Writing the blog is definitely becoming more difficult there is always something else that needs doing researching, cooking, washing, maintaining the Dodge, looking for fuel stations, wifi and banks as well as actually looking around the towns and scenery. Further more we usually sleep in the car so the laptop has limited battery. After a bit of doubt we have decided to keep writing the blog as much for ourselves as it is for you, because we aren't keeping a diary. Also we currently have a flat battery and are in the middle of nowhere so we have some spare time on our hands.
We arrived triumphantly in Ushuaia and the "official" start of the trip. Past the grand entrance a wrong turn showed us that even the international cruise boat capital of southern South America has its flaws. The roads were bad, there was rubbish and signs of poverty just beyond the glossy tourist shops and stand out label clad cruise ship tourists. We later learnt that the city had expanded so fast that housing and land had become extremely expensive causing the rise of a shanty town scar on the hill side. Our mission while in Ushuaia was to build a food shelf in the back of the Dodge. Sick of soy sauce and melted butter spills we had conceived a solution. Rather than to build our bed up and lose the ability to have back seats and thus other passengers we planned to build a small shelf above the bed complete with fold down breakfast bar! The girl at the campground at the base of an old small skifield marked some building stores on the map and we were off. Two full days later, working past dark with limited tools we finished it and what a difference it has made. We can now fit all of our things onto the front passenger seat when we are sleeping in the back, with nothing needing to go on the drivers seat. This means we can make a quick get away if necessary.
We arrived triumphantly in Ushuaia and the "official" start of the trip. Past the grand entrance a wrong turn showed us that even the international cruise boat capital of southern South America has its flaws. The roads were bad, there was rubbish and signs of poverty just beyond the glossy tourist shops and stand out label clad cruise ship tourists. We later learnt that the city had expanded so fast that housing and land had become extremely expensive causing the rise of a shanty town scar on the hill side. Our mission while in Ushuaia was to build a food shelf in the back of the Dodge. Sick of soy sauce and melted butter spills we had conceived a solution. Rather than to build our bed up and lose the ability to have back seats and thus other passengers we planned to build a small shelf above the bed complete with fold down breakfast bar! The girl at the campground at the base of an old small skifield marked some building stores on the map and we were off. Two full days later, working past dark with limited tools we finished it and what a difference it has made. We can now fit all of our things onto the front passenger seat when we are sleeping in the back, with nothing needing to go on the drivers seat. This means we can make a quick get away if necessary.
Also in Ushuaia we couch surfed at Estebans wonderful harbour front apartment for two nights and enjoyed a sailing trip through the Beagle Channel. On the glassy sea we motored past colonies of noisy Sea Lions and Cormorants and were excited when on the return the wind whipped up and we got to sail through the icy squalls back to the harbour. Thank you to my parents for shouting this for our engagement!
In our typical style we couldn't leave Ushuaia so simply and we sought the advice of a local tour guide Tomi, who drew us up an excellent 4x4 trail map. With everything freshly washed we headed out for the trail at 5pm forgetting how low our truck really is and how crap the tyres really are. Four rather deep bogs later we knew we were pushing our luck on number five and such as is life we took a bad line and bellied out in almost one meter of brown silty water. Not to worry the bed in the back was still dry (can't say the same for my laptop and a few other items in the foot wells) so after an hour of unsuccessful digging and rock placing to bed we went. The next morning like clock work a 4x4 tour came through and rescued us much to the delight of the punters. Shortly after reloading our truck and our rescuers departing we were stuck once more in deeply rutted out mud pit!!!! Max tracks off the roof again plus more digging and eventually we got ourselves through. Everything was covered in mud so we all (the Dodge included) went into the cold Lagona Fagnano for a big wash and we spent the night while everything dried in the wind. Next morning we followed the track as it weaved in and out of the lake and back to the main road, finally we were heading north!
Rio Grande where we turned off down a gravel road opting for the smaller border crossing of Paso Rio Bellavista. A couple of grumpy men with official stamps had us out of Argentina and it was just past the border gate that the road ended abruptly only to begin again on the far bank of a braided river, no problem for the Dodge and we were soon stamped into Chile. On a mission that day we followed the coast sadly missing the un-signposted penguin colony (just a tent on the side of the road) and headed for the small town of Porvenir hoping there would be a late afternoon ferry crossing. No such luck with winds of 90km/hr that day there were no ferries crossing at all. We took refuge at cafe near the locked ferry terminal where we were told the next ferry was at 2pm the following day. We must have seemed desperate as the owners said we could sleep in the car behind the cafe. We were forever grateful and treated ourselves to pizza while siting in the warm surrounds making the most of the free wifi until they closed at 10pm. The next morning we were the first car in the ferry line next to a rented camper with an older German couple who also didn't have a ferry booking. What appeared the be a cleaning lady then came to open the terminal so we milled around chatting to the Germans by the ticket office and suddenly looked behind us to find we were at the front of a rapidly increasing ticket queue, perfect! We drove aboard and hoped back into bed for a bit more sleep on the high seas, the alternative being to sit inside with the many seasick and vomiting passengers.
After arriving in Punta Arenas we headed straight to the recommended cemetery and marvelled at the maze of grand victorian styled tombs with space for the whole family. Some had been recently filled and others still had a few spaces... We then planned to look for a thicker mattress for the car as our 50mm one was no longer cutting it. We got directed to the tax free zone with plenty of big shops but none with a foam mattress. After a food court dinner at our favourite Chilean fast food joint Doggis we drove back to the ferry terminal for the night and saw the Germans again who had had the same idea.
After arriving in Punta Arenas we headed straight to the recommended cemetery and marvelled at the maze of grand victorian styled tombs with space for the whole family. Some had been recently filled and others still had a few spaces... We then planned to look for a thicker mattress for the car as our 50mm one was no longer cutting it. We got directed to the tax free zone with plenty of big shops but none with a foam mattress. After a food court dinner at our favourite Chilean fast food joint Doggis we drove back to the ferry terminal for the night and saw the Germans again who had had the same idea.
Next we high tailed it to Puerto Natales the base town for the famous Torres Del Paine (TDP) National Park where we hit the jackpot and booked into the New Zealander run Singing Lamb hostel. Apparently it is rated in the top three hostels in Chile and we could see why, the place was super clean and tidy, the staff were friendly and it had all the mod cons you would find at home like a toaster, electric jug and microwave these are almost unheard of in Chile especially not all three at once. Unfortunately a slight domestic dispute over some silly topic meant we didn't make full use of the hostel and we went to bed early.
Happy again by morning we looked around town then headed to the renowned Erratic Rock hostel for the 3pm Torres Del Paine info talk. We got heaps of great information but were starting to feel unsure about the trek, there were at least forty people at the talk so it left us wondering how many would be on the trail and how much of a wilderness experience we would be in for. Our thoughts were soon distracted when we learnt that the legendary rock climber Steve Schneider who we had seen in 'Race For The Nose' was outside in the flesh selling some climbing gear. Steve and his wife had been climbing in TDP and his wife had just become the first female to climb all three towers of the Torres. We talked to him in awe and brought a few quick draws at the same time meeting Californian Justin Hall who gave us some sweet inside scoops on TDP. Excited we headed to the park and after a road side rescue of a rolled Mitsubishi Pajero we packed our gear and hit the sack.
We awoke early and wandered around with our full packs frustrated that such a hugely popular trek could be so badly sign posted. After asking three different people we felt assured the gravel road we were on was indeed one the of starts to this world renowned trek. We had heard so much about this famous park but it wasn't at all what we expected. After an $18,000 chilean peso entrance fee each you still had to pay for most campsites, so we were expecting NZ great walk standards. Instead we were met with washed out bridges, single planks of wood over muddy bogs, signs that say to stick to the track and take your rubbish with you, yet even workers on the track haven't adhered to this and old work sites with bits of wood and rubbish remained. The more remote campgrounds on the back of the circuit had ill equipped and cramped cooking refugios missing basics like more than one bench for the 50 or so people trying to cook inside. The toilets were bad and the rotting showers at Campamento Los Perros had part of the wall missing between them. At the big refugios on the W we were blown away by the shear number of people on the track. There were day trippers, kids in jeans and sneakers and newbie trampers with absolutely huge packs and more stuff in their hands. After three days and almost 60km on the circuit track we joined the more popular W route where we found ourselves frequently stepping around the constant flow of people on the narrow track. We don't mean to go on and obviously we were there in the peak season but certainly if they can build a huge fully catered hotel they could widen the track to accommodate the large number of people using it in some areas. Also the distance and altitude signs were great but were frustratingly few and irregular. We did both the circuit and W over 120km in four nights and five days waking early on the last morning for the sunrise at the Torres but it was cloudy and raining. Disappointed and exhausted we made it back to the car complete with more than a few blisters. In hindsight we would have waited for the weather headed straight up to the amazing Torres for one night and left for more remote tramping further north at Fitzroy. If your new to tramping you will love the breath taking scenery and the people and shops along the way will be fun but it was just not our cup of tea, rant over.
Happy again by morning we looked around town then headed to the renowned Erratic Rock hostel for the 3pm Torres Del Paine info talk. We got heaps of great information but were starting to feel unsure about the trek, there were at least forty people at the talk so it left us wondering how many would be on the trail and how much of a wilderness experience we would be in for. Our thoughts were soon distracted when we learnt that the legendary rock climber Steve Schneider who we had seen in 'Race For The Nose' was outside in the flesh selling some climbing gear. Steve and his wife had been climbing in TDP and his wife had just become the first female to climb all three towers of the Torres. We talked to him in awe and brought a few quick draws at the same time meeting Californian Justin Hall who gave us some sweet inside scoops on TDP. Excited we headed to the park and after a road side rescue of a rolled Mitsubishi Pajero we packed our gear and hit the sack.
We awoke early and wandered around with our full packs frustrated that such a hugely popular trek could be so badly sign posted. After asking three different people we felt assured the gravel road we were on was indeed one the of starts to this world renowned trek. We had heard so much about this famous park but it wasn't at all what we expected. After an $18,000 chilean peso entrance fee each you still had to pay for most campsites, so we were expecting NZ great walk standards. Instead we were met with washed out bridges, single planks of wood over muddy bogs, signs that say to stick to the track and take your rubbish with you, yet even workers on the track haven't adhered to this and old work sites with bits of wood and rubbish remained. The more remote campgrounds on the back of the circuit had ill equipped and cramped cooking refugios missing basics like more than one bench for the 50 or so people trying to cook inside. The toilets were bad and the rotting showers at Campamento Los Perros had part of the wall missing between them. At the big refugios on the W we were blown away by the shear number of people on the track. There were day trippers, kids in jeans and sneakers and newbie trampers with absolutely huge packs and more stuff in their hands. After three days and almost 60km on the circuit track we joined the more popular W route where we found ourselves frequently stepping around the constant flow of people on the narrow track. We don't mean to go on and obviously we were there in the peak season but certainly if they can build a huge fully catered hotel they could widen the track to accommodate the large number of people using it in some areas. Also the distance and altitude signs were great but were frustratingly few and irregular. We did both the circuit and W over 120km in four nights and five days waking early on the last morning for the sunrise at the Torres but it was cloudy and raining. Disappointed and exhausted we made it back to the car complete with more than a few blisters. In hindsight we would have waited for the weather headed straight up to the amazing Torres for one night and left for more remote tramping further north at Fitzroy. If your new to tramping you will love the breath taking scenery and the people and shops along the way will be fun but it was just not our cup of tea, rant over.
After a painful sleep in the car we realised how bad Wills blisters were and the next day we crossed the border once again this time to El Calafate, Argentina. Driving round we successfully stumbled across the hospital and after one look at the redness on Wills feet and lower legs they took him straight in. A ruthless nurse cut away my nice bandages to reveal the raw skin on each little toe. After a saline wash, a rebandage some antibiotics and a $40 fee we set out to find a hostel for a few days rest. Initially we wanted our own room but being high season it was too expensive so we settled for a quad dorm room which we had to ourselves for two of our three night stay. Feeling much better we then headed out early to the famous nearby Glacier Perito Moreno. The glacier was massive yet so close and easily accessible with metal boardwalks to the edge of the lake. It was really cold so we rugged up to watch the ice chunks fall off and listen to its creaking groaning sounds, leaving just as the first bus load of tourists arrived. We then headed to El Chalten the base town for Fitzroy.
Soon after arriving in the town of El Chalten we felt a tinge of disappointment as it was clearly the epicentre for climbing, guys walked down the street with bolder matts and we watched rock climbers scaling one of the huge cliffs that surround the town. Having learnt our lesson at TDP we kept off our feet and stayed in the car, luckily the weather was overcast and windy. That night we cooked a delicious curry on our tiny cooker in a picnic area we shared with a family from Denmark. They were a sight to see when all five of them piled out of the tiny kombi van they had been traveling and sleeping in for a year, power to them! At nightfall the park ranger moved us over the road to the windy table-less campervan parking where we slept with a line up of other overlanders.
Rather than hang around with sore feet in El Chalten we hit the Ruta 40 again and three road-side camps later made it to San Carlos de Bariloche. After checking out the town and finding all the places we wanted to stay in were booked out or too expensive we decided to head up to the big ski field just out of town. This was a lively spot even in the middle of summer so we camped in the car park. The next day turned out beautiful so we decided to go down hill mountain biking on the ski field. The trails were great with a gondola to take you and your bike up the hill. We each had a few spills and I had an especially good body slam but we were both kitted out in full body armour so only my bum was grazed and I had a mouth full of dirt. That afternoon we headed to a chocolate museum at a working chocolate factory where we were treated with tastings and learnt all about the history of chocolate. Conveniently there was also a chocolate shop so we stocked up however the supply only lasted one day!
In Bariloche we also made the tough decision not to go to Buenos Aires, it meant an extra 1600km of driving and a lot more time and money we didn't have. Instead we decided to continue directly north on the sparsely paved Ruta 40 for the wine country of Mendoza.
After almost two weeks of sleeping in the car and a few river washes in-between we arrived in Mendoza to our luxury B&B thanks to Wills parents as an engagement present. We showered and lazed the afternoon away by the pool and drunk local Rosé wine with the French owners who were interested in moving to NZ. That night keen to try some of the beef Argentina is famous for we headed out for a look around town and dinner at no earlier than 9:30pm. Most restaurants don't open until then and its not uncommon to see kids out past midnight when the town is buzzing. This is due to most people have a sleep during the middle of the day when frustratingly the whole town shuts down for at least three hours. After dinner we walked down town to where the annual Harvest Fest was just kicking off and for $12 each we got a wine glass and tickets for six tastings, good times were had in the party atmosphere.
After almost two weeks of sleeping in the car and a few river washes in-between we arrived in Mendoza to our luxury B&B thanks to Wills parents as an engagement present. We showered and lazed the afternoon away by the pool and drunk local Rosé wine with the French owners who were interested in moving to NZ. That night keen to try some of the beef Argentina is famous for we headed out for a look around town and dinner at no earlier than 9:30pm. Most restaurants don't open until then and its not uncommon to see kids out past midnight when the town is buzzing. This is due to most people have a sleep during the middle of the day when frustratingly the whole town shuts down for at least three hours. After dinner we walked down town to where the annual Harvest Fest was just kicking off and for $12 each we got a wine glass and tickets for six tastings, good times were had in the party atmosphere.
Next morning we woke to a magical breakfast and then got dropped off at the start of our wines and bikes tour, complete with cruiser bikes. We were very lucky with our tour as the others in the group never showed up apparently they had gotten too drunk at the Harvest Fest the night before. So we had our own personal guide and the B&B owner Stephan who was also a director of a winery on the tour told the guide to give us special treatment. Adding to this our guide was in good sprits because of the two week long fest and a new girl on the scene. So we were taken to VIP only areas and enjoyed an amazing three course lunch under a huge walnut tree in Stephan's vineyard. After tours of the huge ancient Giol, the large and flashy Lopez, organic Cecchin and an olive oil factory not to mention lunch and all the grapes we could eat we felt like we would explode but had learnt a lot and drunk quite a bit. All this for $85 each when just the lunch and tasting would have cost twice that much without a guide. Let alone the bike hire and the transfers to and from the B&B, what an unforgetable day. Pizza pool side for dinner then straight to bed.
The next day we arranged to check out late but were horrified to find out that our left over pizza which we weren't allowed to take into our room had been thrown out!! They just didn't really get us or the fact that our usual diet is pasta, rice and potatoes. Later that morning while lazing by the pool and sorting the car we made the call to go back to Santiago, Chile. We needed new tyres as one had a slow leak that required pumping up daily and another was wearing out badly on the already bald tyres due to stuffed front shocks. We did investigate new tyres in Mendoza but Argentina has a hefty import tax on everything not made in the country so the tyres we needed were almost twice the price compared to Chile. Going back to Santiago would give us the bonus chance to get our official vehicle ownership card and our official RUT's as the temporary one was due to expire and could create problems.
We departed Mendoza following the scenic route which ended up being a ridiculously bad winding "road" defiantly not suitable for cars. We arrived at the border after closing and spent the night in a hotel car park where we woke at half past five for the 6am opening to be first in the queue. We had been told that this major border could take up to ten hours to cross, stuff that. We had been processed before ten and were in the huge line of slow trucks and cars making their way down the steep pass. It was here two more Dodge problems became apparent, firstly the radiator was leaking badly again and required frequent top ups. Secondly the front breaks were smelling and very hot which we found out latter to be due to one of our rear brakes not working. So we added these to the list of things to fix. Finally arriving back in Santiago we headed straight to the tyre shop to order our new tyres then it was off to the Dodge service centre to get the shocks looked at but of course they were busy and told us to bring it back "first thing the next morning". Still not sure where we were sleeping that night we headed to a big mall for some dinner and wifi. Thankfully Patricio and Veronique had kindly agreed to have us again for a few nights.
We were up early the next morning driving straight to the service centre where we left the car and went to check out our new tyres, but they had ordered the wrong ones... No problem he said I'll get the right ones in this afternoon. So we decided to head into town and wandered around trying to remember where the office was to get our RUT's from, finally we found it after directions from some museum ladies using google translate. We had also planned to cook a curry dinner for Patricio and Veronique and another friend Claire so we went to our favourite Jumbo for supplies. Not one to under do a curry we included naans and mango lassis and lots of it at that, luckily Patricio's brother and partner came too and we enjoyed a fun evening drinking the wine we had brought from Mendoza. Also that evening and a long way from his first thing in the morning we got a call about the Dodge to learn what we already knew that both front shocks were stuffed. He emailed through a quote and with the price adding up we txt back immediately to begin the work.
We departed Mendoza following the scenic route which ended up being a ridiculously bad winding "road" defiantly not suitable for cars. We arrived at the border after closing and spent the night in a hotel car park where we woke at half past five for the 6am opening to be first in the queue. We had been told that this major border could take up to ten hours to cross, stuff that. We had been processed before ten and were in the huge line of slow trucks and cars making their way down the steep pass. It was here two more Dodge problems became apparent, firstly the radiator was leaking badly again and required frequent top ups. Secondly the front breaks were smelling and very hot which we found out latter to be due to one of our rear brakes not working. So we added these to the list of things to fix. Finally arriving back in Santiago we headed straight to the tyre shop to order our new tyres then it was off to the Dodge service centre to get the shocks looked at but of course they were busy and told us to bring it back "first thing the next morning". Still not sure where we were sleeping that night we headed to a big mall for some dinner and wifi. Thankfully Patricio and Veronique had kindly agreed to have us again for a few nights.
We were up early the next morning driving straight to the service centre where we left the car and went to check out our new tyres, but they had ordered the wrong ones... No problem he said I'll get the right ones in this afternoon. So we decided to head into town and wandered around trying to remember where the office was to get our RUT's from, finally we found it after directions from some museum ladies using google translate. We had also planned to cook a curry dinner for Patricio and Veronique and another friend Claire so we went to our favourite Jumbo for supplies. Not one to under do a curry we included naans and mango lassis and lots of it at that, luckily Patricio's brother and partner came too and we enjoyed a fun evening drinking the wine we had brought from Mendoza. Also that evening and a long way from his first thing in the morning we got a call about the Dodge to learn what we already knew that both front shocks were stuffed. He emailed through a quote and with the price adding up we txt back immediately to begin the work.
(I am currently writing this section of the blog from the side of the road once more as we lost a belt pulley yesterday and have not yet been rescued from the middle of nowhere) We thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in the next morning and amazingly got a txt at 1pm to say the car would be all done by four. We picked it up on the dot and headed the next street over to get our new tyres. We watched as our spanking new Dunlop Grandtrek AT1 tyres were put on and wanting to go home the service man almost got away without doing our free wheel alignment but Will insisted. It was here we discovered another problem.... The alignment couldn't be done because the camber bushings were worn and needed replacing, disappointed this wasn't picked up at the service centre we headed back to Patricio and Veroniques for the evening.
Annoyed we got up early in the morning and headed straight back to the service centre where we were told that the four new bushings we needed were going to cost more than our whole new set of tyres why why why. So back to the tyre shop we went and for a small tip they did our alignment as best they could and now the only thing left to get fixed was the radiator, easy right....
We drove to a recommended radiator repair guy where we think he told us he can only fix plastic ones. So he drew us a map to another place. Once there we convinced the guy we only had a small crack that he could solder up without taking the radiator out. However after chipping off the epoxy we saw how bad the "crack" had become. Now the attachment arm had almost been completely torn off no wonder it was leaking so bad. It was decided that the whole radiator had to come out so we all worked away taking it out and realising that it defiantly wasn’t taken out last time. Once we finally had it out we could all see this would be no easy solider fix as it was too close to the rubber seal. The guy suggested a totally new one so we squashed into his ute and drove to our regular parts shop where we jaw dropingly discovered a new one would be $900USD. We definitely could not afford that so back to the workshop we went and investigated a cheaper solution. The mechanic would remove the rubber seal and solder in big plates over the holes to make it stronger then put it back together with a new seal. So we left him to it and caught the metro to the mall where we caught up on some Internet time and went to the supermarket again for climbing food for our upcoming volcano trip. We made it back to the mechanic in time to help him replace the last few bolts in what looked like an ugly repair job but he assured us it would hold and I can report so far so good!
The next day we hit the road... actually it took us three hours just to navigate out of town but we were heading north again quite a bit poorer and hoping our car might cut us a break for a while..... Time has revealed we were not so lucky but that's for the next blog!
Rochelle & Will
Annoyed we got up early in the morning and headed straight back to the service centre where we were told that the four new bushings we needed were going to cost more than our whole new set of tyres why why why. So back to the tyre shop we went and for a small tip they did our alignment as best they could and now the only thing left to get fixed was the radiator, easy right....
We drove to a recommended radiator repair guy where we think he told us he can only fix plastic ones. So he drew us a map to another place. Once there we convinced the guy we only had a small crack that he could solder up without taking the radiator out. However after chipping off the epoxy we saw how bad the "crack" had become. Now the attachment arm had almost been completely torn off no wonder it was leaking so bad. It was decided that the whole radiator had to come out so we all worked away taking it out and realising that it defiantly wasn’t taken out last time. Once we finally had it out we could all see this would be no easy solider fix as it was too close to the rubber seal. The guy suggested a totally new one so we squashed into his ute and drove to our regular parts shop where we jaw dropingly discovered a new one would be $900USD. We definitely could not afford that so back to the workshop we went and investigated a cheaper solution. The mechanic would remove the rubber seal and solder in big plates over the holes to make it stronger then put it back together with a new seal. So we left him to it and caught the metro to the mall where we caught up on some Internet time and went to the supermarket again for climbing food for our upcoming volcano trip. We made it back to the mechanic in time to help him replace the last few bolts in what looked like an ugly repair job but he assured us it would hold and I can report so far so good!
The next day we hit the road... actually it took us three hours just to navigate out of town but we were heading north again quite a bit poorer and hoping our car might cut us a break for a while..... Time has revealed we were not so lucky but that's for the next blog!
Rochelle & Will