Aktueller Zustand Transpantaneira (nördl. Pantanal) (Straßen & Routen)

IVECO Tony , Wherever., Dienstag, 30. Mai 2017, 23:55 (vor 2520 Tagen) @ Roger

We have just gone from Corumba to Porto Jofre by Balsa and then north by road.

Here is text of emailed reply sent today

We went on a balsa from Corumba to Porto Jofre about 2 weeks ago. Supposed to be 3 and a bit days but was over 4 because of breakdowns and a couple of overnight stops to unload a heap of cargo. Pleasant relaxing trip though as we had a whole balsa to ourselves and we were right at the front to catch the cool breeze. No Mozzies under way but plenty when tied up for repairs. We slept and cooked in our rig as sardines have plenty of space in their tin compared to regular hammock users. Not a single english speaker on the boat apart from us.

We stayed at Estancia Vittoria half way up which was half the price of the campground at Porto Jofre (where we stayed for a couple of days (with the aircon running whenever the power was available..

Now in Bolivia after coming north from Jofre. There were large tourist buses in porto jofre and they would be 9 tonne full of passengers and luggage and they cross all of those bridges as do delivery trucks

Few of the bridges are pretty daggy - weaving from side to side AND up and down at the same time - but we are over 6 tonne and there were no creaks on groans. Friend a year ago is 9 tonne.

Almost no bypasses at this time of the year. Water levels are way high. Tomorrow 5 bridges could be smashed and no bypasses and next to no chance of getting a boat out of porto jofre. Suck it up or stay home I guess Or could get a heap of rain and be bogged for days as some were a few days before we drove north.

Photos are at https://get.google.com/albumarchive/114611728110254134379/album/AF1QipMMXpQgY... with southern Pantanal starting about 1/4 way down once all the thumbnails have been loaded. Last photo right now is at Porto Jofre, but I have a few photos of the road north that I might get captioned and uploaded sometime soon. If you click on the thumbnails they should open up and include captions for all the significant photos. The travel map is in the signature line below and if you look carefully you can see where we drifted back downstream about 5km in the dark when the engine failed the first time.

Cost us 2900 real which was acknowledged as a bit of a ripoff, but choice is limited and we did have a whole balsa to ourselves when 50 people and tonnes and tonnes of cargo were crammed onto the other two sections and they went for many hours past their last stop pushing just us so I thought it wasn't too bad and not much more than friends a couple of years ago who were squashed in in the middle of a balsa surrounded by other cargo. Frank is the owner of A Vittoria which we went on, but either screw the price down if he wants to fit you in, or insist on a whole balsa otherwise. We got a bit of help arranging the deal from the owner of a fishing charter business because we have exactly two words of Portuguese and neither was much help.

Also getting off the barge at porto jofre was problematic to the point of being dangerous until I refused to budge until they sorted out safe landing so let me know and I'll give you the info you need. Bad enough getting on the barge forwards in the dark without reversing off with wobbly planks and dickhead crew that just wanted me off regardless of which way up I landed - also in the dark
Tony Lee

Picasa Photo Albums
Spotwalla Travels Map

--
Tony Lee
Photos at https://picasaweb.google.com/114611728110254134379
Travels map at https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=5cfc50ef7ac22ca2d&hoursPast=2400&...