Cartels and Condors Tour
In 2018 I travelled the ancient Silk Road to Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan and Iran, in my converted 1996 Defender. Regular readers may remember reading about that 'Roof of the World Tour' in the November 2019 edition of LRM.
The objective for my next adventure was to go higher still, with a six-month trek down the spine of the Andes in South America — from the very north to the southern tip of the continent and back in time for carnival and Brazil. This latest expedition started in September 2019 in Colombia and finished just after carnival in March 2020, just days before COVID-19 lockdown in Argentina.
There’s a lot to tell you about, but, first, let me tell you a bit more about the all-important vehicle for the trip… Nelson started life as a standard farmer’s wagon. I chose it for its low-mileage 300Tdi power and an apparently clean chassis. Sadly for me neither of those things panned out, and it now has a new galvanised chassis, new Ashcroft gearbox and a new engine.
The choice of
