As discussed with a few members recently we have just returned from an amazing month in South America. The usual boring stuff, one week in the penthouse overlooking Copacabana beach in Rio De Janeiro, the next white water rubber rafting under Iguassu Falls, Tango dinner shows in Buenos Aires, then climbing Machu Picchu, finishing with Piranha fishing and a swim in the Amazon with pink dolphins. This is all research for my almost completed 3rd novel 'Devil's Chariot' of course. (At least that's what I tell my accountant).
But what about the cars? We saw many of the latest Mustangs, Camaros and Mopars in the major cities of Argentina and Brazil, both on the road and in tiny suburban showrooms. The biggest surprise was the abundance of rare old fifties American cars in the smaller remote towns of Chile, Peru and mainly Uruguay. We saw old Hudsons, Nash Ramblers, Studebakers, De Sotos, Dodge, Buick and numerous Chevs and single spinner fords. Many were in shabby rusted original condition while others had been hybrided to the point it was hard to tell what they were. Some of these unique drives had even been cut and shut into utes and flatbeds. Iquitos on the Amazon is overrun with nearly 200,000 Tuktuk style motorcycle cabs. These motorcycle front, covered dual rear wheel & seat machines make up over 90% of vehicles on the road.
There was also a motorcyclist crime spree in larger cities like Santiago. The motorcycle thieves seek out traffic jams then lane crawl looking in car windows for purses, phones, laptops, ipads, etc. The driver would stop alongside the target passenger side window and the pillion rider would hit the glass with a tungsten tip spark plug gripped in his fist. As the window shattered the pillion snatches anything of valuable off the front seat! Another problem was a few rogue taxi drivers who printed off forged large denomination notes at home. Next day an unsuspecting overseas tourist would try to pay with an unfamiliar local note. The rogue driver palms your good note while lifting out his fake stating, 'This note is a forgery.' He then hands back the fake demanding you provide a 'real' note to pay for the fare. The reason I posted these is that it could happen anywhere including Australia, be warned, don't leave valuables in sight on the front seat.
Cheers, Bob.
www.tropicanapress.com.au

well, you're either going to have to post some photos up or drop in sometime to do a show and tell....

Adventure man!
Great insight into the countries Bob!

 
Hi Peter, Too many photos! I have almost completed editing 700 photos down to the best 100. Will drop by and bore you with them over coffee in the next few weeks. Also editing over 8 hours of video down to 2 hour 'best of'. And thanks Andy, we have had some amazing adventures thru over 60 countries now. You as a pro camera man (with some spectacular home video as well) might appreciate the latest little Canon Legria HF R 606 digital HD video camera we took. Simple to use full touch screen 57x zoom, over 2hr battery life and 3hrs of hi-res video on a mini 32gb flashcard smaller than your little fingernail! Not as hardy as your Go-Pro but perfect for remote touring. Though not waterproof it got  very wet going under Iguassu Falls without a problem. Later it got saturated in a tropical downpour 140km up the Amazon from Iquitos while hauling baby crocs (they call them Caimans) into our dugout canoes. Playback colour and resolution on a 55" TV was perfect. I'm showing my age here, but what a difference to my first video camera in the late 70's! The camera was shoulder heavy and over half a metre long while the battery pack with inbuilt VHS was bigger and heavier than a car battery.
Regards, Bob.

You should have borrowed my video camera, small compact - plugs into iMovie on my mac for easy editing...and I hardly ever use it!

Looking forward to the pics!

Hi Peter, many thanks for the offer but I'm not the best guy to lend cameras to. As you know Susan and I are volcano chasers, visiting over 15 volcanos around the world.  This was partly research for the last novel 'Fire Cult'. On the way to Bromo volcano in Java our car was crushed by a falling tree injuring Susan and damaging a camera. We had a camera case sucked out of a helicopter over Kilauea volcano, losing case, tele-converter and lens filters into the lava lake. Plane crash Black Cat Gap, PNG, plane and camera written off. Another camera almost confiscated due illegal filming, Temple of Ramses, Abu Simbal. Falsely arrested by Indonesian military for gun-running in jungle near Sentani, walkie talkie, pistol and camera confiscated. (back in the days when you could wear side arms in restricted zones). Camera damaged running from stampeding elephant, Kruger, Africa. Through all this, we weren't scared, lots of people have bowel motions standing up? See you next week.