Overlander's Handbook
Trip Reports

Latin America ~ Land Rover 110 2.5D

Who Tom Peacey + Barry Priest ~ email ~ website
ProfessionIT
Born 1970Nationality UK
Previous travel experiencePottering about in various landys, bicycle touring
This tripEvery country in Central and South America, starting from Texas and ending in Peru
Departure dateJuly 2001
Number in group2
Trip duration2 years and a bit
Distance covered90,000kms
Cost of trip (not incl. vehicle)Spent US$20,000 each, mainly beer and diesel!
Best dayEvery single one of them
Worst/ hardest dayBeing stuck in jungle in Venezuela with broken front driveshaft and managing only 5kms a day - great memories afterwards though.
Favourite placeThe area around Uyuni Salar in Bolivia, Andes mountains in Patagonia
Biggest headacheWaiting for things - landy to be released from US customs at the start, spare driveshaft on the Brazil Venez border.
Wish I hadn'teaten that sandwich in Villahermosa
Most pleasant surprisehow easy it is to cross borders and how open and friendly 99% of the army, police, customs people actually are
Any illnessmainly dodgy stomachs
Other trips plannedThe rest of the world awaits!
One overlanding tipInteract with the locals (helps if you know the lingo) as much as possible.
Type of VehicleLand Rover 110 2.5 n a diesel ex-mod
Age/ mileage on departure11 years old, 45,000kms
Modificationsroof rack, roof tent, cooker on back door, diff guards, tank guard, a-bar, spots, OME suspension, 1000W stereo, door security, snorkel
Most useful accessory-
Mods you wish you'd donefitted a proper winch, not the hand winch
Tyres usedMichelin XZL - 0 punctures - 40,000kms - BFG Muds 50,000kms + and 20 punctures
Number of punctures
Vehicle's weak pointnoisy and hot, rear drum brakes, rear hub seals
Vehicle's strong pointversatility, easy to maintain, got character
Vehicle problems2 broken front driveshafts, timing belt snapped
Same vehicle again?yes but with turbo engine
One driving tiptake it easy