April 8 – Chile
Sunday, April 23rd, 2006Day 250 – Another day and hitching north again. A mini bus was passing by and picked us up to Cullen. The driver offered to call for someone to pick us up from Cullen, but we declined because we knew we could get a free ride. But we got turned down constantly, and only passenger cars were driving by, no trucks. Later that day we found out it was Saturday (with thought it was Friday) and there are very few truckers on the road on the weekends. The main route they drive is from Southern Tierra del Fuego to Buenos Aires, a three day drive for them. They leave on Monday and make their return trip on Wednesday/Thursday. Finally we hitched a ride with a passenger truck. He started to pass us by, but then changed his mind. It could have been the pleading look on my face as I waved my hands, pointing to the back of the pick up; or just a soft heart. 🙂 They were very friendly guys and extra generous in clearing out their extended cab and letting us sit inside with them. Aaahhh, warmth 🙂 The two guys were passing through, back up to Argentina. They were animated and great guys to talk to; so interested in all subjects.
Cerro Sombrero is just off the main highway, so they dropped us off at the junction and we started to walk into town. Cerro Sombrero was created for the company NAP, a natural gas company in Chile. Everyone that lives there works for them. They have a ton of company cars that are red Chevrolet extended cab pick ups. One of the worker trucks was heading into town from the highway, and we hitched a ride from him. We never had to walk too far 🙂
The gentleman who picked us up this time was Alejandro, a civil engineer for NAP. He told us that people who live in the south of Chile are different from the rest of the people in Chile. They even have their own flag that they fly next to the Chilean flag (the flag reminds me of the Alaskan State flag). We found out later what he was talking about. First he took us to the mechanic who works off the main highway, who does non-company work. The mechanic didn’t want anything to do with us. So then Alejandro took us to the police so we could ask their advice. They directed us to a gentleman who is a mechanic who works for NAP. We couldn’t find him, so Alejandro took us to the mechanics shop at NAP; I assume he was thinking that the gentleman was working. He talked to the shop and they said they would tow us and would also work on the van. They couldn’t give us a quote until the around six that evening. It was barely noon, so Alejandro took us to the hotel, the only real place to hang out and wait. He was a great help in being our translator and talking to everyone for us, and getting us set up. Thank you so much Alejandro!
We ate lunch at the hotel. At first it was a bit awkward because we were quite dirty and had not showered for about three days. The tables were set for a formal dinner, with wine glasses, salad and dinner forks, nice table cloths, etc., and we felt very out of place. The food was really great though, and we met yet another generous gentleman, Vito Siron. He studies tourism at the University in Punta Arenas and is working during school break for the hotel. We asked how much it would cost to take a shower after lunch. Vito talked to his manager and offered us free showers and use of the internet. It was very generous of them to help us out. We took nice hot showers and felt refreshed. Then we started to research how to deal with a foreign car that is dead in Chile, just in case we can’t get Henry running again.
We spent the day talking spanglish with Vito, he spoke English. At five o’clock, one of the mechanics, whom we came to know as Javier, picked us up with a tow truck. He said it would cost $40 usd to tow it back to the shop – the quote was from the secretary. It was pretty far away and gas is expensive here; though I wouldn’t put it past the manager to just pocket the money. Javier sped through the dirt roads towards our broken van, as only one who has traveled the roads too many times could. That was the start of getting to know our new friend Javier, and using our basic Spanish to ask general questions.
It took around two hours to bring the van back to town, and it was dark by the time we pulled into the garage. Javier jumped right in and started to look at the engine. When we asked how much it might cost, he said right now it was free just to see what’s going on. We brought out our VW Idiot book so we could use the pictures to talk to them about the engine. A few other mechanics came over to take a look at what was going on. To our amazement no one was going home, even though the day was over. They were either working on their own projects, or doing overtime. Javier found one of the valve cover gaskets was baked solid, and that was where all of our oil leak. We had two spare gaskets just for this, that the owner before had left in the van for us. We still had a problem with Cylinder #1, but now we can drive to Punta Arenas and get that fixed. The mechanics told us that would be the best solution, since there will be more parts for the van in the city. We would drive slowly on only three cylinders.
Javier invited us over to his friends house for coffee and said we could stay at his house for the night, since he had an extra bedroom. We accepted the coffee invite and were introduced to Ricardo and Katherine. They warmly welcomed us into their home and gave us warm coffee and some snacks. Later on Ricardo and Javier introduced us to piscolas (Pisco, a hard alcohol like vodka and rum combined, & coke); we all talked late into the night. I think Javier was a little late to work the next morning 🙂 That night we met new friends that I know we’ll keep for years to come.
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