This Big Road Trip

I loved that video.....2 very interesting rigs for sure ! Looks like a great trip and of course it makes me wish I was there. I don't have Instagram so I sure hope you post more on here. Stay safe and thank you.....
 

This Big Road Trip

Active member
I loved that video.....2 very interesting rigs for sure ! Looks like a great trip and of course it makes me wish I was there. I don't have Instagram so I sure hope you post more on here. Stay safe and thank you.....

Thanks :) Two very different rigs too.

Instagram is available to view on any computer, it is limited for posting but fully works for viewing through a browser: https://www.instagram.com/THISBIGROADTRIP/

We also have an Instagram feed on our website gallery page here: https://thisbigroadtrip.com/gallery/

But .... I will keep dropping some images up on here as well :)
 

This Big Road Trip

Active member
March 2020: Colombia #2 and #3 - Lockdown

The eagle-eyed amongst you will sport that there is currently a video 'gap' between Belize and Colombia. My tardiness in creating the Central America videos is primarily based on the fact that I only have a fairly random collection of video clips. I will throw them all together soon.

In the meantime .... Lockdown!

We were about to complete the Southern part of Colombia and head towards Ecuador when the COVID-19 issues got real. We only had 29 days left on our Colombian temporary import permit (TIP) and visa, and it sounded like borders would be closing fast. What to do?

It was a strange feeling, trying to gamble on quite serious future events. Ecuador had announced that they were closing the borders to both foreigners and returning Ecuadorians in 24 hours. We were 15 hours away at least.

Surely everyone making a mad dash to the Ecuador border would be a ******** show. Even if we drove there, the line ups / crossing could take forever, we may not get through, and who knows how people would react to foreigners at times of stress. That said, with under a month left on our current TIP and Visa, a border crossing would give us three more months of wiggle room.

Colombia had been an amazing place to be, it was certainly more in our comfort zone. Our friends in Ecuador were not exactly reporting the greatest of news. Locals had become suspicious of foreign virus carriers, their new services heavily promoting that white people were to blame for all existing corona cases.

The other issue was that we had just paid for some brand new tires, they were sitting in a city called Pereira further north. Do we lose over a thousand bucks of rubber too? We doubled led down on Colombian hospitality, also relying a little on reports that Colombia was incredibly lenient with people outstaying their TIP and Visa. If we overstayed or had to get flights back home and leave the camper, that could be a massive issue. In Ecuador, it could cost us thousands, in Colombia a couple of hundred bucks.

With almost every multiple choice answer going the way of Colombia we decided to stay and headed north towards Pereira to collect the tires. It seemed like as good an option as any. We almost made it too. Claire had decided we would hunker down at the popular Campground Bonanza, making a trip to Pereira in the morning; returning to Bonanza the same day. Covid had other ideas.

A rush of overlanders looking for sanctuary filled the campsite with 10 vehicles and 35 people. Following a frenzy of local indigenous concern over virus spread (which we understand) our campground was quickly put under quarantine.

These two videos are where we were, what was going on and what a typical day looked like.

Quarantine at Bonanza Campground



A Typical Day in Quarantine

 

This Big Road Trip

Active member
After we had driven the Northern part of Colombia we dropped down into the city of Cucuta and the border with Venezuela. The humanitarian crisis there is very real, but not the violent mayhem that some media might have you believe. Sure, there have been flare-ups, some major, but the general day to day consists of desperate yet friendly Venezuelans crossing the bridge to buy food and get medical help. The whole time we were there it was very relaxed. More on that later.

We were in Cucuta so that Claire could volunteer for Med Global. An NGO that delivers limited medical aid to the Venezualans. A small clinic and a couple of doctors from the UK and USA treating the people with medical basics. It was both heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time and a key factor in kick-starting our Global Run Project charity initiative.

Here is an interview with Claire, filmed by Med Global.

 

This Big Road Trip

Active member
As you can see in our previous posts, part one of our enforced quarantine was spent Bonanza Campground in the mountains of Cauca, Colombia. One of the other overland rigs there was owned by Thomas and Alison, a French couple traveling with their three kids. Their big MAN truck with custom-built living space is quite well known among French YouTube travel fans.

They have over 48,000 subscribers to their channel with a focus on following their family of five as they head south from Canada to Patagonia. Their trip is now on hold and they have returned to France. Planning a real estate renovation for the coming year, back in their French homeland, to generate some funds for getting back on the road when things settle down.

Just before we left Thomas and Alison did a little interview with Claire and I, along with a tour of the camper.

Thomas did a great job of speaking English all the way through, and then typed all the subtitles in French! Despite their audience being many French-speaking, there are 32,000 views of the video at the time of posting. Despite this popularity we have yet to be asked to cast our handprints on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in LA. We await the phone call :)

 

This Big Road Trip

Active member
We are finally on the move again. Lockdown in Colombia has eased. Movement within the country is allowed. Borders are still closed. We headed into the back country, to a place called La Peña near Abajorral. It's a climbing location so, if the rain holds, we may have a couple of climbing shots available soon.

EX 2 2020 09 17 Truck La Pena Colombia.jpg
 

This Big Road Trip

Active member
I write for a couple of sites whilst on the road. Truck Camper Adventure. Nimbl Vehicles. A climbing website called The Wandering Climber (check it out if you are into travel and climbing). A small piece in Overland Journal and one coming up on this very site, Expedition Portal.

My latest article is for Nimbl Vehicles. It's based on the experience of overlanding being of much greater benefit than the, admittedly marvellous, vehicles we are drawn to.

Hit the link to check it out ---> IT'S NOT ABOUT THE CAMPER


swim kids.jpg
 

alanymarce

Well-known member
Great trip and good that it's working out well despite the pandemic.

A couple of thoughts:

- if you're still on Colombia and need help PM us - we're usually in Bogotá, currently near Manizales, and have contacts in lots of places (including Perú, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela (not that it's a good idea to go there at the moment, even if you could)).

- re getting spares for vehicles no locally sold, as you say, there's usually a way, HOWEVER importing vehicle spares into Colombia is illegal. You have to get them from the agencies, and if the vehicle is not (or has not been) sold in the country you may be out of luck. This applies to some other countries as well.
 

This Big Road Trip

Active member
Great trip and good that it's working out well despite the pandemic.

Hi. Thanks, will bear you in mind for sure.

We have currently just been ordering car parts through Amazon and had them delivered - not much. An Air Con compressor, ABS Speed Sensor and a couple of other bits. Some of the garages have said they could order them too, presumably through the agencies. I don't think Ram 3500 are sold here but 2500 are and a lot of the parts are interchangeable. Maybe that's how they are getting around it.

Our friends, the Southbound Seahags (wonderful couple from Florida) are in Manizales. They literally just reversed through a Veterinarian storefront window! :) We were just south of Armenia in an AirBNB for 3 months. nice area. Sitting in Venecia, Antioquia now, which is beautiful.

Thanks for the offer of help. Much appreciated and always good to have a local contact,
 

This Big Road Trip

Active member
Warning. This has nothing to do with rock crawling, trail hunting, camp cook outs or avoiding civilization. It is, however, a day in our lives on the Pan American.

It follows on from the blog post above on Truckpacking. Where long term overland travel on the Pan American has morphed from searching for trails in the US to searching for ourselves, culture, and everyday experience.

We're still in our camper, but this video is simply a day in our lives and what we get up to when we have 'stopped still' for a while.

 

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