Happily Homeless

Day 224/242 – So, it has been awhile…. Here is a very brief summary to catch everyone up: The car broke down, as described in our March 10/12 entry. Got it fixed. Picked up Maude, our new addition to the van, who is from Montreal, Canada. We drove west, then south to El Chalten to trek Mt. Fitz Roy. Visited the Perito Moreno Glacier. Crossed into Chile and trekked in Torres del Paine National Park. Came back into Argentina (cheaper gas) and headed east, then south. Made it to Ushuaia. Below is a long post with a bit more details on the above, for all who would like to read in more detail……

They asked us to arrive at the mechanics in the morning. When we got there they were already working on the van, even though we had asked them to wait for us. They fixed it quickly, by re-threading the head for the spark plug, without taking it out of the engine – they promised (we asked five times so there was no confusion) no shares would get into the engine. We crossed our figures, and hoped we weren’t going to be returning later with a blown engine. After a test run to the beach, the van ran fine, and so we continued on our journey with a tuned up car. The only thing left is the oil leak, which needs to be fixed still, (the problem wasn’t fixed like we thought it was in Buenos Aires). This is something we wanted to do before we headed off into the Andes on dirt roads and desolate countryside.

Puerto Madryn was our next town. We decided to get the front seal replaced there. We had been trying to find a front seal since we left Uruguay and Argentina, and no one had one, so we finally decided it was worth having one shipped down from the states. As we waited for the package to arrive in Puerto Madryn, we visited Trelew to look for a trusty mechanic. The hostel worker in Puerto Madryn had told us it would be cheaper for us to get the work done on the car in Trelew instead of Puerto Madryn. It turns out that the mechanic we finally got in touch with had a front seal for the car! More and more our trip is proving to us that if we look hard enough, our needs will be met. So now we have an extra front seal 🙂 Bear in mind that Sean has been with us for all the car work, he has faith in the van. We thoroughly explored the area, including Gaiman, where we had high tea. I never knew there could be so many cakes to eat! Gaiman is one of the towns that was originally settled by the Welsh. By the time the car was ready we had picked up Maude, a welcome addition to our traveling van, we were all very ready to hit the road.

We drove directly west from Trelew and took highway 40, south, once we hit the Andes. We slowly made our way to our first trekking destination, El Chalten. We are constantly reminded what a pain in the keister bad gas can be, as it turns out they enjoy adding water to the gas down here. Henry doesn’t really appreciate it. We’ve (well, really Jason), has cleaned out the fuel filter numerous times, and at one point we paid a guy to clean out the carburetor for us. But we move on, nothing can stop us 🙂 We camped in the desert one night on our way to visiting Cueva de las Manos. This is an area that has paintings of hands and animals on the canyon walls. We are a bit skeptical of the paintings since some of them were pretty bright and looked new; but if it is true, it is pretty cool. I am not sure if I would recommend spending the $15 pesos ($5 usd), though the canyon was very beautiful. It was a pretty small area, and there is no information in English about the site; the only reason I bring that up is because if you are a foreigner you pay twice as much as a national visitor. Which doesn’t bother me, if they can provided information on the site that we are visiting. It has been pretty common for the foreign visitors to pay twice, if not four times, as much for park entry fees.

The hiking around Mt. Fitz Roy, out of El Chalten, is really amazing. We hiked up to our first camp and, after setting up our tents, did a side trek called Tres Lagos. If you go hiking in this area you have to go up on the Tres Lagos hike. Both Jason and my legs were definitely feeling our age and how out of shape we have become, but the steep trek up the mountain side to the glacier, and the great view of Mt. Fitz Roy, was worth it. The next morning we woke up to snow on the ground. It was pleasant, but cold, surprise. We moved on to our next camp, though we had decided to possibly not stay up in the mountains for a second night – it being colder than we’d like, and with the treks being quicker than we had originally thought. So, we hiked the rest of the trail and saw everything we wanted to, with enough time left over to hike out and get a warm shower before bed. The hike out reminded me of Christmas back home 🙂 with all the snow lightly topping the tree branches and brush.

Our next stop was El Calafate; to see the Perito Moreno Glacier, use the internet, get gas, and exchange our money for some Chilean pesos. The internet was down in the whole town, due to a recurring power outage. So we accomplished everything but the internet. The glacier is worth the $30 pesos ($10usd) park fee to visit. It was huge and impressive, though you have to put up with all the tour groups and buses.

Now we start of border crossings with Chile and Argentina…not they are hard… just many. Torres del Paine in Chile was our next stop. We spent about six days there in total. We all trekked up to the base of Torres del Paine, which is very gorgeous. Then Jason, Sean, and I did a two night camping trek up to the Grey Glacier, which is part of the ‘W’ trek that most people do. We didn’t have the proper trekking equipment for the temperatures and the possibly rainy conditions, or we would have done the whole circuit. Next time we are definitely coming back here. The weather was fabulous for us though, and we couldn’t have asked for anything better. It was so nice to be out in the forest and camping. Maude decided to visit Puerto Natales while we did our camping and meet up with us later.

We left the park and crossed back over into Argentina, where the gas is much cheaper, and so is everything else. We picked Maude up at Rio Gallegos and started our way to Ushuaia. Now, by the time we get back from Tierra del Fuego and head north again, we will have collected about 12 entry & exit stamps from each country since visiting Torres del Paine. I feel like we have crossed every Chilean Argentinean border we could 😉

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!

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.

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 ironically enough had to take his car in to get looked at also. He offered to take us over to the shop after he was off of work, when he takes in his car. We couldn’t pass up an offer like that! The mechanic took his time and looked thoroughly at the oil leak, making sure he knew where the leak was coming from, since pulling the motor out to replace the front seal is an expensive and time consuming job. When he looked in the engine he noticed the clamp was no longer on the vacuum hose. After a bunch of tests, he concluded that the seal was not blown, but that the problem was with the vacuum hose. It was creating pressure in the engine, making the seal leak once the car got warmed up. So he replaced the hose and gave us a new clamp. After he made the changes and tested it again the leak at the seal stopped. This leaves only two very small leaks somewhere else, but those might even stop since the main leak was fixed. We’ll find out if that was the right solution once we really start driving, but it made sense, and has worked so far. That situation made Jason and I believe more and more in positive thoughts in the world; to find a great person to take us to a very reliable, honest mechanic and have the problem not be as big as everyone was telling us before. He didn’t even charge us for his time and work, but we gave him a tip. He saved us a lot of money and headaches. Thank you so so much Manuel, for being so generous with your time and helping us translate the problem with the mechanic! We really appreciated your kindness and friendship.

The next day we went to a River Plate soccer match in the city against an Ecuadorian team, El Nacional. I was so excited to finally see my first soccer game outside the in a country where soccer is a major part of the social life. We went a half an hour before the game and bought general seating (popular seats) at the box office for $15 Pesos ($5USD). Walking up to the nose bleed section in the corner of the field my heart started pumping; I like to think it was due to the excitement of the game, but I think the stairs had more to do with it. We grabbed some seats at the corner section, just one section away from the goal, where all the seats were packed with dedicated fans, who never once sat down. The fans live for the games. They are constantly singing from the bottom of their souls, jumping up and down, gesturing with their arms, waving their flags, and twirling their shirts in unison above their heads… I couldn’t help but smile the whole time and jump up with them when they surged with excitment and the utmost possible amount of energy. They were acting like 7 year olds, after drinking triple shot espressos! I would have sung too if I had any clue what they were saying (I would probably have gotten some strange looks though). It was a great game to watch live, not only for the crowd; the game was excellent. River (the home team) scored right off and then Nacional scored.. 3 times and River just couldn’t get the ball in the goal. Nevertheless, River’s fans never gave up and even sung louder and with more passion when the team made some pretty bad screw ups. Finally, the fans energy took hold of the team and River scored 3 more goals in the last quarter of the game, winning by one point! The second to last goal was even a classic textbook dive, heading right in front of the goal, beautiful. The crowd went wild at each goal, as they got closer to winning the game; some teenagers were even moshing with each other below us (they didn’t bother anyone else though). After the match, as we were riding in the taxi back to the hostel, we passed the jam packed, bouncing buses, with flags streaming out of the windows as the fans jumped inside and kept singing their chants. I have to say that Argentineans can really hold a tune; I think if we tried something like that in the States we might drive the teams off the field. I can not wait to go to another soccer match! Do you think they will have any in Patagonia?? 😉 Maybe the penguins have a team.

The rest of our time in the city has been spent writing, trying to fix the computer (thank you Neil and Sarah!!!), and getting the supplies we need to hike in Patagonia. I can’t even describe how eager I am to be in Patagonia! We are leaving tomorrow morning. We even got an addition to our driving team. Sean, a guy that we met at the hostel, is joining us for the drive down to Patagonia. It should be a great drive.

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 a long wait while the gas station got refueled, and then waiting in line since there was only one pump to fill up all of the cars. The fuel prices are not bad in Argentina, and much better than in Uruguay; prices in Uruguay have been the highest for us, about $5usd per gallon.

Paraguay’s border put a damper on our day; and a few days later, embarrassment. It is a bridge crossing, so we exited Argentina and drove over the bridge to enter Paraguay. We parked on the side of the road, in front of the immigration building. I went up to the window and asked for entry from the immigrations officer, who looked younger than me, barely old enough to be in college. After a few questions he told me I need a visa before coming to the border. What?? From the information I read, there is no need for a visa for a person from the States visiting for tourist reasons, and it is also at no cost. He said no again and with a smile told me we had to go back to Argentina to obtain our visa. Frustrated, I went back to Jason and asked him to talk to the guy. The officer seemed to be using his power of authority a bit strongly. Jason went to talk to the officer and asked if we needed a visa. He told Jason yes and that they cost $130usd total, $65usd each. Jason asked if there was a way to get the visas here instead of going back to Argentina. The officer asked him to wait, and went back to his boss. He came back saying yes, it will cost $130; $65usd each. Jason, shocked by the price, laughed, and said no. The officer went back to his boss again, and came back offering $65USD; a two for one deal, since we were only going to be in Paraguay for a few days, and would be leaving by this border. Trying to barter a lower price, Jason offered $20USD. The officer said no and handed back our passports. We drove back over the bridge and went through the process of re-entering Argentina. Even got our van sniffed by a dog; that was a first – and he was a cute dog 🙂 We decided to move on to Buenos Aires, because we were told they might have car parts there, since it is such a big city. A few days later we found out that the officer was correct and we needed a visa before coming to the border, and it does cost $65USD each. The travel book we were using was outdated on the visa information, oops! And Jason thought he was being taken, when really we were bribing them. Always check on line first before going to a new country!

We decided to take a different route from Posadas. Instead of going the more direct route south along the Uruguay River, we went west towards Corrientes, crossing the River Parana, and then headed south to Buenos Aires. We couldn’t find a resting place before night fell, so we kept driving until we did. The roads in Argentina are very nice, so it was no problem. We also got to meet the beetles of the night. In the area west of Posadas, during this time of year, these black beetles come out and swarm the lights. It was crazy how many of them there were! As we drove they were hitting the van like they were at war or something. We drove into one town to check it out, and they were flying around the top of the street lights – tons of them. The part of the road that was lit by the street lamp was saturated with beetles, just hanging out in the luminosity. It was a pool of crunchy blackness that spilled over the whole road, pretty crazy to drive through. A bit gross, and this happened at each street lamp. We finally stopped at a gas station to sleep. It was pretty desolate countryside. The gas station attendant was sweeping up all the dead beetles in the morning before we left; the driveway was covered in them. After that night our van was the nastiest it has ever been, it wasn’t just bug splatters – there was bug goo all over the windows, even the side windows.

We drove for another day, and as we were passing through Corrientes, we got our long overdue gringo driving fine. A traffic cop wanted payment for us running through a red light – all I can say is that miraculously, no other cars hit us as I “ran the red light, 20 meters back”. Jason gave them a run for their money and tried to get them to take us to the police station. Funny enough, they said since it was Sunday the office was closed… well it was fun to make them squirm a little, trying to keep up their side of the argument. We gave him $15 pesos ($5 usd). That night we stayed at a true truck stop behind a gas station. We paid $3 Pesos ($1USD) for full use of bathroom, showers, and could comfortably pop the camper top up. We did a little cosmetic work on the inside of the van and ate at the restaurant at the gas station. It was one of the best meals I have had on the road, I had veggie crepes and Jason had some pasta, while we watched a soccer match on the TV. What more can you ask for. 🙂

Drove into Buenos Aires the next day and found a great garage to park the van, and a hostel to park ourselves for a few days.

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 north from Carmelo, Uruguay. They were a couple from Sweden that have been traveling around South America for the past two years. They are now heading to Buenos Aires to ship their car back to Europe, and fly home themselves.

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 go to Paraguay and they will have the seal for sure. He gave us a name of a shop in a city that is right across the border from Argentina. He also thought we would have to pull the engine out to fix it 🙁 We were so close to the falls that we just decided to add more oil to the van as needed, and head up north. We spent the night in a paid campground at Puerto Iguazu, the town near the falls, trying to get our computer to work. It broke down today… talk about bad luck. I feel better and ready to work and then the computer gets sick. Go figure ! In the morning will be our great trip to the marvelous falls.

Iguazu Falls is a site worth seeing, if you can fit it into your route through South America. At the northeastern tip of Argentina, where it meets Brazil and Paraguay, are two rivers that collide 269 feet down cliffs, created from a volcanic reaction. A serene experience. We viewed the streaming falls from the Argentinean side, since, due to reciprocity with the States, it cost $100 USD per person for the visa, and it takes at least a week to obtain. Brazil will have to be on another trip, when we can save up money again. The Argentineans have the Igauzu National Park, where you can walk all day and see 275 different waterfalls from various viewpoints. They have an extensive trail system that is well maintained, and was created with loops so there is no backtracking. There is also a free train service that will drop you off at two different stations, where you can walk to the falls. A free boat service from the park will drop you off on a small island where you can view the falls again, and get misted by spray from the falling water. There are tour companies offering services such as guides, boat tours, or rafting. There were tons of vacation tour buses, with people everywhere, but it was still worth seeing. The best part of the trails were the catwalks that went over the river and falls, offering a view of the falls like you were walking on water.

We saw a bunch of animals: toucans, monkeys, coatis, beetles, butterflies, birds, and more. It was great to see a real toucan, and made me realize how much Fruit Loops has trained me to think of a rainbow beaked bird… poor toucans, that will consistently remind the travelers from the States of cereal boxes! After five hours of walking around the park and seeing all the major waterfalls, we headed back to the town, and just in time because it started to rain. It rained while we were on the train back to the parking lot, then it stopped, and started again once we got back in to the van. 🙂 We spent the night at a youth hostel on the way into town, to get a break from the van, and meet some fellow travelers. A very nice gentleman tried helping us with our computer and let us use his for a bit to search the net (there was a wait to use the hostels computers), but we didn’t get it fixed. Thanks, Gato, he is a talented graphic designer, check out his site www.bygato.com

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 an oil leak was developing. The time the mechanic needed to fix the van was too long, and they said they probably wouldn’t have the part we needed. So we decided to try Argentina instead. Thank you Alejandro for everything!!!!!

So it was off to Carmelo this morning, to pick up our bike that we had left at Orlando’s mother’s house, and to visit with Orlando’s other brother Velarde. Unfortunately, he wasn’t around and we weren’t sure when he would be back. So we got the oil changed and checked one more time to see if Velarde was around. We left a note for him at the house, then took off north to Salto and the border crossing for Argentina. On the road again.

My cold got worse and put me out of commission for two days, but that was okay because we were basically just driving most of the time, up to the border and then up to the Iguazu Falls at the border of Brazil and Argentina. Our first night we stopped at a hot springs campground, Termas de Guaviyu, which was on the way to the Argentinean border. It was full to the seams with Uruguayans and Argentineans on holiday for Carnival. Everywhere we looked there were tents and smiling faces.

We crossed the border in the morning, same as before, and drove up to the town of Eldorado, where we looked for a mechanic. We saw a VW dealership and they pointed us to a very nice mechanic. He went through, in broken Spanish, all the items we wanted to fix and told us that they didn’t have the parts we needed, and to try this other shop. They were so helpful that they even wrote down all the items we were looking to fix in Spanish. The CV joint has stopped making sounds, but our small oil leak (wouldn´t be a VW van without one) had become bigger. The next mechanic looked at it and told us the same thing, and directed us to one last guy that works on trucks but has a Kombi (camper van) as well. Jason spoke with him and it turned out that he spoke English and said to bring the van in the morning and he’d look at it – and he thought it would be no problem.

We spent the beginning of that night at a municipal campground. Most towns in Argentina have one, and it was free. It seemed nice and safe enough. Later in the night, right before we were going to bed, a small group of young men and kids came by and hung out at a picnic shelter that was near our car. They brought their boom box and played their tunes loudly into the night, sometimes helping the singer along with the lyrics. They weren’t giving us any problems, so we just laid there listening to their Spanish conversations and waited for them to get tired and go home. They finally started to leave, then, as Jason poked his head down to see if they really left, he saw two of the guys quietly sneaking back. They started to check out our bike on the back of the van, and we could see them in the mirrors. Jason made a bit of noise and shook the van a bit, which made them take off running. We didn’t waste our time and closed down the pop top and left the park; not wanting to have to worry about them coming back to try at the lock again. Free camping always comes with a price, I guess.

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 you enough for sharing your time and family with us during the trip! We miss you guys a lot and can’t wait to see you again, hopefully sooner than later! Thank you to all of Orlando’s family for bringing us into your homes and letting us feel like family; we had a really great time.

This morning, after sad goodbyes, we set off to tour Colonia and visit Orlando´s brother, Alejandro. Alejandro was super nice and walked with us all around town. He showed us the harbor, old town, and his neighborhood. The old buildings and the small streets lined with trees create a tranquil feeling throughout the town. While we were walking around we saw a vehicle that had to belong to a world traveler; they are easy to pick out because normally they are Range Rovers or Land Rovers and are fully decked out with storage and are very secure & strong looking. We left them a card of ours on the windshield with a note on the back. Overall we had a really nice day, that was spent in great company. After dinner and strong insistence from Alejandro, we stayed in his apartment for the night. He made me a steaming pot of herbs to breathe in through my nose to help with a small cold I was getting; yes the second one in two weeks 🙁 It really helped clear up my throat and nose. Great stuff!

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 fields of grass that rolled along, with a few rock outcroppings appearing here and there. It was what I have been told Ireland might look like, not counting the bushels of trees that would pop up once in awhile. We also drove by a lot off of the side of highway that had about 15-20 ancient cars, which would be considered classics in the States. I love all the old cars down here, and how they keep them running. In Colonia we saw a Model T with wooden wheels, and it looked like it was in working condition!

A big storm blew in during the afternoon and dumped walls of rain on Montevideo. The wind gusted through the streets with such force it caused a few trees, and old trees at that, to be torn from the roots and crash down on the street! I hope no one got hurt, it seemed like no one was around when it happened. Our day was mostly spent working on the computer and watching cartoons (Tom & Jerry was a favorite) and playing soccer, of course. It was a good chance for me to catch up on writing, and for us to relax our sun soaked bodies. That night we watched a movie that Marcela´s boyfriend, Diego, helped produce, called Whiskey, which is the equivelent of saying ‘cheese’ in the States. It won the Prix du Regard Original and Fipresci International Critics award at the 2004 Festival de Cannes. I really enjoyed the film and thought it was a really well shot. It is about the life of an average Uruguayan who owns a sock factory; his brother comes to town to visit a year after their mother had passed away. Since he was still a bachelor and a bit embarrassed about not being married, like his brother was, he hires one of his workers to pose as his wife. For all I could tell there seemed to be some good dry humor and a great story line, though we only caught what we could because it was in Spanish… I am going to re-watch it in a year or two when I can understand Spanish better.

We spent the next day exploring Montevideo. We walked around downtown and the old part of town. We went to lunch at a superb restaurant with the family, Marcela, and Diego. It was an amazing meal, with a champagne type drink that is called ‘medio y medio’ (half and half), half sparkling wine and dry white wine. It was a delicious and refreshing drink on a hot day. Lyndell and Orlando treated us to the lunch – Thank you guys so so much; it was really good!!!! After wandering the streets some more, and looking at Museo Torres Garcia, (a great artist and if I was rich I would have bought a bunch of stuff from the gift shop), we headed back to the apartment and did some more computer work and watched more cartoons and movies.