BootsnAll Travel Network
Add this blog to: MyYahoo, Google, Bloglines, RSS


Articles Tagged ‘mechanic’

More articles about ‘mechanic’
« Home

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 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.

Posted in 16 - Argentina | 1 Comment »

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 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.

Posted in 16 - Argentina, 17 - Uruguay | No Comments »