Route planning can be carried out in meticulous detail, or extremely vaguely, or anything in between. Generally, we favour the ‘extremely vaguely’ option, but travelling Chiapas State in south Mexico is an exception to this randomness – a bit of route-planning caution is required. With Mayan ruins planning on the other hand, we’ve developed a reckless tendency to live life on the edge, running a real risk of ‘overload’ and becoming ‘Mayan’d Out’.
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Tag Archives: Jungle
Belize: Cruising through Cayo
It’s amazing what an easy border crossing, a great first camp-site and a fabulous restaurant meal can do for your first impressions of a country. All of this, plus the fact that everything here is in English so (I don’t have to translate everything for Marcus 😊) puts our initial view of Belize, high-up on the official list of ‘Tucks’ Truck’s Nice Places’. It rained on our first afternoon here, it’s hot, stiflingly humid and we fail in our several attempts to extract spondoolies from the ATMs. Nevertheless, first impressions are favourable. Here’s our cruise through Belize Cayo …
Guatemala Lowlands: Jungle, Vuvuzelas and a Gunman
It’s difficult to put Guatemala into a pigeon hole unless, of course, you have a hole for an unfeasibly large pigeon… then it might fit. It’s a small country, but its variety of cultures, regions, climates and experiences is way too big for your average pigeon hole. There’s no shortage of things to see and do. Descending from the cool highlands to the heat of Guatemala lowlands we find great kayaking in the Tarzan jungle, a hot water fall, a cacophony of vuvuzelas, some stacks of ancient Mayan stones… and a scary man with a gun!
Costa Rica – Jungle, Wildlife and Beaches
Costa Rica generates mixed reviews from travellers: jungle, wildlife, beaches… but two words crop-up with some regularity: ‘touristy’ and ‘expensive’. Not the most enticing adjectives. But even if it were possible to avoid the country on our way through Central America, which it isn’t, we still wouldn’t want to miss checking it out for ourselves. So here we are… just checking it out…
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Ecuador Volcanos: Just a Puff of Smoke?
Ecuador has its fair share of volcanos and an even greater share of active ones. In our last blog, we saw Chimborazo and Tungurahua. Now we’re moving on to the hyperactive Volcán Reventador. On the way, we see some jungle critters, spot a rare bird, walk to some pretty cool waterfalls (yes… more waterfalls) and end up with Uncle Sam’s ‘Man in Quito’.
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Amazon-ing Overlanding
The Amazon: awesome, exciting, wildlife, adventure, river eco-zone? Or hot, humid, over-bearing, mud-ridden, insect-infested swamp? The Amazon jungle has been all of these things to us (and more) over the last few months. With highs and lows. Most recently we cut diagonally across the Amazon overland driving the BR-319 mud road. As we now leave Brazil and the Amazon for the last time on this trip, heading west again into the Peruvian Andes, we’ve taken a quick scan back over this sometimes challenging but rewarding overlanding route.
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Driving the BR-319 (with free pants and a soup tin)
The BR-319 is one of Brazil’s most notorious routes, a mud-road cutting diagonally across the centre of the Amazon rainforest. After our dolphin swim and tourist-time in the city of Manaus, it’s time for a bit of ‘proper’ overlanding. On one of the most remote tracks in South America, we get some free pants and find a novel use for a Campbell’s soup tin!
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Manaus and the Venezuela Option
We’re back in Brazil. Friendliest country in South America, maybe even on the planet! French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana have been a fascinating, enjoyable de-tour and one that relatively few travellers make when overlanding South America. But Brazil puts them all in the shade when it comes to enthusiastic welcomes. Even when we can’t understand a word they say, Brazilians say it with a big smile and a thumbs-up! Now we’re in far north Brazil wondering what to do next…
Manaus Opera House – challenging those fancy Europeans!
Guyana: Rupununi
Every now and then, overlanding travel throws up not just a gem, but a surprising gem. A kind of “Well! Who knew???” moment. In south Guyana we have such a moment. After the minor disaster that was our short-lived attempt to reach Kaieteur, in the Guyana Rupununi we’re surprised to find compensation in spades: the beauty of the savannahs and the little visited Amerindian petroglyphs.
So… Suriname!
Suriname, Suriname… where exactly is that? Near Vietnam? Nope. Next door to Ghana? Errr, no. It’s on the north coast of South America, above Brazil, snuggled comfortably between French Guiana and Guyana. It’s in the northern Amazon basin, so it’s hot, humid and – at the risk of stating the bleedin’ obvious – jungly! We’ve been here a month now and one of our highlights has been entertaining jungle kids with their first ever drone sighting (click here). But Suriname has some history, great wildlife and other stuff to see too, including some interesting ‘bird-cage culture’. Here’s the Suriname travel blog…
21st Century Jungle: The Video!
Catching up a bit here with the last blog about our jungle trip in Suriname. Now, get yourself some popcorn, sit back and enjoy the Suriname Jungle Video: Maroon kids chasing their first ever drone! Sooooo cute!
Suriname: 21st Century Jungle
Suriname has rather a lot of jungle. In fact, it’s pretty much all they’ve got here. Best we take a peek then. Last blog we had the thrill of a live rocket launch in French Guiana, now we see the jungle kids’ thrill of seeing their first drone! We’re heading far in-land, well beyond where Cuthbert our camp-truck can take us. Here’s the story in our Suriname jungle blog …
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Amazon Delta
You can’t just drive across the Amazon Delta you know… you’d get a bit wet. Cuthbert earned his ‘Water-fording Proficiency’ badge reaching the Lençóis Maranhenses but this time we need to put him on a barge which zig-zags over 38 hours between the mangroves and islands, crossing the Amazon Delta. Compared to the much travelled western side of the continent, this north-eastern route of South America is, even in the dry season, relatively little trodden by the ‘overlanding community’. In the currently prevailing rainy season, even fewer travellers venture up here. Hmmm… maybe there’s a good reason for that!! 
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Amazon and Mud
Amazon… the well-known patch of rainforest rather than a profitable on-line retailer. We’re in the Bolivian bit of it known as the Madidi; the most southerly extent of the vast Amazon Basin. To get there we go from Death Road to Rurrenabaque. It’s hot, humid and of course, jungly (see route map).
There’s a lot of trees in Madidi