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Archive for March, 2006

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Note – 9

Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006

We are in El Chaltén in Argentina, and are about to do our first Patagonia hike. I am writing this brief note because the internet here is super expensive, $10 pesos for an hour when it was $1-$2 pesos an hour everywhere else. Henry is doing good now, he’s all fixed up. The mountains here are amazing! I can’t even describe it! More details later, when we find cheaper internet. 🙂

Also, we are going to be heading to Australia around May. If anyone knows a cheap way to fly there from S. America, or any inside deals that could help us, please send us an email….thanks! Our love to all!

March 10/12 – Argentina

Sunday, March 19th, 2006

Day 221/223 – As we headed south from Buenos Aires, on route 3, our spark plug cable came off. It had been loose, but it was nothing duck tape couldn’t fix 😉 at least until we got to a town for the night and could replace the cable. We had known about this problem and it was our plan to get some extra car parts once we were out of the city. I guess our van just wanted to make sure that we did it sooner rather than later. We bought some parts in Azul, the town we camped at for the night.

The next day we continued driving south on route 3. Everything was going well ~ birds were chirping, the sun was shining….until all of a sudden a very deep, loud thuddering noise came from the engine. Jason, who had been driving, immediately turned the car off and coasted over to the grassy roadside. We sat there, looking at each other. That sound was no good at all. We finally mustered up the courage to get out and take a look under Henry’s hood. We popped it open and saw the spark plug cable loose and the spark plug sitting happily all by itself, next to the engine. It apparently had decided to ‘pop’ off and it wasn’t going back in……you can imagine our exclamations (which aren’t appropriate put in writing). Jason hitched a ride to the nearest gas station and got a tow truck, since the van wasn’t moving anywhere without additional help. Sean and I stayed in the van and waited, and got to watch a beautiful sunset over the very flat, windy plains. At least it was better than being stuck on a busy four lane highway.

This is our first major breakdown outside of the states, and fortunately it wasn’t too terribly far from a medium sized city. We got towed to Bahia Blanca and paid, in the end, 190 pesos ($63usd), even though we were quoted a lower price. The driver added on a “transportation charge” of 23 pesos for letting us ride with him from where our van stopped, to the town. I guess he could have just left us there on the roadside and we could have hitched in… it was pretty ridiculous. The van was put in a garage that was owned by the towing company guy, who was also a mechanic. He wouldn’t be open until Monday, and it was Saturday night. So, we left the car in the shop, since it was secure and we couldn’t fix the problem ourselves anyways, and got a hotel. We spent the next day seeing what Bahia Blanca was all about.

Overall the city was nice and clean. We had really good pizza and empanadas. Sunday night we watched a fashion show that was at the town square. We think they were modeling clothes from stores in the area for the upcoming winter season. During the breaks between models they had teenage dancers, who danced to advertise for the sponsors, it was definitely entertaining.

March 6/9 – Argentina

Friday, March 10th, 2006
Day 217/220 - We were talking to one of the front desk workers at the hostel, Manuel, and asked if he had any recommendations for a mechanic in the city. Manuel ended up having a highly recommended mechanic, and ... [Continue reading this entry]

March 3/5 – Argentina

Friday, March 10th, 2006
Day 214/216 - We ventured to the south, on to the next border crossing, to Paraguay. There we will visit a city to get the van patched up. Our departure from Puerto Iguazu was delayed, due to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Note – 8

Friday, March 10th, 2006
I forgot to mention: The car that we saw that looked like a fellow around-the-world vehicle ended up going the same direction as we were, after leaving Colonia. We ran into them on the road as we drove ... [Continue reading this entry]

March 1/2 – Argentina

Wednesday, March 8th, 2006
Day 212/213 - The next morning the mechanic checked out Henry. He said that they didn’t have the seal for the oil leak either, because this was not a common engine model in Argentina. He told us to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Feb. 27/28 – Uruguay/Argentina

Wednesday, March 8th, 2006
Day 210/211 - In the morning Alejandro took us to a mechanic that his friend suggested. A mysterious noise was still coming from the back of the car, which we figured out was probably the CV joint; and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Feb. 26 – Uruguay

Wednesday, March 8th, 2006
Day 209 - We parted ways with Lyndell, Orlando, Arianna, and Dito; they were heading off to the airport that night. We had such a great time with you guys and loved visiting Uruguay. We can´t thank ... [Continue reading this entry]

Feb. 24/25 – Uruguay

Wednesday, March 8th, 2006
Day 207/208 - We started off early in the morning to get back to Montevideo before the sun was scorching down on the car, and also to return Orlando's rental car. The drive went really fast through green ... [Continue reading this entry]

Feb. 22/23 – Uruguay

Tuesday, March 7th, 2006
Day 205/206 - Being only two blocks from the beach, it didn’t take us long to go test the ocean waters in the morning, once we all got moving. Jason, Arianna, Lyndell, and I pretty much lazed around ... [Continue reading this entry]