Nearing the end of our month of misfortune

 Another long blog post outlining our month of misfortune.  Although we always tried to keep our spirts high (especially when trying Chilian spirts) we were emotionally drained.  We were able to locate a mechanic in Santiago where we could deliver our bushing to and who would be able to install them, in the end we learned that we had ordered in the incorrect part and once the correct part did arrive the mechanic didn't have time to help us.   

Eventually most our issues were solved, or so we thought...

December 9^th – English wine tours

Hiding from the world
in the hammock

Drinking too much pisco is unadvisable; trust us on this.  We had the slowest start to the day with us generally refusing to do anything until the world and our stomachs stopped spinning.  As the plan for the day consisted of checking out the wineries in the area it didn’t seem like that big of a deviation to the day plan to have breakfast around noon and leave the camping spot around 2pm.

After some delicious Churrascas, a local Chillian street food consisting of grilled bread, cheese and avocado, we made our way to the first winery of the day.  

Our new favourite hangover food; Churrascas

We felt like we were in the Kelowna area

Although we were in the heart of Chilean wine country, one of three, this area barely gets English tourists.  We were fully expecting to smile and nod as we were told about the winery and sample its wines  but were surprised that every winery we went to provided some level of English during weekends.  It was so nice for both of us to understand the history of wine production in the Elqui Valley and the tasting notes of what we were drinking.  Pisco has been produced in the Elqui Valley for over 150 years but it was only 28 years ago that someone decided to make wine out of the grapes rather than just pisco.  Because of the harsh hot climate there are few grapes that will grow well here meaning most wines are Shiraz’s, unfortunately this is not at type of wine we typically drink.  Not to worry though, as there were other wines and no matter the winery we found at least one bottle we would be willing to drink.  

During the day we went to three wineries each with different types of clients and quality.  Our first was the oldest and the local favourite, the second was from a small hobby winery where the man sold wine out of his garage and the last was a well awarded winery with some amazingly good wines with a high price point.  It was at this winery we found our favourite wine which just so happened to be the most expensive wine at $58 CAD a bottle.  We did end up buying a bottle of expensive wine that we will drink on Christmas.

A wine to be opened on Christmas

The area is also known for it artisanal markets and observatories so we spent the rest of the day purchasing a few things, soap, stickers, ice cream and spent the night at a camping spot known for the brilliance of the night sky and quiet neighbours…the cemetery. We slept at the cemetery because most campsites were 15-20 cad per person and it was free! Although we couldn’t seem to get a nice photo we can attest that the stars in the Elqui Valley are beautiful and with a new moon coming the sky was filled with stars.

 

December 10^th – “Accidentally” ”stealing” a bunch of grapes

The United National World Tourism Organization recently came out with the top 53 underrated communities that are worth a visit for 2024.  One community on that list is Pisco Elqui, the Pisco capital of the Pisco Region.  The town itself is incredibly small with not a lot to see or do but it is, as you would assume, surrounded by Pisco distilleries. 

Pisco Elqui's central square

The thought of going to another Pisco distillery made our heads and stomachs hurt thinking about the hangover we had two nights previously, but we also felt that if we did not go to a distillery in the Pisco capital of the Pisco Region of Chile we would somehow be doing ourself and the region a disservice.  We decided we would go to one, the most historic/oldest in the country.   The pisco tasting at the distillery (Los Nichos) was preceded by a tour of the facility where we saw how pisco was made.  It is made by fermenting specific grapes that have been squished (typically by hand) then distilling the fermented grape juice.  We did try the pisco and I’m sure it was good, but our hearts, or maybe our heads, just couldn’t allow us to purchase any bottles. 

The Pisco Stills

Salud!!

There is currently a debate about what country is the home of Pisco. Pisco Sours are Chile and Peru’s national drink and both claim to be the home of Pisco.  Chile produces (and consumes) significantly more Pisco than Peru and Chilean pisco can be aged in barrels, while Peruvian pisco is only distilled, but never sits in barrels. We have enjoyed the flavour of Pisco in Chile more than Peru and have enjoyed the pre-mixed pisco sours of Chile more too.

Storing grape juice before distilling it

How the restaurant keeps food warm

There are unique restaurants throughout the valley that specialize in solar cooking.  The temperature while we were in the Elqui Valley was around 35 degrees during the day with a UV rating of extreme making the prospect of cooking by sun seem possible.  It seemed like something we couldn’t not do, so we made our way to a well rated restaurant and learned how they cook the food and keep it warm.  Meat and bread is cooked in satellite dish looking things that get so hot in the sun that when a piece of paper is placed in the apex of the dome it bursts into flames.  Keeping food warm is a little more intuitive with food being placed in boxes with windows directed at the sun.  Both these boxes and satellite are on castors (wheels) and are moved to the ideal spot for the sun and for cooking/warming.  We assumed that the novelty of the food would be better than the food itself, but we were pleasantly surprised that the meat was very tender and the sauces were very flavourful.

Surprisingly delicious 

We saw these dishes making
paper burst into flame

We decided to return to our first camping spot within the Elqui Valley down by the river near the brewery where we relaxed.  We did eventually feel like we wanted a beer as we watched the sun set, the issue is that in Chile right now the sun sets after 8pm and the brewery that is 200 metres away closes at 7:30pm.  Paul found a store near the brewery that sold drinks so he picked one up and thought to take a short cut back to where we were camping, however this shortcut didn’t work out as planned.  After hopping over a creek he found himself in a vineyard where he thought to try a grape as they were ready to be harvested.  They were delicious!!  He thought you could just grab a few from the bottom to share with Kendra but when he pulled the grape the whole bunch came down.  Quickly he stuffed the bunch of grapes into his bag and continued back.  It became pretty apparent he was somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be when he had to climb over an 8ft fence and jump down from the top, but the reward was some sunset drinks in the hammock and some very fresh grapes.

 

December 11^th – Finding Wifi to contact the family

We were excited to see that our bushing had arrived in Santiago for processing so felt it was time to start head south to hopefully get our vehicle fixed for the last time on this trip.  

Mirador at our campsite

We had a couple errands to do in La Serena, namely grocery shopping where Paul could take advantage of the free wifi Walmart offers to call his mom for her birthday (Happy Birthday Mom!) and reload our cell phone as we had run out of data a few days previously.  After all tasks were completed we drove for a few hours until we found a camping spot at a mirador on the industrial side of a small community. 

 

December 12^th – Overcomplicating our situation?

Paul slept pretty poorly as most of the night cars were coming and going from the mirador and playing music.  Morning coffee didn’t really help the situation so Paul decided to get a shower at the gas station near the spot we camped.  Paul’s shower refreshed him while Kendra was a bit too fresh as she never got warm water, but at least she got clean.

At least we had the pool to look forward to

The plan was to drive to the Santiago airport where we hoped to find the local DHL office to pay the customs and duties holding up delivery of our new bushing.  We are unsure how the process works as we assumed that customs and duty would be payable upon delivery.  This is not how it works and we are concerned that the mechanic may not have time or would be willing to go to DHL on our behalf to pay these costs.  The airport was easy to find but where we had to go was not.  We ended up driving around the international cargo terminal until a security officer waved us over wanting to know what we were doing.  Thankfully they were really nice, allowed us to park in a no parking zone while we ran into the customs office.  After a quick conversation we learned that there was no DHL office at the airport where we could pay these fees nor could we pay them directly at the customs office. 

Putting on that cute face!

Kendra located a DHL office a few kilometres away from the airport, where we learned that we had found the location of our bushing!  The problem is that we couldn’t pay the duties as it wasn’t processed yet at their facility.  We explained our situation and they were sympathetic saying they would take our names and number and when the package was processed they’d put it aside, call us and allow us to pay and pick up the part.  We were really surprised as we were not the name on the receiver line of the parcel, but we were the billing name.

There is nothing we really want to do in Santiago or the surrounding area so we went straight to an actual campground on the south east of the city.  Although we envisioned ourselves mostly wild camping in Chile/Argentina/Uruguay we wanted to stick around Santiago until the van was fixed and Santiago isn’t really a safe place to just camp on the streets.  Besides the campground had a pool and wifi!

The campground was everything we were needing with a couple other overlanders allowing us to be social with people in English.  We did get an email while lounging by the pool saying the mechanic had paid the duties and fees for the bushing and that the part would be delivered tomorrow, however, we are a little concerned that we may have overcomplicated this situation by going to DHL.  We just hope sometime tomorrow we will learn the bushings are in the mechanic’s hands.

 

December 13^th – The waiting game

Rupert can always cheer us up

According to all our communications with DHL our new bushings are set to arrive to the mechanic today.  As we are trying to drive as little as possible and not spend money if we can avoid it we decided to hang around the campground.  It had been weeks since we had written anything in the blog and we needed to correct that.

It has been a tough couple weeks with far more bad days than good and it was hard to feel motivated in any way to write about our misfortune; especially since feels never-ending and it’s not over yet.  However, we are feeling better thanks to the friendliness of some other campers from the Netherlands, the perfect weather, and having access to a pool. 

It seems all we can think about is putting this chapter of the trip behind us and heading towards Argentina and although the part is only out for delivery as we type this we have an appointment at the mechanic for tomorrow morning.  Maybe, just maybe, we will be enjoy cheap delicious Argentinian wine by Friday.

 

December 14^th- Front Rear, Rear Rear, Middle Rear…UGH

We woke up this morning, paid our campground dues and headed to the Mechanics office. We’re not sure if once the part is fixed if we want to drive right to Argentina or spend one more night in a canyon or beside a river before crossing.  Anyways, we got to the mechanic, dropped off the van, went to the bank so we could pay the mechanic and then be on our merry way.

Hopefully this is the last mechanic we will see on this trip

Too many cooks in the kitchen!

But since nothing can go according to plan we got a message from the mechanic that the bushing isn’t the right one; we had somehow ordered the wrong one.  We were destroyed.  We had ordered a front rear bushings instead of rear-rear bushings. 

For a few heated seconds we talked about the trip, how tired we were off issues with the van and how stupid we feel.  We went as far as looking at flights leaving Santiago to return to Canada for Christmas.  We thought it may be best to pause the trip, go home and re-group.  We were gutted. 

After some time and after allowing us to think more clearly we ordered the correct part and double checked with the mechanic that we have ordered would be correct.  Looks like we are back to playing the waiting came.

Still feeling defeated we did what we do best.  We bought some charcoal and some meat and some pisco.  We are going to cope with meat.  We did try to find two craft breweries but their locations lead us to residential neighbourhoods with no signage for a brewery, so we headed back to the campground to eat away our frustration and having a relaxing swim by the pool with some poolside drinks.

Lifeguard on duty

 

December 15^th- Fighting boredom with little tasks

Someone embracing the slower day

Today there is a pool party at the campground meaning we don’t have access to the pool until 7pm.  We also do not want to spend money as vehicle repairs are starting to seriously eat into our budget and we don’t want to drive anywhere because we don’t want to further damage our vehicle.   We talked a lot about what we would do today, even debated about going the Ikea we had seen when we drove towards the campground, but in the end we felt the right thing to do was complete various tasks we had been putting off.

We have split our clothes into two bags, one goes under the van into storage and one acts as our dresser that we retrieve clothes from daily.  Well, we were starting to wear the same clothes for multiple days so it was time to switch the dirty bag for the clean bag.  We also needed to fill up Rupert’s food container as we don’t like have too much food readily in case we cross a border and a border guard decides to confiscate Rupert’s food.  Other tasks such as updating the blog and trying to fix the stoves ignitor switch morphed into larger tasks as to make sure they would take up most of the day so we wouldn’t be too bored. 

Humorously while cooking some dinner Kendra struggled to find the bag clips so all of a sudden the must do task for us became going to Ikea, a task we would put off until tomorrow.  Unfortunately, it is driving us a little crazy to be on a road trip like this and feel somewhat forced to stay in one place rather than explore the areas around us. Maybe this slow day will do us good.

 

December 16^th – The Culture Shock of going to Ikea

The day had come!  We would do something very normal-ish if we were living in Edmonton; we are going to Ikea.

After a quick breakfast we jumped in an Uber and made our way to Walmart for some groceries (and Pisco) before walking across a pedestrian overpass over a massive 12 lane highway to Ikea.  As it is the last weekend until Christmas the roads, parking lots and stores were crazy and we were happy to be walking. We find ourselves going through a bit of a mourning period at the moment, mourning the end of experiences and countries we have already left behind.  Chile is so westernized and unlike the countries south of Mexico and north of Chile that we find ourselves experiencing a culture shock we never thought we would feel; reverse culture shock.  This really came to a head while we were walking through the Ikea built rooms looking for bag clips and other things we could purchase for the van.  We started to feel quite anxious.

Wiping our paws on our one purchase of the day

ICECREAM!!

We didn’t purchase much in Ikea, a new outdoor rug and some ice cream because Kendra had found the bag clips we thought we were missing in the van this morning. 

We spent the rest of the day talking to other campers as once again the pool was being used by people attending a party.  This may seem odd that we can not use the pool at the campground we are paying to stay at, but unlike Canada/USA/Mexio a lot of campgrounds we stay in are known as event centres were the owners let us camp for a few bucks but the expectation is always those who have paid the big bucks to use the centre for their event get to use all of it without some random white people taking up space. Today was a 16^th birthday party and the weather was cool, so the teenagers were wandering around a lot. It was too cold to swim so they talked to a few of us campers before going back to the kitchen area.

 

December 17^th – A friendly day

We have been at the campground in Santiago for 5 nights.  We had seen many people come and go with most people using the Santiago campground as their final campground of their trip.  For most people the end of the trip was a mixed bag of emotions but mostly happy to have done what they set out to do with everyone looking forward to going home for Christmas.  These conversations with other travellers made us feel many things, most feelings are difficult to properly articulate.

Someone is cheating

Since we were still on our trip we became the people to give unused food to or things that people didn’t want to spend money shipping home. Some things we took but most we didn’t have room for.  Most thing came from a Swiss couple who had been on the road for a little longer than us.  They had driven from Seattle to Panama City where they decided to sell their vehicle fly to Santiago and purchase another vehicle to travel exclusively around Patagonia.   Unfortunately, most of their trip in South America had been marred by vehicle issues.  They had already sold their troublesome vehicle to an unsuspecting Australian tourist but had said that they had fixed all the issues that the vehicle had.  We were conflicted when the vehicle wouldn’t start and everyone in the campground needed to band together to help get this vehicle out the door so it could go to the spot where the Australian would be picking it up from in a few weeks.  Unfortunately, the buying and selling vehicles in rough shape r needing costly repairs seems to be a common theme with travellers who purchase vehicles in south America from other travellers and I don’t think it is something we could recommend anyone doing. In fact, after talking with this couple we realized that with what they spent on vehicle maintenance and repairs they could have shipped their vehicle and had a more reliable vehicle to travel south America in; but that’s something that you would not know until you took the risk of selling and buying a new vehicle.

After so long in one place we had become quite good friends with a couple from the Netherlands who was “forced” to camp beside us for a few nights.  They had rented a camper in Santiago and traveled around Patagonia for the last 2 months.   Since they had too much wine to drink to themselves we ended up playing many boardgames and talking away the day.  It seems we keep running into stellar people who are going the opposite direction as us.  Sadly, they were dropping off their camper tomorrow morning and heading home.

 

December 18^th – Why isn’t he answering us?!?!

Pool party with the dogs!

We sent the day anxiously watching the tracking information from DHL for our bushing to arrive at the mechanic.  His shop is really large so he had told us to watch for the package and when it arrives to let him know.  Well by 11am DHL notified us that the package had been delivered.  We messaged the mechanic to let him know, and nothing.  After another hour or so we messaged again, still nothing.  We didn’t understand what was going on.  He had been so good at messaging us before.

We were in the dark and had no idea what we should do.  Paul eventually left the campground saying he needed to go for a walk, we needed a few groceries anyway so it became a good excuse to get away from the van for an hour or so.  It was at this time that we noticed that most businesses seemed closed, but google didn’t say it was a holiday. 

In the end the we had another pool day.   We had the pool to ourselves since we were the only ones left at the campground.  We tried our best to be optimistic but with having no one around we were feeling a bit lonely.

 

December 19^th – You’ve got to be kidding me!!!

Kendra’s phone vibrated us awake, the mechanic had messaged us.  The first thing Kendra said this morning and the first thing Paul heard this morning was “You’re not going to be happy”.

The mechanic let us know that the new bushing was on his desk but he was very busy and wouldn’t be able to install it until next week (December 26^th or December 27^th). 

We went back and forth as to what we should do, but we knew one thing, we didn’t want to be in Chile anymore.  This country has been nothing but bad luck for us and we needed a fresh start.  Our original plan was to just pick up the bushing and go to Argentina because we knew we would be able to find a mechanic to install them. The only challenge would be hiding the new bushings in case Argentina would want us to pay tax and duty on them. At least that was our thought until we finally drove the van again and really heard how loud the BOOM sound was when we went over any imperfection in the road.  This needed to be repaired as the last thing we want is to break something else because we didn’t get this fixed.

This picture is supposed to show how small our van is compared to the vehicle beside us, but we took it with a wide angle lens making our van look huge.

Mush Puppy, We've got food to get

The campground owner’s friend owned a garage in the city.  He had called him up and made an appointment with him on our behalf.  We didn’t know if he could do the job but he was willing to take a look.  We picked up the bushing from the first mechanic and drove to the second mechanic who let us know the job was too big for him.  He then sent us to a third mechanic who could take on the job and said he’d be able to get the new bushing installed by Friday.  This worked for us and gave us an excuse to get a break from the van.  We gathered our things booked an Airbnb close to downtown Santiago.  It was about an hour walk from the mechanic and since we had a couple hours until we could check in we decided to slowly walk. 

This was our first real experience in Santiago and we were underwhelmed.  It seemed like a big city with no real soul.  At least that is how we felt about the areas we walked through.  Our favourite thing we saw was a food vendor selling empanadas. One thing we have learned is that any food or drink prepared by Venezuelans is always delicious.

By the time we made it to the Airbnb we were exhausted, mostly mentally and emotionally so we spent the rest of the day relaxing in the room only really leaving to retrieve food we had ordered to the building.

 

December 20^th – This is getting to be too much…

Oh Rupert, you and your little heart

Although we previously had prepared all our paperwork to enter Argentina thanks to all the issues with the van it had expired meaning we needed to go back to a vet and get a new Health Certificate.  We had messaged a few yesterday and found one with a good reputation, that was close to the Airbnb and was priced competitively.

She was an experienced Vet who stopped the assessment halfway through and asked me the same questions that the Vet in Antofagasta did.  Have you got your dogs heart checked out, he has a pretty significant heart murmur.  Just like last time Paul said that he had back in Canada and the Canadian Vet said he was fine to travel, that it was just a slight murmur.  She followed up that question with another, how long ago was that assessment.  It was then we were reminded that for an old dog 18 months is a very long time.  It was at this time we got some heart breaking news.  In this vet’s professional opinion Rupert would be unable to get a Health Certificate to fly as his heart murmur is significant enough that he would be unlikely to survive a flight home. 

Exploring the gardens of Santiago

It took a lot for us not to break completely down in her office, first the van and now Rupert. 

He was fine to travel by vehicle through land borders but needed to see a cardiologist for further examination and treatment.  Although there were cardiologists in Santiago we decided we would wait until Buenos Aires as Rupert couldn’t get an appointment until after Christmas and we were still in no mood to stay any longer in Chile.

At the Plaza de Armas

Inside the Santiago Cathedral

The fountain of Santa Lucia

Exploring the pedestrian streets,
 on watch for pickpockets 

On top of the fortress

The last thing we wanted to do was sit in the Airbnb thinking about everything, so we grabbed Rupert’s backpack and started walking and exploring the city.  We spent most of the time climbing the Santa Lucia hill; home to a fort and church with views of the city as well as the various pedestrian streets near the main square.  We don’t know if it was due to our mental state but this is just not a city we are enjoying.  Eventually, we made it back to our Airbnb and tried to relax in the rooftop pool but it was just a bit too cold to be comfortable so we once again headed back into our room and vegged out for the rest of the night  with some Korean food.

December 21^st – We’re all mad here

While we were walking yesterday we had passed a cute neighbourhood, so today we would explore it. We started by going to an Alice in Wonderland themed café where everything was in English. It was expensive but a unique experience.

The food was delicious!

Rupert approved!

... "Then it doesn't matter
which way you go"

Going through rabbit hole

Trying a Santiago staple, 0/10 do not recommend

Next we wandered to a park and sat and watched all the other dogs run around and play. Rupert slept under the bench. We really have noticed Rupert slowing down lately and the news about his heart not being in a good condition has us really concerned. After resting at the park we continued to explore Santiago.  We don’t know what it is but we have not been successful in finding craft beer in Chile. We’ve googled Craft Beer, Brewery, Cerveza Artesanal and every where we go is either not a brewery or is closed.  Luckily in this cute neighbourhood we found a restaurant that served craft beer.  It was exactly what we were looking for.  We sat on the patio watching people and cyclists pass on the street.  Maybe it was a sign but Paul ordered a pale ale called Manitoba and we enjoyed talking about how strange it is that his beer is called Manitoba.  Manitoba does not translate to anything in Spanish and it was an American Pale Ale, so no quite Canadian, but this beer gave us a glimmer that maybe this is some sort of sign and things are looking up.

Next we purchased some snacks from street vendors and they were not good. We had the most disgusting cake we have ever had in our lives and Paul tried the Chilean drink of Copihue, which is a sweet drink with a chunk of fruit in the bottom and cooked grains. Neither of these treats tasted very good, so we stopped at the grocery store for some snacks to have back at the hotel.

Santiago has had some good things about it, but overall we did not enjoy our time in this city.  We heard from the mechanic that our van may be ready this evening but it will definitely be ready tomorrow morning; so we spent one more day lounging by the pool wondering if we will finally be able to leave Chile tomorrow.

 

December 22- When one problem is fixed a new one appears

Our van is ready!!!

Making sure Rupert doesn't over
 exert himself

We decided to walk the hour to the mechanic shop since check out was at 10 and our van would be ready at 11. We were so excited to pick the van up and hit the road again.  The entire walk we could not believe that the van was ready and all of our problems would be gone.

That feeling and excitement was short lived. We got the van and the mechanic informed Paul that the bushings are installed but since they had to take off the back suspension system there is now an issue with our ABS sensor and they can not do anything to resolve the issue, but they assured us it was nothing serious and would not be unsafe to drive.  Although we were frustrated and debated about going to a Dodge dealership to try to fix the issue we were done with Chile and wanted to reclaim our trip.  We left and made our way to Argentina.  It was about 50 kilometres after we left the city we learned that due to the warning lights for a ABS system our cruise control would not turn on.  Great…

We drove the 4 or so hours from Santiago to Los Libertadores border crossing.  This border felt unique because it is located at a mountain pass on a road with at least 28 switchbacks.  The “real” border was in the middle of a tunnel, so customs and immigration was done as soon as we left the tunnel in a border control area unlike any border area we had crossed at before. The processes for both side of the border (Chile and Argentina) where all done in one building that you drive your vehicle into.  It consisted of three step which after completing each step you could be given a stamp.  Oddly the stamps were placed on a random recycled piece of paper, ours had sensitive information on it such as people’s full names and birthdates).

This route is famous for its switchbacks

Finally leaving Chile!

Back to the mountains!

Step 1 is to turn in your Chilian “Visa” Paper, known as a PDI that you are given when you enter the country and get stamped out of Chile.  At the same time, you digitally enter Argentina (Argentina doesn’t stamp your passport).  Step 2 is where you get your vehicle imported into the country.  You are required to give you Chilian Temporary Import Permit.  Step 3 is customs where they inspect your vehicle and if they approve you into the country will give you a new Temporary Import Permit for your vehicle that was prepared in Step 2.

Our first night in Argentina!!!

While we were completing step 3 the man said “oh you have a dog” where we learned that some people get to go through a Step 4.  Thankfully step 4 was easy since we have all of Rupert’s paperwork and documentation properly prepared.  The lady congratulated us and thanked us for having all of the proper paperwork completed and after giving Rupert a pat on the head we were officially in Argentina! Country #15 (if we don’t count Canada) and border crossing #20 of the trip!  You would think after crossing 20 different borders that things would get easier, and while we know the questions and general process, every border is set up just a little differently to keep us on our toes.

Argentina has been in our sights for so long that it almost felt like we may never make it, but we did!  We crossed the border, stopped at a grocery store and made our way to beautiful campsite on a lake. We were able to enjoy some Argentinian wine and took a deep breath. We had made it to Argentina and we are now only about 3,000 kms from the southernmost point on the Pan-American Highway.  Our goal of reaching Ushuaia is so close!

Smooth sailing into 2024

In this blog update we hit the road with new purpose and see the Atlantic ocean for the first time on this trip.  That is not the only thing we saw, we saw capybaras, guanacos and penguins among many other animals in the wild and experience Argentinian campgrounds.  Most importantly we celebrated Kendra's birthday with Hot springs, BBQ and wine!

January 1- On the road again!

We checked out of our Airbnb and hit the road. Since we made getting to Ushuaia our new goal it was time to travel south.  Buenos Aries was still asleep, since most people did not start drinking until midnight and the parties continue until early in the morning the roads were quiet.

We made it to the Atlantic!

We drove away from the city and towards the Atlantic Ocean. A fun fact about the GoGoGauthiers is that none of us have seen the Atlantic Ocean from Canada.  We have experienced it in the United Kingdom and spent time on the Caribbean Ocean in Mexico/Belize/Panama/Colombia, but today was our first time experiencing the  “real” Atlantic on this trip. We arrived in the community of Mar Chiquita and went right for the ocean. It was as cold as we imagine the Atlantic being in Canada during the summer so doing a short walk in was enough for us.

We found a spot at the municipal campsite and wandered around the cute town. Not many places were open but it felt like we were in Grand Bend, Ontario. Houses close to the water and family homes with multiple cars parked outside. It was a little resort community.  The municipal campground was also set up uniquely. You pay per person to camp and you can pick any place to camp. There are no designated sites which initially felt odd to us, but it makes complete sense. Friends and family and large groups can camp with each other and they do not need a special reservation.  The campground also had hot showers, flush toilets and a pool, although we have grown weak when it relates to the cold and being around 24 Celsius was too cold for us to go for a dip in the pool.

It's a real campground, like back in Canada!

A brewery only 15 minutes walk away!?

We spent the night at one of the local craft breweries enjoying delicious food and drinks and made our way back to the campground for one of the best night’s sleep we have had in a long time. Our van did not flash any new warnings today, our dog is not dying, and everything is good, no new stress. It was a good start to 2024.

 

January 2- Hankies and Hela2

Adding our handkerchief for good luck

It was hard leaving the municipal campground, especially since check out time was 5 pm, but we had itchy feet and were excited to hit the road again. We left around 11 am in the search for a few things. We went to Sierra de los Padres to leave a handkerchief (one of Rupert’s old bandanas) at the Gruta de los Panuelos with prayers of health and safe travel.

 Next we went to Laguna de los Padres to see wild carpinchos. From our understanding they are wild capybaras that live along the lakeshores and in the lake.  It was amazing to see them in the wild, since we have seen them in a petting zoo in Kelowna. The wild ones definitely do not want to be pet or approached.

While visiting the lake the ice cream shop nearby opened and we all known that latin America has the best ice cream; how could we not purchase some?  Next it was time to try and find a colony of sea lions. Google and ioverlander said we should see them along the coast, but due to ship’s being loaded at the port and lack of parking at the beach we were unsuccessful in seeing sea lions today. 

We continued our drive south and we were amazed at how busy all the beaches were on the coast. Parking lots were full, ioverlander camping spots were not accessible due to the number of cars so we drove, and drove. Eventually we found Playa El Remanso which was not busy and camped beside the Atlantic Ocean. We cracked open a bottle of “fermented colon juice” as we call it, which wasn’t a bad wine, just an unfortunately named winery and slowly watch the sun set behind us.

What an interesting...
aroma 

Getting the shades ready for sunset

January 3^rd – Preparation for someone’s special day

Great place to wake up to!

After examining all the potential campgrounds between us and the next 600 kilometers and discussing where the best spot would be to spend a couple nights for Kendra’s birthday we decided to have a long driving day, hoping to drive almost 600 kms.  We left Playa El Remanso and just started driving south watching community after community pass us by.   We only stopped twice once in Necochea to finally see a sea loin colony battle each other for supremacy and just outside of Bahia Blanca for fresh olive oil.  We did think about stopping in the “big city” of Bahia Blanca but knew shortly after arriving that would not be a good idea.

Bahia Blanca looked like a disaster zone.  We originally remarked that the community looked like the poorest community we had been to in Argentina until a quick google search told us that the community had recently been hit with extreme weather and wind storm causing millions of dollars of damage and over a dozen deaths.  They were still trying to clean up their community so we continued south.

Unfortunately, by not stopping at all in Bahia Blanca we were running very short on gas by the time we arrived in our final stop for the night Pedro Luro.  The gas light was on and the gas indicator was at zero when after three attempts we found a gas station that was both open and would take credit card. 

We finally got to the campground and set up the van.  It was a long day of driving and we were so happy to be done and somewhere we felt we could celebrate Kendra properly.

 

January 4^th – Happy Birthday Kendra!!!

Today was all about Kendra.  She was able to relax and Paul did all the typical tasks required during a typical day on the road.  We only left the campground to grab a few things that we needed for the night, meat, charcoal, wine and cake.

The day was spent down by the river where the water was perfect.   We played games and had a BBQ.  One of the reasons we had picked this community to camp was due to a nearby hot springs but after enjoying our time by the river so much and losing track of time we realized that it would be more trouble than it is worth to try to find a way to a hot spring, especially when the weather was so hot and the river was so perfect.

The day was exactly what Kendra wanted, a chill day celebrating her “33^rd” birthday (because according to Kendra “the two COVID years do not count”).

 

January 5^th – We need to update the blog

It’s hard to write about days that are hard and there has been no shortage of those lately.  We know we are privileged to be able to jump in the van and drive and explore the Pan-American highway but to reminisce about bad days is not something we want to do or enjoy doing.  However, the goal of this blog has always been to create a written record of this trip for us to look back upon in the future.  We have committed to this format and want to see it through until the trip is done.  Today we did exactly what we needed to do, we sat down and looked at pictures and notes and started writing.  We mourned bad days and celebrated small victories that brought us to where we are.  As we were almost 20 days behind it took almost all day to write, consult and proof read but we did it.  We updated the blog in its entirety and hopefully this is the last time we need to think about the last month or so.  We no longer need to think about the days behind us, we only need to think about the present and the days ahead.

This trip has shown us, bad days don’t last. One year ago, we were sheltering in Sinaloa, stressed about the future of this trip, but we persevered.  We are committed to push ourselves through the tough days. We set a goal and we will achieve it, no matter what it takes. We are determined, stubborn and strong willed and looking back on the last month has been tough, but we have become tougher; inspired by the struggles and triumphs of those back home going through their own tough days and situations.

 

January 6^th – From the Salt to the Sand

So relaxing

It is unbelievable that we have stayed in Pedro Luro for three nights and had not gone to the thing that made us decide to stay in this community in the first place, the hot springs.  We left the campground right at 9am so we could be at the hot springs (resort) right as it opened.  Although there was English written everywhere around the resort we don’t think too many non-Argentinians go to this place as the first question we were ask when we arrived to the front desk was how did we know about these hot springs.  When Paul answered the internet, that was not a good enough answer.  It seemed like they want more tourists but haven’t quite figured out what works to advertise to them yet.

Paul experiencing Fangoterapia

The hot springs were amazing with different pools at any temperature point you could want depending on the heat of the day.  We had talked about only staying an hour or two at the hot springs but as we moved from pool to pool as the day got warmer we realized we would be spending the better part of the day in water.  There was even an entire pool dedicated to fangoterapia which we learned was mud therapy, so obviously we had to get a little dirty.

The nice thing about being so far south in the south American summer (Canadian winter) is that it gets dark really late, so even though we spent almost 4 hours at the hot springs we had lots of time to scope out the area we had planned to camp for the night, since we still have a rule to not drive after dark.  We ended up stopping in the small community of El Condor for some water, available for free at their visitor’s information.  Unsurprisingly, Paul ended up being pulled away by the people working at the office to answer some questions about our travels in the area while Kendra filled our water jug. Paul returned with maps and tidal charts for things we can do in the area, so we set off to check out what the locals recommended. 

We swear we are not in the Canadian Prairies

As a bit of an aside, one thing we have noticed as part of this trip is just how disrespectful some other travellers were (or maybe it is general unawareness or lack of consideration for others).  After we had filled up our water some Germans in a giant converted motor home pulled up and started to rinse off their toilet (the portion that diverts urine) at the potable drinking water tap.  We were flabbergasted, but were driving away so we did not say anything. Eww, gross.

The entire region we are in is eastern Rio Negro and is what we would assume Saskatchewan/Manitoba would be like if they were located right beside the ocean.  There is lots of grain farming (the wheat is coming off now, the canola is starting to turn yellow, and the sunflowers are beginning to bloom) and there are no hills or skyscrapers to block your view.  The seaside communities are small and other than locals to the area relaxing at the beach they are pretty quiet.  El Condor was one of the bigger communities but mostly reminded us of Moose Jaw.  Its mirador looked out to the farmland which seemed really funny to us since you couldn’t see the ocean from it and one of the most popular non beach things to do in the community was to visit the war memorial highlighted with a fighter jet.

A hole representing each person
 who died 

Obviously there are no Snowbirds (the RCAF acrobatic jet team) in Argentina like there are in Canada; the jet and the entire memorial is to commemorate the war for the Isla Malvinas that occurred in 1982. This set of islands is known as the Falkland Islands by the rest of the world.  It is amazing how contested these islands are in Argentina and how serious they still are that they want them back.  Ever since entering Argentina we have seen signs everywhere proclaiming “Las Islas Malvinas son Argentinas” i.e The Malvinas (Falkland) islands are Argentina’s.   

The other popular thing to do in the area is to see all the parrots.  We are not too sure at what point of this trip seeing wild parrots was significantly less interesting to us, but retrospectively it is amazing that the most frequently seen bird of many areas of south America is the parrot.  These birds are everywhere, like robins in Canada.  El Condor is supposed to have cliffs full of the birds but due to the avian flu many areas are closed off to visitors so there were not too many to see.

After a pretty mediocre pint at the local brewery and some route finding for where we would camp we started driving far down the beach, what we had hoped would be a paved road turned into over 100 kilometres of gravel but eventually we found our perfect spot to camp.  There was an issue, the road to it was a bit sandy.  After walking it out we thought it may be alright, but we were wrong.  After lots of pushing and troubleshooting we were so stuck in the sand the only way out was to get towed out.  GREAT!

Oooooffffff

This was another bit of a blow to our egos but we were fortunate to be near other Argentinian campers many with 4x4 trucks.  We swallowed our pride and walked the 150 metres to the first camper we saw who, as we approached said “You’re stuck, I was wondering when you’d make your way over here”.  The couple dropped everything they were doing and after 10 minutes of talking and hooking the van up to their truck towed us out of the sand.  We tried to offer them some tokens of our appreciation, but they wouldn’t accept anything, just staying to pay it forward when we see someone who needs some help.

We did think about camping near our saviours but in the end decided to go a bit further down the road as we were exhausted.  When we finally found a spot it was almost sunset, this had become a very long day since sunset happens around 9:00pm.  We hoped to end the day having a glass of wine watching the sun set but alas one final issue had to present itself.  As we were about 2 minutes away from finishing cooking our propane ran out.  Looks like we have another task to complete: find someone to fill our north American propane bottle. 

Nothing like eating raw-ish or extremely al dente noodles while you are covered in sand from trying to dig out our vehicle. The sunset was beautiful and the wine was mediocre so it was an okay end to the day.

 

January 7^th – Kebab's on coals

Finding a place that can fill our propane bottle is always a little nerve wracking because it can be difficult.  We purchased an adapter while we were in Colombia but that adapter is for Northern South America, Chile and Argentina both have different threads from the north (and from each other) so we knew this may be a process.  This would also have to be a process we started tomorrow as some quick googling made us realize that any place that may sell propane would be closed as it is Sunday today. 

The pictures do not do it justice, the beach was packed

Obviously we wouldn’t be able to cook out of the van so we looked for a campground where we could walk to a restaurant for dinner.  The spot we choose was only an hour or so from where we camped last night so on a whim we decided to go to a community that had a giant billboard advertising it on the side of the highway called La Grutas.

If you look closely you can see
parrots in those holes

The caves carved by the ocean

We've never seen pools like this 

The community was a very busy seaside town with beaches full of people.  Somehow we found an amazing parking spot near the beach and went down to marvel at how busy the beach was.  The beaches of this area are famous for the sea side caves which give the community its name.  The caves were neat to look at but we couldn’t get over the “natural” pools the community had carved out of the rocks that filled up at hightide and became swimming pools next to the sea at low tide.  We felt we could not leave this community with out swimming in these pools.

We couldn't not go for a swim

Now this is a seafood feast!!

By the time we finished swimming we were hungry and since we couldn’t cook anything and we were on the ocean we searched the nearest best reviewed seafood restaurant.  Even if we had propane we are glad we had this lunch, it was a good paella and was better than some we had while in Spain! 

It was at this point we had an idea. We had green peppers, and onions. We also have skewers that we have had since we started this trip.  We also had charcoal.  If we picked up some meat and tomatoes we could have kababs (and yes we will spell meat and vegetables stacked on a stick a different way every time in this post) for dinner for a fraction of the cost of going out for dinner.  We had a plan.

We decided to camp in the sleepy beachside community of Playas Doradas at the “famous” according to them campground of Camping Patagonia.  For the place being famous we were surprised how few people were at the campground but we soon learned why, it was very expensive (the $17,400 Argentinian pesos- which today is the equivalent of about $17usd).  Without too much of a plan we decided against the campground and drove down the beach hoping to find somewhere to camp for free.  Within 10 minutes we found the perfect spot, someone had even made a fire pit. 

The plan was executed perfectly, we ignited the charcoal made the kebobs and slowly cooked them to perfection.  We should almost run out of propane more often if these are the types of meals we make for ourselves.

Probably the best kebab's we
have ever had

Kendra prepping these
 beautiful kebab's

 

January 8^th – We got moved along

We had read that a lot of people had luck getting propane in the community of Puerto Madryn, and we are happy to say we get to count ourselves in that group.  After seeing the propane bottle and the adapter they said they’d be able to fill our bottle.  They even remarked how surprised they were to see a Mexican propane bottle, we don’t think they had ever seen one before even though we told them it was from North America. 

Next we decided to get more cash, as we have mentioned before getting cash is a bit of a process in Argentina as there are multiple different currency exchange rates depending on where you go and the peso was recently devalued.  The best rate is with crisp $100 US bills (980 peso to 1 USD), 2^nd best is through Western Union (950 peso to 1 USD) and the worst is through the banks (799 peso to 1 USD).  These rates (other than the bank rate) are known as the blue rate and they change daily based on people’s demand for a stable currency.  Argentinians can’t buy much, if any stable currency, and the Argentina peso is facing historically high inflation causing a government exchange rate (black rate) and the on the street exchange rate (blue rate), we won’t even mention the MEP/credit card rate.

Fat Stacks!!

Getting cash always feels like we are doing something illegal (just like how getting gas in Bolivia also felt illegal, even though it is not). Paul asked at tourist information where we could exchange currency and was given a name, location and phone number.  When we got to the location there was a guard at the door to check our passport (and the goods [US currency]) and then he radioed someone inside.  It felt like a dentist’s office but with one room for currency changes.  We were surprised to learn that their exchange rate was 995 peso to 1 usd so we ended up walking out with a lot of cash, especially since the largest bill is 1000 pesos.

Having completed the main tasks of the day we found a campsite near a natural reserve we wanted to  go to tomorrow.  We parked made some lunch but before we could finish our meal we were greeted by two park rangers.  Turns out where we had planed to camp was another protected area where camping has recently been outlawed and this rule is now being enforced.  However, pets were not allowed to be in the protected area so we had to leave, but at least we didn’t get a fine, instead they gave us a map showing the boundaries for the protected area which was nice of them. 

Our next option was also a bust, it was in a campground in the resort community of Puerto Piramides, but we learned it was full.  It seemed our only option was camping around the south east part of Puerto Madryn which turned out to be where all the Argentinian long term van lifers stay. It felt like we were pulling into a trailer park as we scouted our spot for the night.

NOTE: In the last 6 hours (when we got currency to now) the blue rate has changed from 980 pesos to 1 USD to 1000 pesos to 1 USD, just to show you how quickly the rate can change.

 

January 9^th – Penguins up close and personal

SOOO CUTE!!

Although we are usually awake and are out of the van by around 8:30am we had been told by the ticket office that it would be in our best interest to be at the ticket booth by that time so we had enough time to properly explore the Valdez Peninsula.  For the first time in many weeks, we awoke to an alarm.  Although we felt groggy we were glad we had set an alarm as we awoke to see a cruise ship.  We knew that we would not be alone in the national reserve.

We drove the 45 minutes to the reserve entered the tourist information office to learn the best time to see all the aquatic life known to reside along the peninsula’s coast.  Turns out it is high tide when the animals are closest to shore, guess we could have figured that one out ourselves.  However, as we were leaving we saw bus upon bus enter the parking lot of tourist information.  We had one goal, make as much distance between us and them as possible, so we started driving to the various points of interest on the island. 

Just a couple curious Guanacos

They were so close to us!

The first stop was to see penguins, one of Paul’s favourite animals.  Never would we have guessed just how close we would be to these animals.  The Magellanic penguin colony on the peninsula does not fear humans at all and seemed to act as if we weren’t even there.  We watched them for an hour, waddling about, digging holes will their flippers and communicating with each other.  It was an immediate highlight of 2024 and Argentina. 

Next was Caleta Valdes known for seeing Orcas and Elephant seals.  Sadly, we only saw seals and sealions something we had seen many times before.  From this point we headed north to the aptly named North Point where en route we saw some guanacos, cousins of llamas and camels.  Once again we had hoped to see Orcas and closer up Elephant Seals but it was more of the same, we did however finally snap a picture of an armadillo, something we have been trying to do since Mexico but failing because they are so fast.

Finally got this photo!

Our day on the peninsula was almost done, but we thought to check out a few more miradors close to the community of Puerto Piramides.  Usually these are the miradors where you can see giant Southern Right Whales but they had migrated away from the areas so the only thing to see there was more sea loins.

Our filthy van

Before returning to our camp spot for the night we had hoped to get a car wash as our van was filthy and an oil change, but the spot we wanted to go to didn’t have time to do a carwash nor the correct oil for our van so we picked up some food from the grocery store and spent the evening watching the ocean and the cruise ship (Serenade of the Sea) sail away.

 

January 10^th – A clean van

The sand and salty air had really taken a toll on the van.  Its side windows were almost impossible to see through making it a little dangerous to drive in the city.  Our priority of the day was to resolve this issue.  Before returning to the carwash/oil change place we stopped in at an oil shop and were able to find oil for the van meaning we could get two tasks done at the same time.

Enjoying the boardwalk with the
cruise ship in the background

And yet there are people
swimming

After dropping off the van we had 4 hours to explore Puerto Madryn which we did by going to the ocean promenade and looking at the various artisanal shops that had opened for cruise ship passengers. When we explored this area a few days earlier there were no shops or stalls open, it is purely for cruise ship tourists. We walked down various streets, stopped at cafes and window shopped until before we knew it, it was time to return to the van.  Time actually flew by.

Our van, and our engine oil, was clean so we made our way to our next stop on our trip south towards Ushuaia, the Welsh community of Gaiman.  We had heard it is a great place to check out with a real interesting local history, but by the time we arrived it was closer to dinner time than we had hoped so we grabbed some charcoal and started a fire in a grill at the local community campground.  This place seemed like the perfect place to just hang out for a few days.

 

January 11^th – What have I, Paul, done

As some may know Paul was diagnosed with gout a couple years ago so he changed a bunch of his eating and drinking habits.  Foolishly during this trip he has fallen into some bad habit and today woke up with a bit of a gout attack.  We would have to put off exploring for a day or so.  This was fine as the campground had internet giving us time and ability to upload photos and doing other various tasks we had been putting off. 

Oh Paul...how your decisions have consequences...

In general, it was a good day to take a breath, take it easy and upload all blog entries right up to and including today!