“Where are Stefan, Silke … and Fender?”

We just received a Skype call from Stefan and Silke who are in the central part of Chile - about to have a nice bbq dinner accompanied by some Chilean red wine! The weather is sunny and windy plus it gets cold at night as they are at 2300 meters = 7500 feet.

They plan on driving to Argentina to spend Christmas.

See photos below:

After having shown Stefan’s dad Anton various parts of Peru (see photos down below in the Peru category) they drove to Bolivia and Anton flew back home to Germany from La Paz. Stefan and Silke went on to explore more of Bolivia.

Update on 12/17/09: Stefan and Silke are in Uyuni - a town in the Potosei Department in southern Bolivia. The town is a gateway for tourists visiting the world’s largest salt flats - the “Salar de Uyuni”.

Please enjoy the fascinating photos below: 

In October 2009, a “historical’ reunion took place: Francis was reunited with Silke and Stefan - approx. one year after having waved good-bye to them when they left Portland, Oregon after 3 amazing weeks with us - they were at our house and Fender was at our shop PDX Rovers.

Here’s the story behind the happy reunion:

Francis and his son Terry recently traveled to Lima, Peru to attend the wedding of Francis’ youngest brother Danny. Silke and Stefan happened to pass through Peru during that very period so they all planned to meet up.

After one week of sight-seeing and partying with Francis and his relatives in Lima - Silke, Stefan, Francis and Terry piled into “Fender” and first drove south-bound to Nazca and then north-east-bound through the Andes to Cuzco, The Sacred Valley of the Incas and Machu Picchu.

After Francis and Terry had said another sad good-bye to Stefan and Silke and left them behind in Cuzco, they drove to Arequipa in order to pick up Stefan’s dad Anton who arrived from Germany.

As you can imagine there are tons of photos and we have uploaded them in batches - please navigate via the categories in the right margin.

We invite you to sit back and enjoy a part of the world which is very special to the Watson family - and now also our beloved friends Stefan and Silke … plus Stefan’s dad Anton.

Machu Picchu cannot be adequately described in words - it really must be experienced first-hand (take our word for it):

Stefan and Silke’s Defender 110 Td5 was an unparalleled mode of transportation when crossing the Andes. Also, Stefan is one amazing driver!

After a couple of days in Nazca, the journey continued with a 14+ hour drive through the Andes towards Cuzco - driving for hours above 14,000 feet / 4 KM:

The morning after the wedding, Francis, Terry, Stefan and Silke piled into Fender and drove 7 hours south-bound on the Pan-Am highway towards Nazca. The west coast of South America is the driest place on earth:

Francis’ first batch of pictures features trips in and around the capital Lima: