Question about RV'ing in South America
Hello folks, I am planning to take a 38' Class A diesel pusher to South America. Since I have seen much of the US and Canada, I will be shipping this RV on a ro-ro from Halifax to Caracas. The ...
Forum Discussion
I've got a couple of lots of friends who have driven around the whole of the Americas for several years without the slightest indication of danger from the inhabitants. Moglander was mentioned and yes, they have had problems with mechanical breakdowns which they were able to sort out, but no danger from the people - just a lot of great memories. If you spend a lot of time reading the many blogs written by long-term travellers in SA, you will be hard pressed to come up with any sensible travellers having had major problems involving their personal safety.
Their Mog will be available next year - 33,000 euro if you are interested.
You will find that even a vehicle that size is pushing it on many of the minor roads across South America and something considerably smaller is likely to suit the conditions a lot better - albeit at the expense of a lot of living conditions and facilities that i regard as essential. Yes, I could take our Class A down there but I reckon that would be a recipe for a fair bit of wishing I hadn't. So, my solution was to buy a small 4x4 Iveco van done up as a camper with basic facilities, Certainly not ideal comfort wise, but will go most of the places I want to go and since I paid a throwaway price for it, that is what I will do if it gives any major problems. As a compensation for lack of luxuries, we will be renting apartments in major cities and using the vehicle to get well off the beaten track if required, but also to do one and two day trips around the major cities while we live in relative luxury.
As far as practical aspects of RVing in S America, be aware that many of the countries do not allow you to leave the vehicle there while you head off home for a break. Others that do only allow you a three-month TIP while at least one (Argentina) allow 8 months and at least one other allows 12 months and in both countries you can leave the vehicle behind as long as you don't exceed the TIP currency.
I guess we can continue to take it for granted that many Westerners are afraid of the unknown so will continue to exclaim out loud and very frequently how dangerous the rest of the world is and how they will never go outside of their own country, but we will continue to join the many Americans and Canadians and dozens and dozens of Europeans and Australians who are quite happy that there are still some places in the world that make it worth getting up in the morning to experience.
Oh yes, those huge expedition vehicles everyone dreams about might be OK for the wide open spaces of Saharan Africa, but the practicalities are that they are just a total waste of money for those travelling in most of the rest of the world. They are too heavy, too high and especially too wide and haven't the turning circle to be practical. They can't operate efficiently in many parts of the Australian interior because of their size and they certainly cant operate safely on lots of terrain in S America.
Their Mog will be available next year - 33,000 euro if you are interested.
You will find that even a vehicle that size is pushing it on many of the minor roads across South America and something considerably smaller is likely to suit the conditions a lot better - albeit at the expense of a lot of living conditions and facilities that i regard as essential. Yes, I could take our Class A down there but I reckon that would be a recipe for a fair bit of wishing I hadn't. So, my solution was to buy a small 4x4 Iveco van done up as a camper with basic facilities, Certainly not ideal comfort wise, but will go most of the places I want to go and since I paid a throwaway price for it, that is what I will do if it gives any major problems. As a compensation for lack of luxuries, we will be renting apartments in major cities and using the vehicle to get well off the beaten track if required, but also to do one and two day trips around the major cities while we live in relative luxury.
As far as practical aspects of RVing in S America, be aware that many of the countries do not allow you to leave the vehicle there while you head off home for a break. Others that do only allow you a three-month TIP while at least one (Argentina) allow 8 months and at least one other allows 12 months and in both countries you can leave the vehicle behind as long as you don't exceed the TIP currency.
I guess we can continue to take it for granted that many Westerners are afraid of the unknown so will continue to exclaim out loud and very frequently how dangerous the rest of the world is and how they will never go outside of their own country, but we will continue to join the many Americans and Canadians and dozens and dozens of Europeans and Australians who are quite happy that there are still some places in the world that make it worth getting up in the morning to experience.
Oh yes, those huge expedition vehicles everyone dreams about might be OK for the wide open spaces of Saharan Africa, but the practicalities are that they are just a total waste of money for those travelling in most of the rest of the world. They are too heavy, too high and especially too wide and haven't the turning circle to be practical. They can't operate efficiently in many parts of the Australian interior because of their size and they certainly cant operate safely on lots of terrain in S America.
