28/2 More Mendoza

Tuesday 28 February     Still in Mendoza

Early angst with Colin coming to say he heard we were not sure about going to town for dinner. He had come to the same sensible conclusion we had, namely that everyone should be allowed to do whatever they chose (we are all adults) and he told everybody that. But Sam didn’t like that – SHE had directed that it was all or nothing. We sat safely out of the way while she imploded again with another huge sad behind the truck. We had already taken all the necessary food and pots etc off the truck, in consultation with Colin, But Sam is now going to step in and cook it for anyone who hasn’t gone to town. Why?

There seems to have been a large swing and most people now seem to want to eat at the camp. It seems that Bob isn’t at Scania at all and has been taken somewhere else. It is beginning to look doubtful whether it will be fixed tonight. Might not even be able to get back to camp. We were told last night that the day we have lost here will be taken off from Salta.

We had a bit of a look at the remaining itinerary and attractions. The boys are very despondent and the forecast is that Bob will need 2 days at Scania, starting tomorrow. The gearbox is a non-standard assembly and the bloke who built it is in New Zealand. We are already 1 day behind.

The skydivers just got back. They all ran off the cliff and landed well – Dasher chundered mid-air. Yvonne is quite thrilled with it all.

Later – J and Gordon got drafted back into cooking at 7.45. Dinner went well – all but about 6 stayed for dinner. Better still, the prospects are for a departure by lunch tomorrow. Sam did a first rate presentation of options moving forward and everyone is very cheerful.

Blast from the past - a still functioning drive in cinema

27/2 Poor Bob

Monday 27 February

Lazy start. An immediate setback –today is a national holiday (Flag day) and Scania is closed!! The boys got under Bob straight away, hoping for a visit from a Scania mechanic, who offered the immediate diagnosis of a broken component inside the gearbox. He said it was a 2 day job. Unfortunately, the bolts at the back of the gearbox required a special tool to remove them. After hours of trying to manufacture such a tool, they gave up and resolved to go to the Scania workshop to do it there. This was later amended again and eventually they just went to the camp pub.

We headed into town by bus. I have been coerced into detailing the account of the first bus, which one of us waved down while the other one waved it away. It shot past us. Some 20 minutes later, just as about 8 of the group came out, another bus approached and we all boarded. The bus headed off up a mountain and all over the place before heading into town but we were in no hurry and enjoyed the scenic overview, although it was a tad murky.

Mendoza has a pretty town centre. It was rebuilt after a major earthquake many years ago and only has a few colonial buildings still standing.

  It now features very wide streets so in the event of another damaging earthquake the buildings will not fall and damage each other.  The main mall is tree lined and has a host of outdoor eating areas.  The fountains in the parks and mall were all gushing red water.  A tad puzzling until we saw “Miss Mendosa 2012” with tv cameras in tow and realised we are in the midst of a wine festival. 

 We wandered round a couple of the major parks, popped into a few travel agents, including that notable purveyor of tourism and voyaging – Wanka Ltd. The roads and parks all bore the familiar names and dates – 25 May, O’ Higgins, St Martin and Belgrano. Very few places open and we kinda felt like Maccas anyway so we went and tried the chicken, bacon and onion burgers. And coffees. And chocolato triangulos. We got back just in time to wave almost everybody off on a wine tour.

San Martin in yet another park in his honour

Sweeping using huge palm leaves, very effective.

On the nautical front, we noticed that the Star Princess was barred from entry into Ushuaia by the Argies because it is registered in Bermuda, a British protectorate. Such sore losers. Also, another Costa boat is in trouble – this time our old boat Costa Allegra is adrift off Madagascar after engine failure.

26/2 Finally into Mendoza

Sunday 26 February  to Mendoza

Morning dawned just as we ran out of toilet paper. Colin was less than delighted to see me but we buried that hatchet. Sam did not appear for a few hours more. We cruised down to Mendoza at 30km/h. It is a largish city of 1 million with a lot of industrial activity but is mainly known as the centre of a wine producing region. We got to shop at our first Walmart hypermarket – remarkable mostly for the huuuge, slow moving lines at the checkouts.

The boys have been fantasising for 8 weeks about an Aussie girl who finally caught up with us today. Her name is Virginia Dashwood and this resonated with them for some reason. There has been constant speculation and anticipation about Dasher over the weeks and Tim has been the one most enthused about meeting her. She should have been at Santiago but lost her passport in Buenos Aires in one of those scam/robberies like we escaped, with somebody throwing mud on her and then a lovely old lady offering her Wet Ones to clean up with. As soon as she put her bag down . . . Zhuuuuush! Passports, credit cards, the lot gone.  I put a “Welcome aboard Virginia (heart sign) Timmie” on the notice board, which caught public imagination and he copped a fair teasing in front of a full truck. Luke is keeping a very low profile with his ear all wrapped up in cotton wool. In fact, here he is in front of me in a pair of jocks, hanging up washing. Sorry . . . you will have to imagine. He is a very pretty and shapely fellow. Ask J for a few photos from her private collection if you didn’t get her email.

Later after dinner. Jenny gave the ear a bit of a clean and the line of “tooth marks” behind his ear washed off. So there goes that theory. Danny and Luke are inducting the new Helen into Ring of Fire, the drinking game that underpinned most of the excesses to date.

25/2 Not quite Mendoza - yet

Saturday 25 February     Farewell to Chile

Left at 7am. Tab trying to tell us to turn the lights out at 6.40. Dan the Sax and Stewie came to wave us off. First real sight of the new members (except Dasher who is stuck in BA with a temporary passport). Easy run out on the freeway and into the mountains. Some big ones and attractive scenery. Helen is still rotten and Luke and Sean just fell asleep. Several people are taking photos of Luke’s ear.

Quickly through the border after a long run through a tunnel. Lunch and running gearbox repairs. Still fairly high up and feeling a bit dizzy. Very majestic mountain scenery.

Switchbacks up Chilean side

Disused rail bridge

We had hoped to make the detour to see the Christ of the Andes statue astride the border close to the customs post. This was a realistic looking Christ Redemptor statue, 2/3 the size of the one at Rio, made out of cannons melted down after yet another war between Chile and Argentina had been averted in 1904. Unfortunately this opportunity fell victim to the lost time.

Another interesting photo opportunity would have been Mt Aconcagua, the highest peak outside the Himalayas at a shade short of 7000m. We may well have had it in view but were unaware of it. We later looked at a day trip out of Mendoza that included a whole bundle of scenic attractions, including Aconcagua, only then realising that they were all along or very close to the road which we had taken from the tunnel through to Mendoza. The Oasis crew do not claim to be guides but it would not be difficult to research the locality enough to be able to include the benefits of a full day tour while passing through on the way onto Mendoza.

We limped on at 30km/hr because Bob could not be coaxed into high range – hence gears 1-4 of 8. After lengthy attempts at repair and an attempt to get into a camp ground, Sam announced that we would head for a night behind yet another service station (town of Uspallata) and she would dig some pasta out of the underfloor spaces for dinner. I asked whether it would be possible to get fresh produce from a supermarket, by taxi if need be, and she disappeared for over an hour, leaving us all shut in the truck. She returned with mince and veggies for a bolognaise and then started sounding off within general earshot and saying she hopes Chris is satisfied, she can’t carry on any more etc.

We went back to the servo where we had spent much of the afternoon, enshrouded in a foul smell from overflowing sewage. We avoided the worst of it by parking some 200m away, across an open space pitted with rough ground, the run-off from the sewage spill, and a number of wild dogs. I noticed a white mummy dog with 7 young pups behind the servo and she later came to visit our camp. I called out “hello mummy dog” and resolved to slip her some food after dinner. We asked to meet Sam to discuss her comments about me delivered within easy earshot of everyone on the truck. The outcome was her hysterical crying fit and loudly throwing lumps of wood, all about 10m ahead of the truck, where everyone had just finished dinner. This because I had suggested that we buy some fresh food, which she interpreted as mutinous.

We both had tummy disturbances which entailed numerous crossings of The Great Wasteland in the moonless dark. After walking the gauntlet of the unseen snarling dogs to the garage, the white mummy dog suddenly appeared, came up and sniffed me when I called to her again, and escorted me through the dark back to Bob. The other dogs all shut up.

24/2 Rest day

Friday 24 February Still in Santiago

Bacon breakfast.  Nana nap. Second visit to shops. Cricket net practice!! The Aussie owner of the hostel (and the sushi restaurant) is a cricket tragic and owns the only cricket net in Chile and the first in South America. Apparently the Chilean team practices there and recently won a game against Argentina. Then a bbq round the pool, during which they played some favourite old Black Sabbath (1970). Early night (for us). The rabble partied hard as usual and Pretty Boy Luke came home with blood spattered all down his shirt. He professes not to know what happened and nobody else saw anything. It looks very much like a bite! Somebody probably had a good gnaw at his lobe, which is cut on both sides) and there is a curved line of teeth marks behind the ear.

Fantastic volcano/mountain shaped slide in the local park.  Pretty cool

23/2 Walking tours

Thursday 23 February  Santiago

We headed down and bought breakfast. I had bacon and scrambled egg on toast and extra toast and marmalade with juice for less than $4. The laggards struggled down just before lunch ended at 11am. David didn’t make it until much later, when they had to check out to change hotels. Richard was waiting outside and complained that “David did come out but then he went back inside” -  which would have been particularly distressing for him! (Small Gay joke there)

I logged on and completed the online visa exemption process for the USA (ESTA), so we are all ready to move on from Lima to USA and Europe.

We headed off across town and settled in a park to eat our favourite avocado baguettes, while we watched a large contingent of riot police forming ranks, complete with transport and horses and dogs. After a while, they broke up in small groups and wandered off. Round about then, I decided I really didn’t want to spend 4 hours on a Santiago walking tour so I returned to the hostel, blogged and researched cruises.

J did the walking tour which went past all the attractions of downtown – and there aren’t that many really.  I think that the most interesting thing was the ‘coffee with legs’ coffee shops.  Chile make terrible coffee and some bright spark came up with an inspired idea that if you use girls in skimpy outfits to sell the coffee, people didn’t mind so what it tastes like.  Since then coffee shops have flourished and luckily they now import coffee from around the world, so you can now get a good cup of coffee.  There are also a number of street dogs, seemingly in pretty good condition.  They are owned by the people of Santiago, who provide money for them to be vaccinated and fed.  In winter you would see each and every one of them in a nice warm coat.  Nice touch.  The city itself has been rebuilt several times after devastating earthquakes so it is quite modern in appearance.  Doesn’t have the same feel to it as Buenos Aires, but that is what makes it different.  Has a vibrant bar and restaurant scene.

Pedro de Valdivia - represtenting the Spanish on one side of the main square

Mapocho Indian - cracked face representing the struggles they went through

Presidential Palace

The farewell dinner was just down the road. Large facility with heaps of locals, many celebrating birthdays – hence repeated Happy Birthdays in Spanish.

The pack came home at about 2.30 and then the bulk at 5.45. Not a good night for sleep with the creeeeeeaking floorboards and the endless LOUD music from cars parked at the filling station over the road.

22/2 Santiago .... here we come

Wednesday 22 February to Santiago

Early start and all day drive arriving 6pm. We seemed to be driving up a broad flat valley on a very good 2 lane highway. There was a lot of relatively intensive farming going on – good maize crops, cattle, forests etc. Nearing Santiago, there was a lot of container transport and industrial areas. It felt like we were driving along a stretch of road like you would see between Northam & Perth on Gt Eastern Hwy.  Nice hills, small towns with associated country style businesses.   It was a pretty laid back day and we had a pleasant half hour for morning coffee at a truck park and a good lunch next to a river.  The surprise of the day was snow on distant mountains.  The day has got considerably warmer as we have moved northwards and we spent the day peeling off the layers until we are now back in shorts and t-shirts wishing it was just a little cooler.

Santiago is situated within a rim of very large mountains, contains 1/3 of Chiles population and is just an hour from the coast in one direction and an hour from the ski fields in the other direction.  Very nice positioning for a capital city.

Oasis are a pretty weird organization and one of the strange things they do is to charge MORE if you book 2 legs at the same time rather than to pay for them separately. Which is a bit theoretical anyway, because they refuse to sell you the individual components together. In brief, it was about $1500 per leg but $3200 if you want 2 – go figure that out? The marketing manager at the time told us it was because of the extra 2 days in Santiago between the legs. So we were keen to see the hostel that was worth an extra $400 for 2 people.

A very beautiful old building with large spacious rooms, but there were 8 of us in one room, accessed through another room with 8 beds. With the several other rooms on the floor, we share 2 male and 2 female toilets and showers, which are pretty weak. No breakfast. Just to complete the nonsense, the extra money doesn’t go into the local payment that is used for food and accommodation anyway – it goes to England. Oddly, we would still recommend Oasis anyway, but be prepared to pay extra for room upgrades and put up with some minor irritations. The basic price is very cheap and the crew are good.

Grande staircase

Dining room - all original - vaulted ceilings

Ceiling cornice detail above - tv room below

Our bedroom ceiling detail - beautiful

There is a sushi restaurant next door named Platipus(sic) and we happily trailed in there for dinner. Dan the Sax was there already, beaming at a silver tray HEAPED with sushi. About $22 worth. Several different types, all beautifully prepared and very fresh. Interestingly, some of them were inside out, with crunchy chicken tempura wrapped in avocado, and rice patties wrapped in salmon fillets. We bought the same and shared it.

The hostel has a reputation as Party HQ but we were in bed asleep early on and the revellers did not get home until 5am. The floorboards creak appallingly but we hardly noticed.

21/2 Volcano & cleaning. *ewwww work*

Tuesday 21 February      Pucon

Hard to believe that we have almost finished the 51 day first leg. It started accelerating after we left Ushuaia and the last 10 days have just flown. Today is a rest day for those who have not paid lots of money to abseil into and wade upstream through a chest deep (freezing) mountain stream for several hours. (Canyoning) This afternoon we are doing a big truck clean then tomorrow we drive into Santiago, which is the end of Leg 1. We will be staying on for about half of Leg 2 – as far as La Paz, when we will do our own thing through to Lima.

Quite a few times when Chileans have stood back at checkouts to let us go first with a few items. Noticeably more often than elsewhere. 2 days ago a lady called me through and then I had forgotten to weigh the nectarines and tomatoes, which you have to do in some places here. I said Oooh dont bother I wont take those, but she sent her teenage daughter to get them weighed and waited while she returned. Impressive!

The sky was clear this morning and I took some photos of the smoking Villaraci volcano.

Nearly all the main streets in nearly every town and city we have visited have been called San Martin.  He is known as the hero of Argentina  and there are many busts and statues in his honour.  Pucon is different however.  The main street here is named O’Higgins.  He was one of the 9 liberators of South America, a red headed general named Bernardo O’Higgins.

Chileans are a very patriotic people and you see the flag everywhere.

This isn't quite correct with the blue stripes but first impressions are that it is very close to the flag shape & colours.

Truck clean took about 4 hours.  Quite exhausting by then end of it as we cleaned and scrubbed everything.  We were assigned certain jobs to be tackled by 2 people.  Then Chris was on cook group.

Slept well - even though it rained.

20/2 Pucon - volcano central

Monday 20 February          Pucon

Nearly all the campers set off in the dark to climb the local volcano. More of that later. We made a more sedate start and shared fried eggs with Sam and Colin and Yvonne, who had been deemed unfit by the operators, much to her displeasure.  I had a short walk and talk with Colin that cleared the air about crew accommodation expenses and we all wandered into town together.

J and Y went shopping while the other 3 settled down at a coffee shop with wifi. Some hours later, the shoppers returned with some bargains and some currency conversion misjudgements and J and C went for late lunch. We found a bakery that sold empanadas in 4 flavours. We ran through the moooo bakbakbaaaak routine and settled for shrimp and later mixed seafood empanadas. Very nice. By then J had the beginnings of a migraine so we headed back to camp.  Pucon is a very vibrant busy place.

The first of the volcano survivors returned soon after. They had all made it up and down although one person had become detached from their ice axe on the icefield and was inexorably en route towards the precipice until a guide managed to catch them at pretty much the last moment. Who? Who do you think? Actually it was a source of astonishment to all that Peter got up there at all, such has been the ferocity of his retching and hacking coughing for the past few weeks. He obviously has some lung ailment and has persisted in smoking, although every drag reduces him to the verge of bronchial prolapse. As an ex-smoker I can’t really criticise him for his self-inflicted condition but he certainly confirmed that he is a very dogged little 65 year old terrier.

Apparently, having reached the top, they put on leather nappies and slid down on their bottoms, which took a couple of hours. They all agreed that this was spiffing fun. I’m not sure it would be allowed in Aus because of the risk of flying off, as Peter almost did.

They got to walk around the rim of the crater which was about 2 metres wide.  There is a view of several other active volcanoes from the top including the one that erupted in June causing chaos with air traffic movements in Australia even.    They all complained of the terrible sulphuric stench at the top, said that the sounds emanating from the crater sounded like the sea crashing into caves  and a few of them were lucky enough to see a lava eruption.

Talking of terriers, there is a resident dog with the strange pastime of collecting shoes from around the campsite and depositing them, one from each pair, in his sleeping place. We have christened him Dave. J had to rescue one of my blue Crocs this morning.

The mountaineers had a very quick turnaround before jumping into a minibus to the hot springs to ease out their bruised and weary limbs. Colin had put up a washing line for us in the morning, which came into heavy use with wet ski wear.   

We went back into town and chanced into the same restaurant as Gordon and Yvonne, who were working their way through a large seafood pizza. We had salmon and seafood and steak respectively. The sky had cleared and the volcano stood out boldly. Not that heavily snowed but still quite striking at 2800m– a classic Fuji shape. 

So, now we know where to go .... but when?  Earlier in the day there had been a siren go off .. maybe a test?  I guess if there is a howling siren that doesn't let up we move ASAP.

These Falcons have been in a couple of our campsites.  No fear of humans.  Interesting to watch.

19/2 One volcano, 2 volcano, 3 volcano more

Sunday 19 February

Up at 6 for the full day drive to Pucon, back in Chile.  Today’s drive was past beautiful lakes set amongst magnificent mountain ranges and thick forests.  Fuschias are native here and currently in flower.  Very pretty and some of them are very large shrubs. 

 We stopped for a break next to a lake which appeared to be covered by a weed.  Turns out that it was fallout from the volcano that erupted in June – pumice stone. Everyone then had fun throwing the rocks into the water and watching them bounce and then float. 

 The road side and fallen forest logs have quite a thick coating of volcanic ash.   The border crossing went well - didn’t need to unpack and got one stamp well placed. Had lunch next to a spectacular volcano – classic cone shape with waves of cloud breaking over it. Sean has a time lapse capability on his camera and it makes amazing viewing, with the clouds breaking just like waves of water would.

J was cooking and made an unusual beef stroganoff. Very early night.

Book title is "One track mind *exposed*'.   All that is on Helen's mind is sleep. As with Danny & MJ.

18/2 Sunshine & mountain climbs

Saturday 18 February

The day dawned dry and half appealing. Richard went and bought eggs for breakfast, which cheered everyone up. We fiddled around until about 11 then took the bus into the city. There were some fascinating emporia with sprawling areas exclusively selling chocolate and ice cream. We invested about $3.50 in a small bucket of 3 flavours of very good ice cream. This whetted our appetite for lunch and we sampled one of the local specialities, fondue, at La Marmite, regarded as the best fondue restaurant. Cynically, it made for a grossly overpriced cheese sandwich, but in the context of the ambience and the rich balanced blend of cheeses, it was a memorable occasion. Hell . . . where else can you still buy a fondue?

La Marmite - beautiful inside and out

J wandered round the museum while C struggled to extract some pesos from the ATM’s. It was the first time we had had any problem and we were just starting to get worried when one of the banks finally consented to cough up some money.

Just one of the lake views in town

St Bernard pic opportunities

Historic green/grey stone buildings surround the square

We caught another bus back past the camp to the foot of a mountain with a renowned viewing spot on top. Like the group of young chaps ahead of us, we had intended to catch the chair lift to the top, but the price tag of $12.50 each deterred us. Then it started drizzling again. We nearly gave up and went home but we decided to tackle the mountain and climbed to the top in less than 30 minutes. It was STEEP. The view did not disappoint – a sweeping 360 panorama overlooking lakes and mountains and the city 20km away. The weather obliged kindly and we enjoyed perfectly clear views. We then slid down and walked 4 km home.     

The view back to Bariloche

Fantastic carved creations in front of a restaurant on the walk home

     

Everyone else was lining up to go out for dinner but we were fully stuffed and planned to have chicken and chips at the camp.                                                                                   

17/2 Rain rain rain

Friday 17 February Bariloche Rain

It rained through the night and into the day.  Not the best for exploring.               Sat around upstairs and wandered across the road in search of coffee and cake. Some spirited rivalry between the upstairs rabble (Janine Gordon & Yvonne, Leslie & Scott) and the Tough Tenters (Chris Sam Colin Richard) over who could do the most ribald strip scenes across the courtyard. The contest ended when Colin  streaked around the compound in his jocks in the pouring rain.

David & co did a really good comfort food dinner and those of us who were left after the “girlies” retreated to their warm and dry dorm in the hostel huddled together under the awning next to Bob and drafted defamatory comments about each of them to go on the Wall of Shame in the back of the truck. We then felt much better.  Jasper’s phone had predicted that rain would end at 9pm and, almost miraculously, it gradually tapered off from about 8.30 until the final few drops fell at exactly 9pm. Then it pissed down again from 9.15.

16/2 To Bariloche

Thursday 16 February        Bariloche

Usual sort of drive day plus a border crossing back into Argentina. The border passport stamping went very well and the Argentines didn’t even put the dog through the truck.  Reached camp about 6pm, upon which about half a dozen upgraded to move into a large dorm in the lodge, which gets them into the lounge. We have access to power and internet so we are happy in the tent for now. Forecast is rain so the available activities might not take place. There is pressure to get into Maccas for the first time since Buenos Aires. Just going to have a rest after a long day tonight and get the blogs up.

Bariloche is a lot larger than we expected.  The city is situated next to one of the large lakes in the district.  In winter it is a ski destination, summer is for hiking, fishing, cycling, paragliding and a whole assortment of outdoor activities.  There is a grey ash covering about an inch deep that is the fall out of the Chilean volcano that erupted in June last year.

15/2 Mirror lake and raging river

Wednesday 15 February

We awoke to enraged calves yelling for their mums, followed by roosters, snoring etc. We were quite ready to get up by breakfast time.

At 10 we went for a shopping trip into town and were stunned by the beauty of the scenery on the way, with large lakes beside the road showing perfect reflections of the mountains on the far side. Not a ripple on the surface. We chose the best spot and rang for a wee stop. Luckily I had the small camera and was able to take some snaps and video. On the way back, some wind had arisen and the surface was rippled – no reflections!

Just as well we stopped on the way there. Found inspiration to write another two verses of my song about Sam and Shrek (Colin). Might just perform it publicly tonight after dinner.

A lot of the group have gone white water rafting. (C) Wandered down the road to watch them go past but it was too far so came back to finish 3 days blogging. The 3 little pigs wandered off down the road with the spectators.  

Prior to getting wet

Chris & the 3 little pigs

  J went to the vantage point about 1 km from the farm.   We sat waiting on rocks at the bottom of one of the biggest rapids on this stretch of the river.  Watched a couple of kayakers  then shortly after our two raft loads went through, huge smiles and daredevil Colin flinging himself off into the water – just because.

The farm has a dear little orphaned calf called Sophie, she is about 4 weeks old.       A beautifully natured border collie who loves being cuddled, chooks and chickens and a few ‘sort of’ friendly pigs.

Yvonne & the dog

A lovely place to stay and definitely a place on earth we would encourage people to come and visit. C did the Botswana song and his version of the Oasis 2012 song, which was well received.