Arriving in Coyhaique was a relief. The road was now paved and my
body was no longer vibrating while I was driving. The wind had also
stopped which meant I didn't have to grip my steering wheel so hard.
Coyhaique is a very pleasant town with a nice plaza with the shape
of a pentagon, not a square which is the most common in South America.
We found a very nice place to camp just outside of town. A very nice
family owned the campground. They had a very cute puppy and two kittens.
One of the kittens would become Jeanne's. This kitten would always hang
out in the van with her. It would sleep with her under her blankets.
The kitten would also come for rides with us to town and would just
sit on the backseat like this was something she always did.
We were supposed to stay at the campground for one night. We ended
up staying for three because we found out that the ferry we planned
to take on Sunday to the island of Chiloe was not for cars. We were
told we would have to drive four hundred kilometers on the ripio to
Chaiten and catch the ferry at 9am Tuesday morning. It wasn't that much
of a problem. We loved our campground and didn't mind staying two extra
nights. I had the opportunity to get the big bang out of my gas tank.
I had a mechanic drop the tank and he found a slit in the ventilation
line coming from the charcoal filter. This line allows air to come into
the tank as the gas leaves. The line was clogged with dirt from driving
on the ripio. The mechanic replaced part of the hose and I was satisfied.
I was satisfied until BANG. Unfortunately, this bang happened two
hours into the ride to Chaiten. I would wait to have it fixed again.
Monday we were on the road for about 13 hours. It was a great ride
with plenty of mountains, glaciers and waterfalls to see. Jeanne picked
up a couple from Oregon. Their names were Tyler and Katie. They were
spending 8 months backpacking around South America. Jeanne agreed to
drive them to Chaiten where they would find a new ride on the road north
and we would catch the ferry. We didn't arrive in Chaiten until about
11pm. This was because around 5pm we came upon stopped traffic and were
told that the road would be closed until 6:30. The wait wasn't as bad
as the drive from 10 to 11 where it was impossible to see. It was worse
for Jeanne because she still had her plexiglass windshield on which
is really tough to see through at night with occasional rain.
We
rewarded ourselves with a great dinner when we got to Chaiten. The restaurant
was fairly close to the gas station where we would be sleeping. We parked
right next to an older westfalia. It was a bay window bus with barn
doors. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about just
keep on reading for it is not that important.
Morning came. It seemed like a very nice day for a four-hour ferry
ride. However, I had another flat tire while pulling up to the office
to buy the ferry tickets. Jeanne went in to get the tickets while Shay
and I once again changed a tire. My spare tire was really low because
it had been repaired too many times. Jeanne went into the restaurant
we had eaten in the night before and ordered a coffee so Shay and I
and maybe her too could take care of some business in the high quality
bathrooms.
We were all outside on the ferry as it was casting off. Our hope was
to see some more dolphins as we had gotten used to while taking ferryboat
rides in Patagonia. As the ship pulled away we spotted five dolphins
swimming in circles in a cove a half a mile away. It was just as if
they were waiting for us to leave. The minute we got into the open sea
the dolphins came charging towards us at full throttle. They didn't
stop. They were coming at the boat perpendicularly and when they reached
the boat they just went right underneath. That was the last we saw of
them. They didn't continue to swim beside the boat as others have in
the past.
We spent most of the ride eating and playing cards. I decided to check
on my tires because I didn't want to be the one blocking everyone one
in by not being able to move my van because my tire was flat along with
my spare. The tire was getting lower. A man in the pathfinder crew cab
pickup noticed it too. He brought out an electric tire pump that connected
to the car battery and filled my tire. People have always been so helpful
on this continent.
We traveled north on the island of Chiloe to the city of Castro. In
town, some random person gave us a card with an advertisement for a
place with cabanas. We found the place and rented a cabana. It was about
$30 a night and well worth it. The cabana had two floors and two bedrooms.
There were three TVs. Jeanne and Shay each got a bedroom and I slept
downstairs on the day bed in the living room. Jeanne cooked some fabulous
meals and some great French toast for breakfast. I think we may have
watched 10-12 movies while we were there. The ripio had done its damage
to us and we needed a couple of days of being couch potatoes to recover.
On the 19th the vans were back on the road. Getting off the island
would only require a short ferry ride (mas o menos 20 min). Puerto Montt
would be the destination for the day. There I would get some new tires
and get the BANG fixed. However, there were no mechanics that would
work on my van. I did get three new tires to match the one odd ball
spare that I bought in Punta Arenas. My van was now an inch taller.
That may have hurt the acceleration but I love being an inch taller
because I always bottom out on the ripio roads. Sometimes my spare tire
carrier gets so dinged I have to bang it back into shape to get the
spare tire to fit again.
The three of us found McDonalds. We hadn't eaten at one of those since
Brasil. We all had Big Macs and the grease made us feel great. The McDonalds
had an ATM inside. That was a very nice feature because we were all
in need of some cash.
We found a campground along the bay. There isn't much to say about
it. The toilets had seats and I was satisfied. Shay's allergies were
acting up at this point. He would be sneezing all the time. Not just
two or three times in a row like most people do, fifteen to twenty times.
Jeanne eventually found him some medicine, which has now alleviated
his symptoms.
Our next stop would be a national park with a volcano. The name of
the volcano is Osorno. Camping was available right on the Lake of all
Saints, or better yet in Spanish "Lago de todos Santos" with a great
view of the volcano. The shore of the lake consisted of volcanic rock
and ash, lots of red and black porous stone. I even found one that had
shades of purple. That stone is now in my van traveling north. The campsite
was great until the bugs came out. One kind of bug was the size of a
mosquito but not. These swarmed into our vans and were an annoyance.
Jeanne and I had not used our mosquito screens since Brasil. We forgot
about bugs for about a month. The second bug was a giant black and red
fly. These would swarm around and land on you and then bite you. These
bugs drove us nuts. Shay and I did get to swim in the ice-cold lake
before the bugs drove us away. We had not been swimming since the warm
waters of Brasil. I didn't last that long in the lake. Shay a.k.a. Penguino
lasted much longer. Peguino was a nickname given to Shay by Guillermo
and Erika on the way to Ushuaia. The volcano spent most of the time
behind clouds. Little did we know at that time we would get to see it
again.
Jeanne, Shay and I escaped from the bugs and drove to Osorno. Many
dead bugs are still in Jeanne's van. I forgot to mention that in Chiloe
I realized that I had an oil leak. When we were in Puetro Montt we were
told that we would need to go to Osorno to get it fixed. It was Sunday
and it was impossible to get anything done.
We
drove to Osorno to find a place that could possibly fix my car on Monday.
While driving through the hills on a dirt road we came across a tree
blocking our way. The tree had just recently fallen down. Within ten
minutes five or six other cars were stopped with us. A bunch of Chilean
men, with saws and axes, had the problem taken solved in no time. It
was amazing how fast these strangers could work together. We arrived
in Osorna and some gas station attendants told us that there weren't
any Volkswagen mechanics in Osorno. Jeanne and I agreed to leave town
and drive into Argentina to look for the other group of vans in Bariloche.
We arrived at the Chilean side of the border and went to start doing
the paperwork. I glanced to my right and saw a yellow westy. I didn't
think much about it at first. However, I looked again and I saw red
vanagon westy. The westy that belonged to Kai and Valeria. This was
great. The first time we met them in Brasil we just happened to stumble
into them at a park. Now at the Chilean border we run into them again.
We run over and hug and everything else that goes along with that. We
all agree that we should head back into Chile and spend a couple days
together. They were done with customs and we had barely even started
so going back into Chile was the best option.
Entre Lagos was the nearest town. We pulled up into a public park
by the lake and set up camp. Did I mention we remembered to pick up
beer first? We shot the shit for a while and decided to find a place
to go to dinner. Valeria found a place and it was great. I had a nice
bloody steak again. You guys back in the States don't know what you're
missing when it comes to steak here. It just tastes so much better than
any piece of meat I have had back home. Sorry I cannot send you any,
Dad.
The
next morning we all decided that this free camping on the lake is too
windy. Kai, Valeria and I set out to find a place for all of us that
had bathrooms and showers that were economically feasible for all. I
had the idea of getting a cabana. We couldn't all sleep in one but we
sure could sleep in our vans outside it and use the kitchen, bathroom
and living room. We found a great cabana on a nice piece of land. The
price was about $60 a night that meant we would each be spending $6.
That was in everyone's budget.
We spent two nights here having a blast. Jeanne, Valeria and Vicky
(sorry if I left anyone out) prepared some fantastic meals. Vicky's
chili did give me some bad gas but I love it. We once again played the
card game Asshole as we did at Fabio's house. At Fabio's, the game was
called Asspool because the loser would have to jump in the pool. Asspool
was not invented at Fabio's but at a friend's house in Morristown, New
Jersey on Labor Day weekend.
I still had to deal with my oil leak. Kai and Will are great mechanics
and they told me I needed a new rear main oil seal. They said the one
I had probably broke because I switched to synthetic motor oil. Jeanne
had the same oil seal replaced in Manaus, Brasil. The VW dealership
there just happened to have the right part.
Things just always seem to work out. After talking with Kai and Will
for a while, Les comes and tells me he has the seal I need. The seal
happens to be the same for 72-79 buses as it is for 80-91 vanagons.
That made my day. The next day I dropped the van off at a shop called
Tadimaq in Osorno and a day later my van was back and better. There
was a vanagon crewcab parked in front of the shop. It belonged to one
of the mechanics.
Speaking of vanagons, Will purchased a Revel model Vanagon. This wasn't
the typical light blue westy, which many of you have seen, but a red
Club Joker Westy. Some Westies in Germany are badged Club Joker. It
seemed pretty cool but not as cool as the same exact Club Joker pulling
up to our cabana. It was a family of four from Buenos Aires. Martin
had been following our trip on the list and couldn't believe that he
actually ran into us. I could talk a lot about this van but I won't.
Talk to me if you are interested.
Our two days at the cabana were over and it seemed as though we would
go our separate ways again. However, Jeanne did some thinking and found
a way for us to travel south with them for a couple days and then head
into Argentina and travel north to Bariloche. Our initial plan was to
travel into Argentina and travel south to Bariloche. This new plan would
only take a couple more days and we have learned that it is really easy
to catch up to our schedule. We made up about two weeks in about a week
when we initially started the trip.
Jeanne took me into Osorno to pick up my van. We agreed to meet the
other group by the lake with the Volcano where we had been a couple
of days before. The van would not be ready until six so we grabbed a
bite to eat at Dino's, a great restaurant that Les, Shay and I had been
to the day before. They have great pork or beef sandwiches with guacamole
and tomatoes. I always get the pork and Shay, the beef.
We met the other group down in the park. We camped their style this
time, parked in the woods hidden from everyone. This time the skies
were clear and we were able to get some great shots of the volcano.
The next day we were to head to Lenca, which is a small village about
45 minutes south of Puerto Montt. The other group found a gravel pit,
one of their first choices when it comes to camping. It was our first
time in a gravel pit. I must say I really enjoyed it. There were no
bugs and nobody to bother you. We had a great fire and some great conversation,
which got a little too loud at one point because I forbade anyone from
playing with the fire. Larry was in his van trying to sleep and before
we knew it his van was moving up the road to a more quiet residence.
We were all guilty but were having a blast. The fun continued into the
morning when Les started putting pieces of straw into the asses of the
giant flies. The same flies that I mentioned were at the lake by the
volcano Osorno.
We awoke early on the morning of the 26th and headed to a ferry, which
would take us to another point of land where we would drive 60 kms and
take another ferry. Larry and Will got on the first ferry. They usually
like to travel alone and meet up at the end of the day. The ferry departed
every half hour so it would be no problem. We sat at a small restaurant
by the ferry landing and ate wonderful apple empanadas. Our ferry came,
we got on and we eventually arrived at the next port. The five vans
met at the small town of Hornopiren, which is where the next ferry would
leave. This next ferry was a much longer ferry, maybe about six or seven
hours. We eventually found out that that we would not be able to get
on a ferry for another two days.
This upset me. I didn't want to wait two days to pay $100 to get on
a ferry to take me to a place I had already been, a place where I would
have to drive a long way on the ripio again. I told everyone that when
they got on the ferry I would head north and meet Jeanne in Bariloche.
I just needed to spend a couple days alone. I also needed to get the
BANG fixed which was now worse. I needed new shocks and I needed to
watch the Superbowl.
It was sad for me to say goodbye to the other group again knowing
that I would not see them until maybe sometime in the United States.
I took off and headed back to Osorno where I knew they could probably
fix the bang and get me new shocks. I arrived in town, checked into
Hotel Garcia Hurtado De Mendoza and watched the Superbowl. I hate the
Giants so I was really satisfied with the outcome. I also enjoyed the
halftime show, not that most of you care.
Tadimaq fixed my van. I spent one more night in the hotel and the
next morning I was off to Bariloche, Argentina. The first thing I saw
in Bariloche was a blue 4wd Volkswagen LT that I had seen parked in
the same place for the entire time I was in Ushuaia. This van is like
a Vanagon but bigger. I have a digital picture of it. I then see a Vanagon
that was in Ushuaia. The Vanagon belongs to an old German man who has
been traveling the world in Volkswagens for years. He told me he was
driving his bright green westy bay window in Iran on time and ran head
on into a truck. That was the end of the bus. Everyone survived.
I give myself a tour of the town and find a really nice campground
with a lovely little bar and TV room. My camping spot was right next
to a tree that was at least seven feet in diameter. This tree had really
spongy bark. Anywhere I pushed my finger would go in about an inch.
I froze the first night, Jan 30. I was in a sleeping bag and had to
keep blankets over my head so I would not have to breathe in cold air.
That morning I decided to go for a drive to see the lakes and the Hotel
Llao Llao. The hotel is the grandest, most expensive place to stay in
the region.
That
afternoon I was driving through town again and I look in my rear view
mirror to see Jeanne and Shay. It was good to see them a couple days
early. We pulled off and parked next to the blue VW LT. There is a person
in it and Jeanne goes and knocks on the door to see what's up. It is
a couple from Belgium. The husband is driving from Ushuaia to Alaska.
The wife will visit a week here and a week there. The reason that the
van was parked in Ushuaia for so long is that the husband was on a boat
to Antarctica and the wife was back in Belgium. The wife began to tell
a story about when they got back to Ushuaia that there was a card on
the van from somebody interested in buying the van. It was my card.
She got a real kick out of that.
We stayed two more nights at the campground. We tried to go into the
Hotel Llao Llao but they would not let us in. We had a couple nice meals
in Bariloche. I need to say expensive meals too. There is a ton of money
in this area of Argentina. It is beautiful. It is a ski town in the
winter and a lake resort in the summer. Our next stop in San Martin
De Los Andes would be the same way. Here, we decide to go low budget
and park next to the plaza and sleep in the vans for free. There was
a caf� on the plaza, which was open 24 hours so our bathroom needs would
take care of. This town is just like Bariloche. Really nice and you
got to have some money to live there.
Leaving town involved a fantastic drive along a great paved road,
which was a ripio road on the map. The road twisted and turned through
hills and along lakes. The day was going great until we got to the border.
Jeanne had a tough time crossing into Argentina a couple days before.
The officer was a real pain in the ass. It turns out that that officer
never stamped her or Shay's passport. This was revealed as we tried
to leave Argentina. Jeanne and Shay were found to be breaking the law
and fined $100. This was unbelievable because you would think it would
be Argentina's responsibility to stamp you passport as you come in.
Jeanne's car papers were properly stamped with the right date but her
passport wasn't. She tried to point this out to the officers but they
did not care. Jeanne's van is a separate entity that goes through customs
agents not immigration officers.
Last night, Feb 3, we stayed at a great campground in Valdavia, Chile.
Jeanne made us some eggs and bacon and I spent the night writing Caravana
Post Ushuaia Part I. I also made a deal with Shay to empty my porta
potty which has not been emptied since I first used in on Dec 23. It's
an undisclosed deal that is on a need to know basis that none of you
need to know. We also decided to all get our hair dyed at some point,
any suggestions?
Ok, that is it for Carvana Post Ushuaia Part Deux. Hope you enjoyed.
Tyler, Jeanne and Shay
