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!