Claudio’s blog

When I first started to think about the idea of buying a car in South America and than drive it all the way up to Central or North America many I met many people that told me it was impossible or that I was simply crazy I had many problems, some difficult times and many changes of plans during the last six months but I always found a solution and a way to continue. I also had an incredible amount of really fantastic experiences, I’ve met many interesting people, learned a lot about a different cultures, other lifestyles and I even learned some Spanish.
I want to thank all the people that supported me trough this long adventure and that made this trip possible. Particularly I want to thank my parents, all my friends back home and the people that I met and helped me in South and Central America.
I also want to apologise for all the emails and messages I haven’t yet had the time to answer. It has been a really busy time for me in the last weeks but I’ll try to catch up with all of you shortly.

Thanks!

My travel map…

The trip home took almost 3 days. Last Tuesday I had an afternoon flight from Cuba to Cancun and after a short night I had an early flight to Miami on Wednesday. I had enough time before my next flight so I took a bus to the centre of Miami and than to Miami Beach. It was quite difficult to get around Miami with public transportation and even if the distances where short I lost hours on busses…

In the evening I had a flight from Miami to London and Thursday afternoon I had the last fight from London back to Zurich. I had mixed feelings about getting back home. On one side I really loved travelling, on the other side I’ve been away for quite a long time. Some friends came to the airport to pick me up and I was really happy to see them again.

I was back home unpacking my stuff when somebody rung on the door: my friends had organised a surprise party for my return home and soon the flat was full of people! It was really fantastic to see everybody again and to find out what thy have all been up to in the last 6 months.

More pictures…

After travelling for weeks trough Central America I needed a change and Cuba was definitely something very different. Everything seems to be a little bit more complicated in Cuba and it takes some time to figure out how the system works.

Read more…

Yesterday morning I was able to get the car trough customs and package it in a container. It should be leaving Belize next week and arrive to Le Havre one month later… hopefully everything will be OK. I’m already missing the car and I’m wondering if I should have tried to drive to Miami anyway…

In the afternoon I started travelling by bus and arrived to Playa del Carmen (Mexico) in the evening. I have already been in Playa del Carmen 4 years ago but the place has completely changed. Now it´s huge with a lot of really elegant clubs and restaurants. no more cheap caipiriñas and partying on the beach

Today I spent the morning in a travelagency and organised the rest of me trip:

10Oct 20:45 Cancun, Mexico
10Oct 22:50 Havana, Cuba

23Oct 15:50 Havana, Cuba
23Oct 15:55 Cancun, Mexico

24Oct 08:00 Cancun, Mexico
24Oct 10:30 Miami, USA

24Oct 20:45 Miami, USA
25Oct 10:05 London, UK

25Oct 11:55 London, UK
25Oct 14:35 Zurich, Switzerland

26Oct ???

For the first time during this trip crossing the border wasn’t easy. As I found out a couple of days ago swiss people need a visa to enter Belize but it should usually be possible to obtain it at the border. When I arrived to the border I found out that the guy responsible for issuing visas was completely drunk. I had to spend two hours convincing him to give me a visa while he was telling me how much he hates his job, he wasn’t supposed to be working today, he hates swiss people who turn up without a visa and steal his money with our banks… At the and I got the visa and I finally crossed the border. After about 30km I’ve been stopped at a police checkpoint just to find out that they forgot to sell me an insurance at the border and I had to go back…

Read more…

After spending a night in Omoa last friday morning I crossed the border into Guatemala. Crossing the border took a lot of time becouse to obtain a permit for the car I had to go to Puerto Barrios by bus (45 min away) to sort out the paperwork and then return to the border to take the car.

After I had all the papers I continued until Rio Dulce where I had the next problem with the motor: the new pulley that I had just bought in Managua broke and damaged the alternator. They hadn’t any spare parts in Rio Dulce but I managed to find somebody to solder everything back together. Saturday I drove from Rio Dulce all the way up to Tikal with a short ‘pit-stop’ at another solderer.

In Tikal I met some other tourists that where traveling around the world with their vehicles. They all had 4×4 and where very well equipped: probably they made the better choice We had dinner all together and had a great time exchanging stories.

Sundey morning I got up at 4 to see the sunrise over the ruins of Tikal. The walk trough the jungle at night and the views of the ruins where really amaizing. After visiting the ruins I continued my trip towards Belize.

More pictures…

I spent the last week on Utila: a small island in the caribean sea near the coast of Honduras. Utila is nown as the cheapest place in the world to dive and so the island is full of backpackers that do nothing else than dive and party.

After five months withouth a dive I was really happy to go diving again and I took the opportunity to get certified for nitrox and rebreather dives. After a fullmoon party with a lot of nitrous oxide this morning I got the firs ferry and left teh island. Now I’m in Omoa and tomorrow I’ll probably make it to Guatemala.

More pictures…

I haven’t been writing for almost a week and a lot happened (good and bad). Thursday Morning we got up really early and we managed to catch the first ferry to Fixing Isla Ometepe in the Lake Nicaragua. The island is about 40km long and has two big volcanoes on it so it should be almost impossible to get lost… but we managed to! First of all we took the road that went trough the north of the island that was in quite bad condition (later we found out that the road in the south was paved!) and then we missed twice the right turnoff. Finally we arrived to the first hostel just before a huge thunderstorm arrived. We wanted to camp and sleep in the car but the hostel was too far away from the road so we ended playing cards for an hour waiting for the rain to stop and then went to the next hostel. The second hostel was really nice and we spend the afternoon kayaking to a smaller island to watch monkeys.

Read more…

After spending two and a half days in Monteverde fixing the motor Sunday morning the car was ready! I left together with Sandra and a German couple we met in Monteverde (Silvia and Christoph). After loosing one of the back windows on the way we arrived to Liberia in the afternoon. We went to see a movie and the built a new “window” using a piece of board. Sandra even painted a map of South and Central America including my trip

Monday morning we left Liberia early and crossed to border to Nicaragua withouts problems and arrived to San Juan del Sur on the pacific coast. It was great to spend some time on the beach after all the rain and the stress in Monteverde.

This morning I left San Juan del Sur with Sandra and we wanted to go the Isla Ometepe in lake Nicaragua. When we arrived to the ferry we discovered that everything was full for the day so we continued to Granada. We relaxed in the hostel and had a one hour massage. Tomorrow we’ll get up very early and we’ll try to get to the Island again.

More pictures…

I was driving bacxk from teh cloud forest when suddently I smelleds smoke. I stopped the cxar ansd went out to see wat was happening: there where 2m tall flames coming out of the baxck of my car! I tryed to stop the fire with the fire extinguisher that I hasd in the car but fuel was leaking ands the fire was continuing. I drove to the next house and started to trow water on the motor: the motor was still burning but at least it wasn’t getting bigger. Finally somebosdy else arrivesd with another fire extinguisher ands we where able to stop the fire.

The motor was is copletly burned out. All the plastixc part and electrioc components have melted. At lest the rest of the car didn’t burn.The fire was all around the fuel tank and I had another 40 liter of fuel in the car so I was really lucky.

After the first shock I took the car to a mechanic. We made a list of parts that have to be replaced just in time to catch the last bus to San Jose (a 5 hour ride…). Sandra and Kerstin decided to cxome to Son Jose with me and I was really happy not to be alone. Yesterday morning I ran all over San Jose to find all the parts and in the afternoon I took the bus back to Monteverde with Sandra. Today I spend the day at the mechanic trying to get the car fixed. If everithing goes well tomorrow the car should be running again.

More pictures…