the blue truck: December 2013

Monday, December 23, 2013

Ready for X-Mas Dinner?

Little piggies at a supermercado in Paraguay.

Guys and Chicks or recently at The Gentlemens Club

"Hey Joe, what' ya think 'bout those chicks?"

"The one to the left puts on quite a dance but yours there Jack, what a boring babe!"

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Merry Christmas!

Dear blue truck blog reader,

Thank you for having been part of the blue truck's journey through 2013 by...

...following this blog and in this way kind of taking a seat...

...on the Toyota's passenger seat and...

...travelling along.

The blue truck crew, Ursi and I wish you...

...fantastic and delightful...

...funny and...

...exciting Christmas days.

Thank you for cruising along in the blue truck!

There is a First for Everything

Heading from Asuncion, Paraguay towards Salta Argentina the blue truck was running hot for the first time ever.

We have come across millions of butterflies, which eventually...

...closed up the radiator air intake entirely. So you can't really blame the old Toyota for feeling a little heated up.

After having cleaned out those suicidal insects it was running like a pro again, at ideal engine temperatures.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

No Fishing with Dynamite in Bolivia

Are you planning to go fishing this weekend? How do you do that, still the old fashioned way with a fishing pole and such? - In Bolivia it must have been established to do that much more efficient. So efficent that it is nowadays not allowed any more. "Fishing with Explosives Prohibited".

Would you like to see more pictures of Bolivia? The Bolivia galleries are nearly complete. Check out Bolivia and Bolivia Salares y Lagunas, the two galleries of the beautiful country.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Miles and Miles

Almost 120'000 kilometers ago the blue truck rolled out of a 20' container at Port Elizabeth in New Jersey.

Ever since I started off in NJ, when ever the odometer counted another 1'000 kilometers more...

...I've hit the shutter of my digital camera. Whether bright...

...or dark...

...white or...

...green.

Visit my kilometer gallery to see the full load of pictures and what you might see when driving the Panamericana and a little North, a little East, a little South and a little West of it.

Happy Driving!

When You Are Not Camping

Here comes an unusual over-nighting tipp for the overlander: Hotels. If you have not just started your trip yesterday or if you are not all just nature and like visiting a city once in a while I am sure you have run into that. No campground, not friends in town, street or free camping not possible or simply not safe, so you might exceptionally check into a Hotel, kind of have to.

I think there are almost more hotel booking web pages than hotels. Do you know hotwire.com? My friends from Bonaire who run and own hotels themselves have focused my attention on this web-page. The principal is simple, you can not chose the hotel, meaning you chose an area in a city and you'll see the price, amenities (including information about parking) etc, the price is supposed to be guaranteed the best price available, which I found to be correct in most cases. Once you book and pay you will see the hotel where you are staying, get an address and a booking confirmation code. With that your show-up on the drive way respectively at the reception desk of the hotel and off you go.

Especially in the US there are many, many hotels offered. I have stayed at 4 or even 5 star locations in city centers for below USD 50/night or at Hotels of a kind of Holiday Inn standard below USD 30/night. In more expensive US states like CA or FL sometimes I found campgrounds to be more expensive than hotwire hotels. Of course I do prefer to sleep in the blue truck and to be out in the nature, but for those occasions where it simply might not be safe or not possible, I like hotwire, they have offers in most larger cities not just in the US also in many mexican and central and south american cities. Of course you can get a dorm bed in a Hostal for less, but parking is an issue at most hostals. And be honest, when you are travelling for months or years, once in while it is nice to crawl under those white sheets, or when that little bug got you it is such a luxury to have your own clean pot to sit on, have A/C in some hot tropical city and to know you and your car are safe.

www.hotwire.com

Other on-line booking services I have used:

Sleep well!

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Apple vs. Samsung

Now check that out! In Brazil I met this Korean who spends a two week vacation and who understandably likes to remain anonymous. He is currently testing the latest smart phone product for his company. Unbeliveable but when he pushed that right hand top end botton the phone was throwing a rainbow. - Now Apple that's gonna be a challange!