We bought the Lonely Planet guide books and Rough guides maps for our trip. The maps are as good as any German variation and are almost half the price. If we source local maps that may be better, we will put details on each countries page but we would recommend buying this route map in Buenos Aires - it cost 35 pesos and contains lots of useful information for Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.

CARNET : is not required for any of the countries - you are issued a temporary import paper at each                               border that can range from 3 to 8 months depending on which country you enter.
VISA’S : are issued at the border of each country, are free and can easily be extended in any town.
INOCULATIONS : lots are recommended but Yellow Fever is the only compulsory certificate being required.
We have ALL our injections and carry our vaccination booklets as proof - available from Trailfinders.The only other thing you need to consider is Malaria medication - so seek advice from your travel clinic.
TRAVEL INSURANCE  : we use www.travelnation.co.uk  - we remain very happy with their service and prices after 4 years of use.
Chemists are well stocked with medicines and supermarkets are everywhere - IT REALLY IS THAT SIMPLE!

We discovered Mosi-guard and Nobite on our last trip -both are natural remedies that worked very well for us. The Nobite is for spraying onto our clothing and the Mosi-guard is for our skin - we would recommend the Mosi-guard liquid rather than the cream as it soaks in quicker. www.mosi-guard.com
For treating a net, we used KO Tab with great success, even flies dropped dead instantly on contact! Available from www.daerr.de
Nobite can be ordered from www.globetrotter.de but it does mean an expensive postal arrangement - no-one in the UK stocks it as yet.

We have tried to get a second passport each but have been refused every time - we know it can be done and that it is legal but the Passport Office refuse to play ball with us. So we did the next best thing - Dave got a Irish passport. Did you know that you are entitled to one if you have a parent that was born in Ireland, that includes Northern Ireland! It is a relatively easy procedure and having a Irish passport can actually save you money - some countries charge a much smaller visa fee for the Irish than the British. It’s a great shame that they stopped issuing passports to the spouse 3 years ago, but at least one of us now has a second passport.

It seems that most travellers have major problems with gas bottles and filling them up. Modern European screw top or bayonet top bottles cannot be refilled over here. We have had to buy a local 10 kg bottle at a cost of £35 - top-up’s cost £3. If we find a simple solution to this problem we will update this section.......

Argentineans love to fish and camp so you will see vans and old buses converted to accommodate their passion of travelling. So far we have only been in Brazil and Argentina but we have seen lots of potential overlander vehicles. If you fancy a normal van then the older style Renault Traffic vans are everywhere as are Peugeot Boxer vans - most have been converted in some way as ‘mobile homes’.
Iveco Daily vans are everywhere but only the newer models - only the military drive the 4x4 versions - so there must be parts available somewhere. The most popular vehicle to travel in is the old Mercedes bus - you find them everywhere and we have even met a French family who are considering buying one to complete their S.A trip in - the Bolivian roads wrecked their mobile home!
A Land Rover with a roof tent would be a disaster in Patagonia and the far south - the weather is definitely not for roof tents or pop-ups - some of the overlander trucks have to face into the wind it’s so severe.
As things stand we are absolutely convinced that our truck is the best option, we blend with the locals, parts and mechanics are everywhere and they’re cheap.