knives spoons, bottle opener, can opener etc.
- one canadian steel pan (thats a good one!) and a pot.
- one BW 12V TV set
- one foldable Chair
- Tools: set of spanners from 7 to 19mm. wrench with sockets, screw driver, plyers and asorted spare parts.
- Maps of Southamerica

The car is in good condition and ready to go.


++++++ email me at: busaleman@gmail.com ++++++


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]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1195577280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1195577280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1195577280/tpod.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:04:54 -0400 With VW Bus Vanagon (RV, Westfalia) all through America

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Manta, Ecuador

Unfortunately, the ship did not take passengers.

So i had to buy an airticket to Quito.

The cheapest one Was with TACA Air for 354.-$ one way. (grrr)


I flew from Quito to Manta with AirGal for 61 $.

could have taken the bus for 10$, but that takes 10 hours.

Manta is much smaller that quayaquil and so is the port.
Everything is just more easy to handle.

The car was already there when i arrived.

My agent in panama kept telling me, that i need a custom agent for another 300$ to process
the aduana and port issues.
.

Its all a little money making i guess.

I had to get an agent in Manta that prints out a "permission to leave port" paper which
the port needs to verifiy that everything is in order. This cost 30$. (yeah)

Well the Lady from Marglobal SA (the agent near the port ), told me to talk to the
Boss of aduana, which i did indeed and it helped a lot.

All of a sudden my "temporary car permit" was issued (for free!!)

Then with my agents paper, i went to the port office where i paid 2.80 $ per day parking fee
of my car in the port. for 3 days i paid 9 $.

Then i was ready to leave.

Additional Info:
as a tourist with a vehicle, you do not need a "Carnet de passage in Ecuador".
Instead you have to sign a statement that you will leave the country with your car
after period given, or be punished.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1193582820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1193582820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1193582820/tpod.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:41:58 -0400 With VW Bus Vanagon (RV, Westfalia) all through America

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San Jose, Costa Rica

from Jaco i drove to san Jose and up to volcano Paos.

It was foggy and you could not see the crater. after 1 hour it cleared up and some fotos could be taken.

i continued from the volcano heading for Puerto limon through the mountains.
its a nice but long drive.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1193752560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1193752560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1193752560/tpod.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:41:30 -0400 With VW Bus Vanagon (RV, Westfalia) all through America

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Quepos, Costa Rica

I drove down from jaco to quepos. the town does not offer much.
on the way you cross two adventurous bridges.

further down i reached Manuel Antonio, the Beach National Park.
The beaches are really perfect with good water and white sand and a diverse
coastline.

however, for me a day of beaching was enough.

so i headed back to Jaco where there is more to do.

then i startet to look for shipping possibilitys to south america.

checked at the port of Caldera: Hapaq Loyd quoted for 1500$ container. NYCline did not reply.

After that i headed on to a volcano nearby San Jose. the one you can drive all the way up,
for the lazy guys. After waiting a while for the fog to disappear, the crater could be seen.
very interesting!

then i headed on to puerto limon.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1192487760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1192487760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1192487760/tpod.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:26:24 -0400 With VW Bus Vanagon (RV, Westfalia) all through America

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Granada, Nicaragua

Granada in NIC is very much like Antigua in Guatemala.

its smaller though, has a historic center , some nightlife, good restaurants and cafe places.
there is a volcano nearby as well.

"Bearded monkey" hostel was a nice place to stay.

I did not spend time in Managua, the capital de Nicaragua .

However found an auto-gas station LPG-gas just out of town going towards Leon. (just passed the hill top on the right), to refill the Westys lpg gas tank.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1188688740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1188688740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1188688740/tpod.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:05:16 -0400 With VW Bus Vanagon (RV, Westfalia) all through America

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Playa del Carmen, Mexico

The Tourist arena of Cancun is actually located south of the city of cancun
and is hearted in Playa del Carmen.

As a westy camper you dont find pleasant beach spots where you can crash down.

but you could check into one of playa del carmens hotels (cheap)
and just spend a few days beaching and partying.

there are some natural waterwholes (tecates) along the road to tulum.

(tecates)

they are a narural pool with nice cool water.

Tulum is developing fast to become a second playa del carmen.
here you still can find lonesome beachplaces for night or 2.

excesive damage can be seen at the coastline, where the hurricane dean
took away almost 5 m of the beach.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1185409320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1185409320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1185409320/tpod.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:03:25 -0400 With VW Bus Vanagon (RV, Westfalia) all through America

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Thermopolis, Wyoming, United States

Highway 16 between Morland and Thermopolis is just great.

you come out of the mountains and pass along a riverbank with gorges.

just do it.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1212007620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1212007620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1212007620/tpod.html Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:56:47 -0400 With VW Bus Vanagon (RV, Westfalia) all through America

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Kassel, Germany

Checking in at Condors in Bahias small airport was easy. Condor took off on time and we had a pleasent flight.
10 hours later we touched down in Frankfurt.

I managed to get my "overload" on ciggis through customs and had to buy a trainticket up to Kassel.
On the train i fall asleep . In Kassel i caught the local train to my suburb. It was a funny feeling to come home after one year. Nobody was expecting me and when i made the way to my home i could see the grass not being cut for ages.

Everything was still there. I crashed down and slept well . Finally home again..........

Well let me do a final resumee at this point:

One year is not much time to do this trip.
I drove over 50 000 km (41000M) because you never go straight.
used around 6000 liter of gas.
spend roughly 800 on repairs.
alltogether did not spend that much money, probably around 20 000US.

The countrys i liked best:
Bolivia, Argentina, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico (in that order).

Would i do it again? Anytime! but with more time to spend.

Do you need a 4WheelDrive? Well occasionally it is nice to have but not really.
A high ground clearance is important.

As for the car, dont buy something expensive. You wont get your money back down south.
And...mechanics are cheap and they fix everything. It is good if you know something about car repairs.
dont bring a lot of spareparts, they are readily available almost everywhere (well at least similar parts).

I sold my car for a bit less than i bought it for, because i had to. (better plan ahead to sell)

Until next time...........on the road again.......probably to russia.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1210716240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1210716240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1210716240/tpod.html Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:28:04 -0400 With VW Bus Vanagon (RV, Westfalia) all through America

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Foz de Iguacu, State of Parana, Brazil

To IGUAZU FALLS.

after making a stopover in Blumenau, a very german settlement (not that nice though) i drove all the way to Foz de Iguazu.
For one thing i wanted to see The Falls again (which i did first more than 10 years ago), and to sell my westy.

i planed it to be the end for the car. Sell it in Paraguay or, preferably to another travellor.

It was not as easy as i thought. I advertised on the internet of corse but offers came sparsly and not in my timing and location.

So i gave it a try and drove over to Cuidad del este on the paraguayen side. the dealers there did not offer me much for it and would not put cash on the table right away. They said something about custom issues and
told me to come later.

(Note that border-hopping with your car is easy in that triangle. Only the argentinien seems to check the passport,no carpapers)

i drove back to foz with no instant success. finally a french couble was interested and they came up from buenos aires.
For them it was a problem that they where not able to get proper papers in their name. so they did not buy it.

Finally i met an english couble at the argentinien side of the falls at the big hostel inn.
They eventually bought the car. So it is sold now.

The problem with selling a car in southamerica:
- you would not find someone in aregntina, brazil or chile to buy your car, as those countrys have a very high
import tax on used cars which turns off everyone. (although many are interested!)
- you may sell it in Paraguay but dont expect a big money for it. there it might be even possible to import it and
get paraguayen plates.
- another choice is to sell it in Bolivia. i got so many offers for the car in bolivia and there nobody cares about
papers it seems.

- the best is to sell it to another traveller.

The problem is the buyer will not be able to get proper new registration as he/she is not in the homecountry.
The workaround: get a written permission (notarised) from the seller to use the car.
Some people even put new names in the papers ?!

The thing is, you are not driving the vehicle in its homecountry so dont worry about registration.
The countrys down here dont check the vadility of your registration. all they check ..is the vehicle stolen.

The car is regarded as an item the traveller brings into the country, just like big camera equipment.
Its a custom issue.
You have to sign a paper in which you state that you will take it out of the country again.
Thats all.

To find a notary (escribano) is difficult as most of them will not do it as they are unfamiliar with foreign registration papers.

In our case the paraguayen and argentinien aduana was very helpful and accepted a handwritten permission
which they even stamped and countersigned. so we did not need a notary.

In fact i see many german registered cars driving around here of which i do not know if they are still registered in germany.

so there is always a way.....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1211658420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1211658420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/aleman/transam-2007/1211658420/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 15:54:29 -0400 With VW Bus Vanagon (RV, Westfalia) all through America

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Salvador, State of Bahia, Brazil

I flew 2 hours from rio to salvador de bahia.

Warm tropical air welcomed me. Another 4 days to spend.
The old city is the travellers delight as for reggae restaurants and fun. Just a bit loud though to sleep.

Its touristy of corse. the really old houses there are mostly rotten an will need much restauration work,
but they are still standing and thats what counts here.

beaches are nice with warm green colored wather (as opposed to rios clear blue waters!).

population is mainly black or brown.
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