Farmacia

 The rule in Latin America if you don’t feel well is to see a pharmacist. If you’ve been coughing and spluttering for a week, feeling congested and unable to sleep you don’t go to the doctor. Gringo tourists go to the doctor but they are not used to the local way of doing things.

Our first attempt at seeking powerful medicine didn’t go    well    last     Tuesday.  Layne came out shaking her head saying she didn’t get a good hit off the pharmacist, she didn’t seem like a bright spark. Sure enough we took the powders she sold us, felt better for a day and relapsed.

Friday I was too sick to drive, which tells you how ill I felt as I will drive anywhere anytime. Saturday we tried a different pharmacy and the young woman, possibly my granddaughter if I had one, handed us spluttering old timers a box for our “gripa.”

We went home and I gingerly drank my 20 milliliters of pink goop which tasted of flavorless syrup  and made my tongue feel numb, and yet miraculously I slept last night, quite deeply too, which is why this post is appearing late in the morning.

It is cold outside, winter cold, every day even under the sun the air is cold, no autumnal relief.  Maria José is back from Argentina, Adrián was smiling this morning as he took a load of firewood into his house and we were supposed to have been taking off today. If the young pharmacist got it right we want to be driving away by Tuesday. Rusty loves it here so he will be disappointed I fear but we will do our best for him on the road to Bolivia.  

He stayed out till ten last night refusing to come in enjoying the cold night air. I need a fur coat. I’ve graduated from my woolen Mexican poncho to a puffy jacket and gloves. The chill is real and we need to get north. 

The Fourth

 Happy Fourth of July whatever your continent. 

Update

 Life is nothing if not ironic and by that I mean now that GANNET2 is ready for the road I have been in bed recovering from a fever for two days.  Today, Friday I seem to have peaked and I am on the recovery side of the coughing and spluttering sore throat side of this irritation. I spent Thursday in bed happy to let the fire go out when temperatures here in Uruguay have taken a wintery turn.

Which probably sounds like summer to an Alaskan but not to me. It is definitely time to go and I think today will be time to start the process of refilling our shelves and lockers board GANNET2.

We want to visit an Uruguayan winery, pass by the capital Montevideo and see the coastal town of Piriapolis a little further along the coast. Theres a national park in the hills along the border with Brazil and we’ll need to get Rusty his exit papers to go to Argentina. Then we want to drive north back to Paraguay which was 105 degrees the last time we were there and should be a bit warmer than freezing Uruguay. 

But every journey starts with a first step which I hope we can be ready to do Sunday morning. Yesterday I wasn’t even feeling like driving to the supermarket which tells you how ill I felt. When one says “to good health” sometimes one means it.

Back In The Barn

I spent Monday and Tuesday keeping half an eye open on the approach road from the town of Colonia Valdense but when GANNET2 finally showed up from the mechanic’s shop on Tuesday afternoon I totally missed it. Adrián knocked on the door of our rental cottage and when I looked out there she was.

Coolant leak fixed, tire pressure warning light fixed, a 2020 Promaster apparently ready to roll, after a $420 check up. It feels liberating to have  a van at our door all ready to go. 

Naturally I got a head cold which keeps me up at night and Layne and I are coughing in harmony as Rusty tries to ignore us by snoring over the top of all this hacking and spluttering noise.

Interestingly our fridge has been running all the time and our batteries have barely noticed the demand from the 12 volt motor. We haven’t driven much and the solar panels have been largely in the shade but our new Victron 540 amp lithium battery bank doesn’t seem to notice the drain. This is quite a change from our original system with 500 amps of Go Power lithium and a 110 volt motor which drained the batteries easily over two days. I am excited to test our new energy independence on the road. This is a system Adrián is putting in a customer’s Sprinter van he is building:

If I had another van built I’d give serious consideration to shipping it to Montevideo 90 minutes from here and have him build it out.

I suspect Rusty may not be too excited to leave this place but we will take good care of him and keep our driving times within his tolerance levels. Besides he like me needs slightly more strenuous walks than gentle ambles round the garden.

Our plan is to drive to the west coast of South America after we take a quick tour of this tiny country. We’ve long wanted to see Bolivia and this might be the moment as the strikes have calmed down, road blockades have been lifted and fuel is said to be available. Plus US passport holders no longer need a visa to visit which was imposed by the old left wing government that had a traditional beef with the US. Getting a visa we found was very difficult. 

Layne has some reservations about visiting high altitude Bolivia in winter but she has come round to the idea this may be the moment to get there so we will drive cautiously to Paraguay ready to change plans at any time.

Paraguay and Bolivia share a border in a wilderness region known as the “Chaco,” which has been populated by Mennonites whose main town is called Filadelfia which I’m sure looks nothing like Pennsylvania…especially as the Chaco jungle is also known as the “Green Hell.” So the journey to Bolivia may end up being more interesting than necessary. The area sounds a bit…rugged but nothing daunted we have an excellently appointed home refurbishment to put to the test.  

Team Lost will have ample opportunity to do what it does best and mangle all travel plans should that become necessary or desirable. Departure day is tentatively set for Sunday, time to heal, to do laundry, to pack and to grill some meat on Saturday. We shall see.

Impatience

 There is some impatience to get going.  GANNET2 is at the mechanics shop getting the coolant leak checked and Emiliano is giving our van a look over to see if anything else needs to be taken care of before we leave.

Layne is buried much of the time in one of two activities, cooking as she feels eating out isn’t worth it in this expensive country, and route planning as she is ready to be on the road.

I get grumpy if you interrupt me while I’m writing these posts and Layne gets grumpy if you interrupt her in the kitchen, so I stay out. “I want my microwave,” she announces to the four walls from time to time. Or substitute “air fryer” tools that run off 110 volts and can’t be plugged in to Uruguay’s 220 volt network.  And the van, our source of 110 volts is now in the shop. When it was parked here she would do half the meal onboard GANNET2 and take advantage of our 12 volt fridge for extra storage space. We both hope GANNET2 will be back tonight or tomorrow at the very latest. 

And then we will start a slow process of reloading our home, tossing out stuff we don’t use and trying to question every packing decision. With luck we hope to be on the road this week. Maria-José is expected back at the weekend from Argentina so if we left Thursday it would be close enough, Layne is climbing the walls. 

Rusty is healed and these days I think he suffers more from arthritic cold and old age more than anything else. We want to tour Uruguay a little more then drive west to Argentina. Our goal is to be in Arequipa Perú by August though how we get there is uncertain. On the map below we have two possible routes, we will have a better idea which way to go when we are on the road.  

We have run out of time to visit Brazil as we have used up our six months and Bolivia is still uncertain even though the post election rioting and road blockades have died down. Also most of the country is over 12,000 feet so winter cold is a factor. 

At any rate the urge to move is upon us. This living in one place is wearing us out.