After throwing a coin into the fountain at Santa Lucia and making a wish, our luck seemed to have turned.
Luck number One. The next morning we walked to Santa Maria clinic which was a block away from where we were staying. Let me tell you here, we have moved a lot in the last few weeks, being high season here, everywhere is booked out. So, we walked into this clean modern and, actually, very fancy clinic, where everyone went out of their way to help us. They even called the specialist on his cell phone and asked if he could squeeze me in without an appointment. An hour later, we are sitting across from this specialist who spoke perfect English and loved the Irish, he looked at my xrays, explained everything and had wonderful bedside manner. Where exactly were we on New Years Eve?? And yet again, Santiago, the city of love, shone through when each doctor or nurse who came on or went off duty spent the time going around kissing and hugging all fellow employees that were in sight. It was bizarre to watch and at the same time really heartwarming.
So anyway, he took the cast off, ordered more xrays, a CT scan of my hand and basically told me my elbow had a stable fracture, hand was still in one piece, and now I needed to start exercising to regain full extension in my elbow. 3 hours and $400 later and we walked out, I was finally in a comfortable sling, with a brace on my hand, given strong painkillers and was feeling pretty relieved that this wasn’t going to be the be all and end all of our trip. The last 10 days were a real eye opener, only able to use one hand is pretty exhausting. Greg was my godsend. He was always there to help me open bottles, tie my hair up, carry bags, be my left hand for supporting my camera, help me to shower and to dress. I guess putting a bra back ON was never something a man needed to, nor wanted to, know how to do.
A call to Greg’s Auntie, who is a physio, gave me strict exercise instructions (thanks again Helena) that will hopefully have me speeding down the road to recovery.
Luck Number 2. The next morning I got a work email to book my first Australian wedding. Another relief.
Luck Number 3. That afternoon we went back to Hostel Del Barrio, where we had previously spent a few nights in. The owner Christian, a German expat, said he may know someone to help us find a car. So we met Arturo at the hostel and it turned out he had a 1990 Isuzu Trooper 4X4 for sale. He is a tour guide and has a company Expedicion Sur de Chile (little name dropping here). He had 2 troopers for tours and we thought if he used troopers for his 4x4 excursions, it must be a pretty sturdy car. A little older than we were hoping, but the mileage was good and everything seemed in good condition. Arturo didn’t seem like the type of guy to screw gringos over. We just needed to fix the air con, as we have been keeping an eye on weather ahead in Argentina and Brazil and it is over 100 degrees, so it will be needed. So we slept on it, said yes to the car, and the next day Arturo took us to mechanic town to fix the car. Literally a neighborhood made up of mechanics and spare parts. We would have been lost without Arturo and this was something that was going to become common over the next week.
Luck number One. The next morning we walked to Santa Maria clinic which was a block away from where we were staying. Let me tell you here, we have moved a lot in the last few weeks, being high season here, everywhere is booked out. So, we walked into this clean modern and, actually, very fancy clinic, where everyone went out of their way to help us. They even called the specialist on his cell phone and asked if he could squeeze me in without an appointment. An hour later, we are sitting across from this specialist who spoke perfect English and loved the Irish, he looked at my xrays, explained everything and had wonderful bedside manner. Where exactly were we on New Years Eve?? And yet again, Santiago, the city of love, shone through when each doctor or nurse who came on or went off duty spent the time going around kissing and hugging all fellow employees that were in sight. It was bizarre to watch and at the same time really heartwarming.
So anyway, he took the cast off, ordered more xrays, a CT scan of my hand and basically told me my elbow had a stable fracture, hand was still in one piece, and now I needed to start exercising to regain full extension in my elbow. 3 hours and $400 later and we walked out, I was finally in a comfortable sling, with a brace on my hand, given strong painkillers and was feeling pretty relieved that this wasn’t going to be the be all and end all of our trip. The last 10 days were a real eye opener, only able to use one hand is pretty exhausting. Greg was my godsend. He was always there to help me open bottles, tie my hair up, carry bags, be my left hand for supporting my camera, help me to shower and to dress. I guess putting a bra back ON was never something a man needed to, nor wanted to, know how to do.
A call to Greg’s Auntie, who is a physio, gave me strict exercise instructions (thanks again Helena) that will hopefully have me speeding down the road to recovery.
Luck Number 2. The next morning I got a work email to book my first Australian wedding. Another relief.
Luck Number 3. That afternoon we went back to Hostel Del Barrio, where we had previously spent a few nights in. The owner Christian, a German expat, said he may know someone to help us find a car. So we met Arturo at the hostel and it turned out he had a 1990 Isuzu Trooper 4X4 for sale. He is a tour guide and has a company Expedicion Sur de Chile (little name dropping here). He had 2 troopers for tours and we thought if he used troopers for his 4x4 excursions, it must be a pretty sturdy car. A little older than we were hoping, but the mileage was good and everything seemed in good condition. Arturo didn’t seem like the type of guy to screw gringos over. We just needed to fix the air con, as we have been keeping an eye on weather ahead in Argentina and Brazil and it is over 100 degrees, so it will be needed. So we slept on it, said yes to the car, and the next day Arturo took us to mechanic town to fix the car. Literally a neighborhood made up of mechanics and spare parts. We would have been lost without Arturo and this was something that was going to become common over the next week.
The next day we picked up the car, air con blasted out – perfecto. Arturo and his girlfriend, Claudia, took us to a bar to feast on some of Chileans finest traditional chow. First up was a drink called the Michelada, an acquired taste, which consisted of:
Porter beer
Lemon juice
Tabasco sauce
Chili flakes to taste
And enough salt to kill you.
Arturo and Claudia threw theirs back, like they had been stuck in the desert for days. Greg and I sipped ours a little slower, trying to let the taste grow on us, it didn’t. So we switched to draft beer, with no trimmings. Next up was a chorrillana, which was a tower of French fries, topped with chicken, beef and shrimp, topped with fried onion and finally a fried egg. It was delicious, heart attack worthy, but delicious.
Being the weekend, we couldn’t officially buy the car until Monday. Now we had to start stocking up on supplies for the trip and to find tools to convert the car so we could sleep in it. Greg and I headed off to the BioBio market, which was insane! It had hundreds of stalls that sold everything, except what we needed. A few stalls were specialized and trying to target one market – like a stall of screws or of stolen electronic goods or my personal favorite a stall with hundreds of dog leashes with stray dogs hanging around just waiting for someone to take them home. But the majority of them were selling a mix match of whatever they could find to sell. One stall consisted of dentist tools, a few hubcaps, a machete, a Justin Bieber poster, a rubrics cube, army uniform, a cage with a few rabbits, Mr potato heads, porn, an antique telephone, a few pairs of socks, marshmallows and a Cinderella costume. You think you go to target or walmart and come back with a bunch of things you didn’t need. Can you image doing your shopping here?! We didn’t know which way to look. Now, how were we supposed to find what we were looking for in a maze of this? It could take days. So we checked off knives and forks, some bolts, and a notepad off our list and left before I could buy a puppy for the trip.
Greg and Arturo spent the next 24 hours working hard on the car. Not too many people who sell you a car would be too willing to drive you all over the city to buy parts and then spend days helping to build a platform bed so you can live in the car. Arturo is a one of a kind, kinda guy- or so we thought. Christian kindly let us work at the hostel, using his tools and making a lot of noise, despite the fact that we had checked out due to the hostel being fully booked. (Thank you again for your hospitality!) So as they sweated in the sun, designing, sawing and drilling our bed, I started to figure out a route of where we wanted to go. 7 hours went by, and they had created a sturdy platform with three storage compartments underneath, that slid into the car perfectly. Without stopping to refuel on food, they changed the suspension, fixed a table to the back gate and had a beer to celebrate. It was now 11pm and they were exhausted. Arturo still had to drive to the airport at 1.30am to pick up a tour of Brazilians. How he was standing at 8.30am the next day, I don’t know. The boys went off to do the paper work first thing in the morning, while I guarded the millions of pesos in cash in our room. A few hours later we were the proud owners of Rojelio (the trooper), Arturo of another trooper and it was Christans’ hostels 2nd birthday, so there was lots to celebrate. A bbq and a few beers was about all we could manage.
The next few days, we spent picking up supplies. Arturo, again, coming to our rescue, took us to leave the car at the mechanics, a mechanic that he knew, for a check over, new filters, brake pads, and other tweaks (added to our lack of medical Spanish terms, is mechanical Spanish terms). And then drove us from place to place to pick up a cooker, fridge, a custom sized mattress, jerry cans, etc. We sorted insurance, made curtains for the car, picked up a mobile phone and were ready to get on the road. A few delays at the mechanics, the Chilean way of manana manana, caused a few extra nights in Santiago than we had wanted. In nearly four weeks we feel like we have gotten to know Santiago pretty well. We have stayed in 8 hostels, b&b’s and apartments, lived in 3 different neighborhoods, experienced the hospitals (the good and bad), police stations and Chilean “FBI” (don’t worry, no arrests) experienced our first earthquake and seen walls of graffiti transform from one work of art to another. I think it is safe to say we came, we saw and we are ready to move on to quieter pastures.
Porter beer
Lemon juice
Tabasco sauce
Chili flakes to taste
And enough salt to kill you.
Arturo and Claudia threw theirs back, like they had been stuck in the desert for days. Greg and I sipped ours a little slower, trying to let the taste grow on us, it didn’t. So we switched to draft beer, with no trimmings. Next up was a chorrillana, which was a tower of French fries, topped with chicken, beef and shrimp, topped with fried onion and finally a fried egg. It was delicious, heart attack worthy, but delicious.
Being the weekend, we couldn’t officially buy the car until Monday. Now we had to start stocking up on supplies for the trip and to find tools to convert the car so we could sleep in it. Greg and I headed off to the BioBio market, which was insane! It had hundreds of stalls that sold everything, except what we needed. A few stalls were specialized and trying to target one market – like a stall of screws or of stolen electronic goods or my personal favorite a stall with hundreds of dog leashes with stray dogs hanging around just waiting for someone to take them home. But the majority of them were selling a mix match of whatever they could find to sell. One stall consisted of dentist tools, a few hubcaps, a machete, a Justin Bieber poster, a rubrics cube, army uniform, a cage with a few rabbits, Mr potato heads, porn, an antique telephone, a few pairs of socks, marshmallows and a Cinderella costume. You think you go to target or walmart and come back with a bunch of things you didn’t need. Can you image doing your shopping here?! We didn’t know which way to look. Now, how were we supposed to find what we were looking for in a maze of this? It could take days. So we checked off knives and forks, some bolts, and a notepad off our list and left before I could buy a puppy for the trip.
Greg and Arturo spent the next 24 hours working hard on the car. Not too many people who sell you a car would be too willing to drive you all over the city to buy parts and then spend days helping to build a platform bed so you can live in the car. Arturo is a one of a kind, kinda guy- or so we thought. Christian kindly let us work at the hostel, using his tools and making a lot of noise, despite the fact that we had checked out due to the hostel being fully booked. (Thank you again for your hospitality!) So as they sweated in the sun, designing, sawing and drilling our bed, I started to figure out a route of where we wanted to go. 7 hours went by, and they had created a sturdy platform with three storage compartments underneath, that slid into the car perfectly. Without stopping to refuel on food, they changed the suspension, fixed a table to the back gate and had a beer to celebrate. It was now 11pm and they were exhausted. Arturo still had to drive to the airport at 1.30am to pick up a tour of Brazilians. How he was standing at 8.30am the next day, I don’t know. The boys went off to do the paper work first thing in the morning, while I guarded the millions of pesos in cash in our room. A few hours later we were the proud owners of Rojelio (the trooper), Arturo of another trooper and it was Christans’ hostels 2nd birthday, so there was lots to celebrate. A bbq and a few beers was about all we could manage.
The next few days, we spent picking up supplies. Arturo, again, coming to our rescue, took us to leave the car at the mechanics, a mechanic that he knew, for a check over, new filters, brake pads, and other tweaks (added to our lack of medical Spanish terms, is mechanical Spanish terms). And then drove us from place to place to pick up a cooker, fridge, a custom sized mattress, jerry cans, etc. We sorted insurance, made curtains for the car, picked up a mobile phone and were ready to get on the road. A few delays at the mechanics, the Chilean way of manana manana, caused a few extra nights in Santiago than we had wanted. In nearly four weeks we feel like we have gotten to know Santiago pretty well. We have stayed in 8 hostels, b&b’s and apartments, lived in 3 different neighborhoods, experienced the hospitals (the good and bad), police stations and Chilean “FBI” (don’t worry, no arrests) experienced our first earthquake and seen walls of graffiti transform from one work of art to another. I think it is safe to say we came, we saw and we are ready to move on to quieter pastures.
Saturday morning came, we packed up the car, who still needed a new motor for the window wipers, but we just wanted to get on. Our gps decided to freeze on us, not allowing us to upload our Chile or Argentina map, but we were determined to let noting stop us from hitting the road. After a quick goodbye to Arturo, Claudia and Christian we were on the road, Finally!
It was about 20 minutes into the drive that our lucky streak came to an abrupt hault.
As Greg was teaching me some past and present tense in Spanish, steam and water started spewing out of the hood in its best old faithful geyser impersonation. What the f**K! Greg lifted the hood and boiling brown water spat out at him, burning his face and arm, missing his eyes by about half an inch. We were no longer the same two happy, go lucky, people we were that morning. After pulling out the first aid kit and trying it treat his burns, we were joined by highway assistance to help with the car. The guy poured some more water into the radiator and we were on our way. 5 minutes later, as if on old faithful’s schedule, the geyser kicked off again. We were beyond angry and frustrated, there were many swear words, in both English and Spanish coming out of our mouths. We had left the car into the mechanics for 2 days for a “thorough check over” and what we got back was a car whose engine was overheating. The 3rd time we pulled over, after 2-3 hours sitting at the side of the road, a guy selling soda across the highway called the emergency highway patrol for us and we were towed to the next town. It is about now that I would like to send a big Thank you out to Arturo, it sure seems to us like he is the kinda guy to screw two gringos over - only time will tell for sure. I think it’s safe to say, we found the reason that he was selling the car. (side note to Tim and Steph- told ya!) and it has certainly made us lose a little faith in humanity.
So there we were at a mechanics in a tiny town that quite frankly had me holding on to our pepper spray for dear life. There were drunk bums hanging around our car that just sat and stared at us gringos, with glazed over eyes, for the first 20 mins. The mechanic began yelling at us, yes, if you scream it at us, suddenly I will understand what you are saying. All we could understand is there is “no problem”. Mmmm, so why can we only drive 5km before our car looks like it’s going to explode. Once Greg told the mechanic that we were “Australian”, his mood seemed to change and soon we had everyone around our hood – the bums, kids, grandparents all trying to lend a hand (pepper spray wasn’t needed in the end). So they emptied the radiator, filled it with new coolant, we paid more money and he said we were good to go.
It was now 7.30pm and we still had to climb the Andes, with 1 hour of sunlight left, that wasn’t going to happen. So we pulled over and spent our first night on the road at a luxurious gas station, parked alongside all the truckers. It was a long and frustrating day and this was not the start that we were hoping for. The morning came quickly but we had had new hopes today. We headed off over the Andes in slow mo, like 15miles an hour slow mo. We only have 3 more months to cover 5 countries, and at this rate, we would be lucky to make it to Patagonia. Switch back after switch back, and numerous stops to let the engine cool, refill with coolant and we were up and over the towering mountains and at the border. The scenery was breathtaking, although we couldn’t look up for too long, our eyes were glued to the temperature gauges and oil pressure for the majority of the drive. 1st border crossing went pretty smoothly, and we were even given a hand from an official to suck gas out of the jerry can and into our fuel tank, as you are not allowed to carry excess fuel across the border –border crossing lesson number 1. Can you imagine a US border patrol officer offering to help and get covered in gasolina? I think not. Rain clouds were threating above and not having any window wipers could make for another very long day. So taking the drive very slowly but as quickly as possible, we made it to Mendoza. A 6 hour drive turned into 28 hours. Next on the agenda was to look for a campsite(not easy without a working gps or a map), but first we needed to pulled over for our routine cool down and coolant top up. Next thing, a car pulled over to help. Within 3 minutes Osvaldo told us we didn’t need a campsite and could park our car for the night at his house. We were so grateful for his kindness to just welcome strangers into his home. And a beautiful home at that, built solely on his own, surrounded by olive trees and deep in the Argentinian countryside. One word, tranquilo! After a few hours of chilling on his patio drinking mate tea, having interesting discussions about politics in Spanish (again political Spanish falls in the same category as our medical and mechanical spanish), we went off to buy some steak for dinner. The malbec was flowing, and steaks were grilling on a rustic open fire, after the last day or so, we were feeling very lucky to have met such a warm and welcoming local. Osvaldo cooked us up the most delicious meal we have had since being here, and I would go as far to say the best steak I have ever had, ever! Favorite night of the trip yet!
The next morning after breakfast of bread and his home harvested honey, Osvaldo took us to help us find a new motor for the windscreen wipers. He came across his son-in-law, Hans, who is from Belgium and jumped right on board to help us out. We drove to a couple of places with no success of a new motor. With siesta time nearing (which is 3-4 hours long here), we spilt up. Osvaldo offered to go and buy us a new wiper motor while we went to a mechanic to finally sort out our engine. As soon as Hans explained what was going on to the mechanic, he said he was pretty sure of the problem. The 1st mechanic who actually knew what he was doing and told it to us straight, we had a big, big problem. Finally a trustworthy mechanic! We were no longer in Chile, and it was no longer the Chilean way of- we will get it to work for now, but the problem won’t be solved and it will screw you over again in a day or so. He was actually going to try and help us to get the car ready to make and survive the trip that we had ahead of us. But it could take a week. Hans and Mario (mechanic) drove us from place to place to find us an available hotel. Close to tears, Greg and I unpacked the car, that we had so carefully packed up just 2 days ago, and wished it a speedy recovery. We were gutted that our trip had stalled yet again and felt very cheated. But we keep telling ourselves, everything happens for a reason. On the bright side, we had made it here in one piece, which was surprising to most, we were at least stuck in a place that was surrounded by vineyards and we have been overwhelmed by such outstanding hospitality and generosity of every Argentinian we have met. Everyone has gone out of their way to drive us places, cook for us, translate for us, and help us drown our sorrows. If this is a sign of things to come in Argentina, we are going to love it here. And if our car doesn’t live to see another day, we may just stay here.
After a few visits to the wineries, we moved to a charming lodge- TikayKilla, in the countryside, to relax. Francisco, the owner, has been amazing, helping us in every way that he can and has been looking after us so well. This morning we received the prognosis of our car. It is not good. We have been advised to tow the car back to Santiago, back to Arturo and get our money back. 2 months after selling our home, we still haven’t seemed to have started our trip yet. Broken arm, broken engine, broken banks and broken hearts.
It was about 20 minutes into the drive that our lucky streak came to an abrupt hault.
As Greg was teaching me some past and present tense in Spanish, steam and water started spewing out of the hood in its best old faithful geyser impersonation. What the f**K! Greg lifted the hood and boiling brown water spat out at him, burning his face and arm, missing his eyes by about half an inch. We were no longer the same two happy, go lucky, people we were that morning. After pulling out the first aid kit and trying it treat his burns, we were joined by highway assistance to help with the car. The guy poured some more water into the radiator and we were on our way. 5 minutes later, as if on old faithful’s schedule, the geyser kicked off again. We were beyond angry and frustrated, there were many swear words, in both English and Spanish coming out of our mouths. We had left the car into the mechanics for 2 days for a “thorough check over” and what we got back was a car whose engine was overheating. The 3rd time we pulled over, after 2-3 hours sitting at the side of the road, a guy selling soda across the highway called the emergency highway patrol for us and we were towed to the next town. It is about now that I would like to send a big Thank you out to Arturo, it sure seems to us like he is the kinda guy to screw two gringos over - only time will tell for sure. I think it’s safe to say, we found the reason that he was selling the car. (side note to Tim and Steph- told ya!) and it has certainly made us lose a little faith in humanity.
So there we were at a mechanics in a tiny town that quite frankly had me holding on to our pepper spray for dear life. There were drunk bums hanging around our car that just sat and stared at us gringos, with glazed over eyes, for the first 20 mins. The mechanic began yelling at us, yes, if you scream it at us, suddenly I will understand what you are saying. All we could understand is there is “no problem”. Mmmm, so why can we only drive 5km before our car looks like it’s going to explode. Once Greg told the mechanic that we were “Australian”, his mood seemed to change and soon we had everyone around our hood – the bums, kids, grandparents all trying to lend a hand (pepper spray wasn’t needed in the end). So they emptied the radiator, filled it with new coolant, we paid more money and he said we were good to go.
It was now 7.30pm and we still had to climb the Andes, with 1 hour of sunlight left, that wasn’t going to happen. So we pulled over and spent our first night on the road at a luxurious gas station, parked alongside all the truckers. It was a long and frustrating day and this was not the start that we were hoping for. The morning came quickly but we had had new hopes today. We headed off over the Andes in slow mo, like 15miles an hour slow mo. We only have 3 more months to cover 5 countries, and at this rate, we would be lucky to make it to Patagonia. Switch back after switch back, and numerous stops to let the engine cool, refill with coolant and we were up and over the towering mountains and at the border. The scenery was breathtaking, although we couldn’t look up for too long, our eyes were glued to the temperature gauges and oil pressure for the majority of the drive. 1st border crossing went pretty smoothly, and we were even given a hand from an official to suck gas out of the jerry can and into our fuel tank, as you are not allowed to carry excess fuel across the border –border crossing lesson number 1. Can you imagine a US border patrol officer offering to help and get covered in gasolina? I think not. Rain clouds were threating above and not having any window wipers could make for another very long day. So taking the drive very slowly but as quickly as possible, we made it to Mendoza. A 6 hour drive turned into 28 hours. Next on the agenda was to look for a campsite(not easy without a working gps or a map), but first we needed to pulled over for our routine cool down and coolant top up. Next thing, a car pulled over to help. Within 3 minutes Osvaldo told us we didn’t need a campsite and could park our car for the night at his house. We were so grateful for his kindness to just welcome strangers into his home. And a beautiful home at that, built solely on his own, surrounded by olive trees and deep in the Argentinian countryside. One word, tranquilo! After a few hours of chilling on his patio drinking mate tea, having interesting discussions about politics in Spanish (again political Spanish falls in the same category as our medical and mechanical spanish), we went off to buy some steak for dinner. The malbec was flowing, and steaks were grilling on a rustic open fire, after the last day or so, we were feeling very lucky to have met such a warm and welcoming local. Osvaldo cooked us up the most delicious meal we have had since being here, and I would go as far to say the best steak I have ever had, ever! Favorite night of the trip yet!
The next morning after breakfast of bread and his home harvested honey, Osvaldo took us to help us find a new motor for the windscreen wipers. He came across his son-in-law, Hans, who is from Belgium and jumped right on board to help us out. We drove to a couple of places with no success of a new motor. With siesta time nearing (which is 3-4 hours long here), we spilt up. Osvaldo offered to go and buy us a new wiper motor while we went to a mechanic to finally sort out our engine. As soon as Hans explained what was going on to the mechanic, he said he was pretty sure of the problem. The 1st mechanic who actually knew what he was doing and told it to us straight, we had a big, big problem. Finally a trustworthy mechanic! We were no longer in Chile, and it was no longer the Chilean way of- we will get it to work for now, but the problem won’t be solved and it will screw you over again in a day or so. He was actually going to try and help us to get the car ready to make and survive the trip that we had ahead of us. But it could take a week. Hans and Mario (mechanic) drove us from place to place to find us an available hotel. Close to tears, Greg and I unpacked the car, that we had so carefully packed up just 2 days ago, and wished it a speedy recovery. We were gutted that our trip had stalled yet again and felt very cheated. But we keep telling ourselves, everything happens for a reason. On the bright side, we had made it here in one piece, which was surprising to most, we were at least stuck in a place that was surrounded by vineyards and we have been overwhelmed by such outstanding hospitality and generosity of every Argentinian we have met. Everyone has gone out of their way to drive us places, cook for us, translate for us, and help us drown our sorrows. If this is a sign of things to come in Argentina, we are going to love it here. And if our car doesn’t live to see another day, we may just stay here.
After a few visits to the wineries, we moved to a charming lodge- TikayKilla, in the countryside, to relax. Francisco, the owner, has been amazing, helping us in every way that he can and has been looking after us so well. This morning we received the prognosis of our car. It is not good. We have been advised to tow the car back to Santiago, back to Arturo and get our money back. 2 months after selling our home, we still haven’t seemed to have started our trip yet. Broken arm, broken engine, broken banks and broken hearts.
click on the photo below to see gallery
