Check-Ins

The water games and playground are close for now. Looks like it will be for a while.
There are animals to see though!

Yes this was incredible.
There was a very friendly family living in one of the many sites, since it’s sea kelp season and they collect it in the early morning to sell.
They said the sites are only used in February by its owners. Empty the rest of the year. Said it’s very safe to camp there.
They made me dinner and gave me fruit for breakfast. Beautiful sunsets too.

Lavanderia ubicada en instalaciones de Llaimadomo Lodge.
Dispone de servicio de lavado y secado de prendas de ropa de uso personal y ropa de cama en general.
El valor por kilo de es de $4000 para lavado y $4000 para secado.
Laundry located in Llaimadomo Lodge facilities. It has a washing and drying service for clothes for personal use and bedding in general. The value per kilo is $4,000 for washing and $4,000 for drying.

Normal rest area easy overnight. Traffic noise. Typical convenient place to stop for the night.

Still accurate as of today, we stayed here for two nights while going to Machu Picchu. It's still 15 soles a night and it's nice and quiet at night. We didn't use any of the amenities except for the water tap, so can't say much a out it. The owner Conan (I think) is friendly and happy to welcome more overlanders.

nice place to stay the night. enough spaces to have privacy even with others. bathrooms and garbages right beside. hydro hookup on left side of the lot. going around the park there’s a few other places you could pull over and have hydro. i’ve stayed here in a tent before with no issues

Still a lot of construction going on and frankly, it can be a horrible drive. They close for traffic from 3:30pm to 6pm on weekdays (only open for half an hour each 3 hours the rest of the day too), so if you arrive to late in Santa Maria, you will certainly need to drive 30km of single lane dirt track in the dark, with traffic open in both directions (so lots of negotiation about who goes first). Lots of crazy taxis and bus drivers too, so be prepared. If you want to do the 4-7 hours drive instead of taking the train to Machu Picchu / Aguas calientes, go as early as possible. I would probably pick the train from Cusco or ollantaytambo after doing the trip, even though the train is crazy expensive (at least while construction is ongoing).

Camped short of the end of the road, a better option when it’s wet and muddy!

O wifi não funciona. Mas tem a opção de tomar um bom café e pegar o wifi dos bares.

Nice spot to refresh ourselves with natural pool (river). Water is warm and there is little fishes that tickle you. You feel almost like you’re in a spa ! We parked our RV 24’ next to a big cement palapa. Cost us 100 pesos for 2 adults and 2 children. We were on a Saturday and it was very calm. A lot of trash on the ground.

Rolled in from a crazy drive from Yuma this morning. Highway 8 is flat for a very long time until you hit the mountains. Unbelievable. Like boulders pile on top of boulders to make mountains. We arrived in San Diego on a Saturday of a long weekend. It was packed downtown. So we drove north to our failsafe Walmart. It’s actually beautiful here. Very clean. Very modern. Very California. Not for from the botanical gardens. Tomorrow we will find a place closer to San Diego in order to check out the zoo and the aircraft carrier museum. I could stay here for a month. Only 25 minutes north of San Diego. But I would like to be on the beach. I am excited to see the sunset over the Pacific Ocean as I am from cape Breton Nova Scotia almost as Far East as you can go in North America.

This was previously on iOverlander, but someone deleted it so I am readding, because it is still true: Google maps and maps me will send you this way, but the bridge is still under construction and you will not be allowed to pass (signage is not very clear, workers stopped us). Follow the signs in Santa Teresa for the detour to hidroelectrica. The detour is also (at least partly) on Google maps closer to the river. It is doable, but going straight through the construction site with some very steep bits. I was happy to have 4WD, but it was night, so might look less scary during the day.

The road from Santa Maria to Santa Teresa is under construction, with full closures from Monday to Saturday and only an opening for 30 minutes every 3 hours (see timetable on picture). I am not sure if it is supposed to be closed completely after 18:00 or 19:00, but we were able to pass after 18:00 (in the dark). If you arrive after 15:30 in Santa Maria, you will need to drive most of the way (single lane dirt track with unclear signage and steep cliffs) in the dark. Worst, the traffic (when it is open, will be opened both ways, so lots of negotiation about right of way with stubborn taxi and bus drivers). I wouldn't recommend it at the moment, taking the train from Cusco or ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu is a much more stress free experience even though it is crazy expensive. Not sure if there are reliable ways to check the state of construction in advance, but I would avoid it while it lasts.

$710 a night for 2 people. Plenty of parking. We tucked motorbike around back. Don't think it matters where you stay around here train and 5.30am will wake you up. Great Pillows beds are rock hard

it seems like my picture for the timetable wasn't uploaded, so here in text as well:

Monday to Saturday:
7:00-9:00 closed
9:00-9:30 open
9:30-12:00 closed
12:00-13:00 open
13:00-15:00 closed
15:00-15:30 open
15:30-18:00 closed

It seems like Sunday should be open.

It is unclear if it is open before 7:00 and/or after 18:00. We did manage to drive through at 18:30 after waiting 3 hours. Even the police in Santa Maria didn't know how to read the timetable.

We arrived around 18.00 and there were no other rv's parked at all, so we asked inside just to be sure and they said we were more then welcome to stay the night and could park where ever we wanted as long as we leave before 9am. We still parked in the back just to be out of everybody's way.

Walmart parking lot, couple other campers also here

another great review on Ramon fausto.
came here due to recomendetions on I overlander and found Ramon to be very gentle, nice and kind.
the family finca is small and not allowing a lot of privacy. our kids enjoyed playing with the family members 😊
great place, great guide.

3 spots tucked around back. Same parking lot as Walmart and other stores. Lots of road noise.

really a good option before Guanajuato to stay free and save. noisy from trucks until about 09 p.m. but surprisingly very quiet at night.

Decent option if you want to stay in Death Valley for a night instead of driving through the entire park and back out in the same day. $7 with annual pass, $14 without.
T-Mobile is the only cell provider here that covers with 3G/HSPA+, sub 1mpbs speeds but better than no coverage on AT&T and Verizon

Everything as described before. Ana is just the best host you can find in Uyuni! She helped us so much, we hope, her business will grow, so she and her family get the success they are working hard and still friendly and nice for.

After the rail tracks I took an immidaite right and stopped on the dirt road before the road goes down the hill. Full tmobile signal. About to go to sleep, hopefully the night will go smoothly.

Yellow fever vaccine available for free here. Queue starts outside door 4. Expect a long wait since it's free, I waited 3 hours on a Saturday afternoon, probably not a good time to go. Bring your passport so they can put the right details on the vaccine card.

DO NOT USE THIS WATER!! The spigot on the actual building of this chevron is GREY WATER. We talked to the gas station attendants for a while and they were shocked people were drinking it, they said they use that grey water to clean the oil spills/pump area. The water on the “air/water” machine IS in fact clean potable water, but there is no hose / spigot attachment so can’t fill up. Please don’t make yourself sick!

Combustível num preço bom. Banheiros limpos com água quente (abastecendo). Seguro e amplo.

A site which is very nice. Friendly welcome, flat site with a security wall around. Recovering from over two years without visitors they are changing the toilet blocks as we are here. The showers are very big and very clean and they are adding toilets to each shower room. They will separate the mens and womens facilities within this week. All the usual facilities for camper vans who need to discharge their stuff. Close to a couple of cafe and town. Beach a short walk away, overall, very nice.

side of the road, by a park. joined by a few other vans. bumping wedding music on a Saturday night! cute town

A beautiful Sandy beach area with only a few people around. I talked to some fisherman and they said it wouldn't be a problem to stay here. If you are here on a Saturday look for the ladies cleaning the beach. I had the chance to help them out and it was a lot of fun.

We couldn't find out any details about this place. I is an abandoned official camp site obviously out of order.
We dropped in because we saw the sign on the road. There was a young lady dressed in official Conservation site uniform and asked for 50 Kwacha p.p.n.
Hot and cold shower, far to dirty to be used, similar the toilets. If you have everything with you, the place is perfect for a night.
If nobody there, just drive on the place and find your spot. Some braii stands are available. Don't pay more than the 50Kw.