Campground Pause

The city of Mendoza in western Argentina is known, if you have heard of it all, as the wine capital of Argentina, the Napa Valley of this country. With one million people in the entire metropolitan area it’s the fourth largest in Argentina. We aren’t there yet but we plan to spend next week doing good things in the city. 

Like Napa Mendoza has rivals for grape growing and wine production in the country but it’s still the most famous and it is an obligatory stop for overlanders. 

However we were parked next to Christoph and Monika yesterday in the lakeshore at the village of El Nihuil and it was not good for us. The sun was burning us up and there was no shade. The Germans are remote workers and depending a satellite signal for their jobs so parking unprotected suited them but we craved the shade of the campground  back at Malargüe. 

The thing is Layne has found a Michelin starred restaurant she wants to have lunch at and there is also a cooking class she wants to attend. Add in a couple of wineries anfd an olive oil producer and there fire we have a bit of a schedule forming. 

We decided the lake shore was too much for us and after one last walk we packed up and pulled out. 

Argentina has a number of stray dogs and they live in the streets attaching themselves to passersby. I carry extra dog food for them always but I miss Colombia and Chile which don’t have this stress for me. I would adopt them all. They aren’t as wretched as many dogs in Mexico but I think all dogs deserve love. Rusty disagrees vehemently and Layne calls him  a MAGA dog because he’s got his and doesn’t like to share. 

He doesn’t walk so far anymore but when he gets annoyed at me feeding the strays he stalks off and challenges me to follow him as he pretends to ignore me. The make up belly runs confirm his ascendency over me and I know I am putty moulded by his emotions. It’s not easy. 

We said goodbye and drove through the village back to the highway. They are going back to Austria, Monica’s country, and Munich where Christoph is from and spend summer with their families returning to their big white Unimog in September, which vehicle they will leave in a garage in Uruguay. We may see them in Brazil. 

Rusty won’t travel in his bed but he cherishes the opportunity to sleep there between journeys.  

It’s only about 80 degrees by day but it feels hotter but it also drops forty degrees at night so it’s a very arid desert climate here. It looks pretty desertlike too. 

It was a two hour drive back to town and we stopped at the Vea supermarket for perishables and the made a beeline to the campground. 

Rusty was glad to be back as were the campground dogs as they knew I am good for some meals while here. 

And there’s hot showers, electric plug ins and lots of lovely shade. The Starlink signal isn’t great but we are happy to be here for a few days. Then Mendoza then back to Chile. 

Meanwhile like our color coordinated neighbor it’s time to rest and relax. 

Near Mendoza

We plan to spend much of the next week around the city of Mendoza, the largest western city in Argentina. It’s known for its wine so we’ll do a tour or two of a vineyard, and there’s a restaurant Layne wants to eat in and she has a cooking class planned. Making reservations and traveling on a tight schedule stresses me out so she’s handling details. 

I met a woman from Bariloche a couple of weeks ago, traveling in her pick up with a camper shell and we fell to talking about life in Argentina. Hers was just another story of bureaucracy rendered inoperative by staffing cuts, costs out of sight and all round diminished expectations. When I remarked I saw the same future in the US she took my arm and said “Don’t feel guilty about living down here and traveling. We each have to cope as we can.” And her words keep rattling around in my head. As much as I feel a fraud for keeping going I don’t see the point of going home to face people in red caps rejoicing in the wholesale destruction of the places and institutions and lives that I value. I’ll end up in jail. With that in mind here are a few photos of things I’ve seen that I like as we meander toward Mendoza. I hope they help. 

Classic campground grill used by all Argentine campers: 

Here’s a thought. How to plug in to shorepower in a 220 volt country. We haven’t seen US standard 110 volt systems since we left Ecuador and each country uses a different style of plug which is absurd so we carry a bag of adapters. Below is the adapter we use to plug into Argentine sockets and that is the correct way up. 

Our Up/Down converter we bought in Chile after our original 800watt box proved to small to charge our batteries and burned out. This one is rated at 2000 watts and doesn’t even get warm when plugged in to GANNET2. It has a Chilean plug (below) as well bought it in Chile.

So we need an adaptor for the Chilean plug (above) to plug into a US cable (below) to connect it to the Argentine power outlet up at the top. Confused yet? 

Then I have to make sure the box is ready to receive 220 volts (below). We use a lot of electricity aboard GANNET2 to avoid carrying propane. Gas is a problem for travelers as some countries use butane which requires different burners for long term use. Plus every country has its own set of attachments to allow filling. So we went all electric to keep it simple. 

However that means where we sit still for a while we like to be able to plug into shorepower. And this is how we do it. I have heard some parts of Brazil use 110 volts so that will be interesting to see. 

Europeans use 220 volts so they can plug into 110 volt systems and their appliances just run slowly. If we plug into to 220 volts we wreck everything. So you need to pay attention. The box weighs about twenty pounds and I am very glad to have it.  

When we plug into shorepower to shorepower we avoid running heavy appliances like the stove or air fryer or the rooftop air conditioner. We just use shorepower to charge our batteries as we can run everything off our onboard inverter. Campground electrical system blow fuses very easily if over use them. 

Christoph gave me a tour of his Unimog a vehicle designed by Mercedes for the military and widely adapted for use by overlanders. 

It’s too big and too complex for me but it is a home on wheels with a shower and hot water and 120 gallons of water. He bought it used and upgraded it, testing his improvements driving around Europe over the past four years. It broke a drive shaft on arrival in Chile so no one is immune to breakdowns. 

He and Monika are web designers by trade and with their home in Austria rented they put Starlink on the roof and travel. Everywhere they go they get involved in the local Salsa dancing scene. If there are no signs of life around Mambo the Unimog it’s best to assume they were yo till dawn dancing. 

A Statement

The Musk Administration is now talking openly about destroying Social Security and Medicare in addition to starving people in third world countries dependent on US food grown by US farmers who are also being left high and dry by the government. And here we are driving around Argentina. It feels a bit weird to be fiddling while watching the country I thought was a bulwark for decency get shredded to loud cheers of support from the people. But here we are. 

We use Starlink and very good it is too but my revulsion at what is happening in the US causes me to look at my receiver rather as though it were Rosemary’s Baby. 

Meanwhile Congress is writing a budget to give tax cuts to…Musk. And it looks as though there is no leader ready willing or able to stop this. 

They used to tell us that most Americans were not saving enough for retirement so we got steady jobs with pensions and planned a retirement strategy. Pensions, savings and social security. Now an unelected billionaire is upending our lives. And worse than that will destroy people barely scraping by on Medicare and Social Security. And no one seems to care. I find it baffling. 

I got a message from a friend worried about not only social security but veterans benefits. America is doing nothing while President Musk attacks veteran health care. To me this is unimaginable. And yet Republicans who own Congress, the courts and half the governorships say nothing.  Democrats can’t tout their achievements so I don’t expect much from them in this crisis. 

Layne points out we can’t live any more cheaply than in South America a region which is also largely out of the aim of world wide war mongering but I feel awkward writing about this, our relatively carefree existence at a time when so much is not just going wrong but is being torn down at home.

No one approves of fraud and waste but when Musk fires government inspectors and uses unskilled labor to carry out a facsimile of forensic auditing I wonder at the lack of protest.

I have no idea how to proceed. Layne wants to carry on as long as we can; she’s a Jew and has no desire to live under a white Christian Nationalist dictatorship. I don’t know if we should pack up and go back to Britain to settle in a place I’ve not lived in for forty years, or stay here or return to the US to join a protest that must surely develop. 

I can’t say I’ve been a fan of the leadership of the country over the years. I was glad to see a black President but Obama struck me as beholden to big business and the Democratic Leadership Council which I have despised since NAFTA  brought it to light. But to see a President threatening opponents, calling protests illegal and ignoring court orders leads me to think we have moved into a new age of authoritarian anarchy that is not for me. And the worst of it is there are millions of Americans cheering this on.  Once Trump goes, if he ever does, they will still be there. 

I have no interest in trans gender stuff or book banning or telling women to have children. I want peace order and certainty and I expect a change of government every now and again to keep the ship of state hewing a steady course. I’d like more money spent to help the poor and incapable, as in a country of 320 million you can’t expect everyone to be on the ball and managing their lives. And until now with lots of failures the country has done a passable job of this. If the government provides support for the needy and incompetent  I can see no better use of my tax money. Supporting veterans any way they need help seems obvious but firing  park rangers and meteorologists to balance the national budget seems ludicrous. And attacking social security, a self contained pension fund accusing it of vast fraud seems like a crime to me, and no one I know elected  Musk and his statements are made with no figures to back them up, no checking or discussion. People are just getting fired on a private citizen’s whim. 

I find this betrayal by the nation I have cherished to be deeply unsettling. I know my history and I know what comes next. We are being undermined by Russia (what the hell would Ronald Reagan say about that?!) and never have I heard Trump say sorry or admit he was wrong. There’s something wrong there as the stock market tanks and business leaders panic.

While I appreciate this old fashioned page not written by AI, advertising free and so forth is a balm in these times I felt the need to say I am not traveling untroubled. I look at the countries we travel through to try to understand, not just to look at nature or make a buck off social media. At the same time my secure home base has been thrown into confusion and I feel adrift. My favorite quote about  the 1933 take over in Germany is from the British Ambassador in Berlin sent to the Foreign Office in London. 

Sir Horace Rumbold was later credited with being ahead of his time in anticipating the horrors to come but his warnings fell on deaf ears. He died in 1941. His description of the new regime in 1933 resembles rather too closely for comfort the Christian Nationalism of our own Secretary of Defense and assistant director of the FBI: 

[Hitler] starts with the assumption that man is a fighting animal; therefore the nation is a fighting unit, being a community of fighters.... A country or race which ceases to fight is doomed.... Pacifism is the deadliest sin.... Intelligence is of secondary importance.... Will and determination are of the higher worth. Only brute force can ensure survival of the race. The new Reich must gather within its fold all the scattered German elements in Europe.... What Germany needs is an increase in territory... [to Hitler] the idea that there is something reprehensible in chauvinism is entirely mistaken... the climax of education is military service [for youths] educated to the maximum of aggressiveness.... It is the duty of the government to implant in the people feeling of manly courage and passionate hatred.... Intellectualism is undesirable...It is objectionable to preach international understanding... [he] has spoken with derision of such delusive documents as peace-pacts and such delusive ideas as the spirit of Locarno.^[6]

Rumbold concluded by giving stark warnings for the future of international relations:

...it would be misleading to base any hopes on a return to sanity...[the German government is encouraging an attitude of mind]...which can only end in one way.... I have the impression that the persons directing the policy of the Hitler government are not normal.^[7]

Sir John Simon, the Foreign Secretary, found Rumbold's descriptions to be "definitely disquieting".^[8]Ralph Wigram, an official in the Foreign Office, gave Winston Churchill a copy of this despatch in the middle of March 1936.^[9] After Rumbold's death, Lord Vansittart said of him that "little escaped him, and his warnings [about Nazi Germany] were clearer than anything that we got later".^[10] Walter Laqueurconcurred by claiming that Rumbold's "prophetic" insights explained the Third Reich better than the expert opinions that were later issued from the OSS.^[11]

If my words sound hysterical I draw your attention to the cabinet of billionaires and the appointment of people not fit to serve in high office. How to cope with what is to come is made more complicated for me by the fact that Layne and I have choices. What is the correct choice I’m sure I don’t know and this causes me stress. I wish you well but now more than ever the Chinese curse said to be: “May you live in interesting times” seems to apply.