Drive And Wait

If I were to tell you it took all day to change the tires on our Promaster van you would rightfully wonder what the hell we were doing all day, and the answer would be driving or waiting and mostly waiting. 

The tire shop on Balmaceda Avenue opens at nine am so we got up yesterday at 7:20. We left at a few minutes after nine from the campground and I only missed one turn so we got there at nine twenty. At 9:31 an employee showed up, opened the garage went to talk to the other customer waiting for service. Eventually another employee showed and by ten am we were inside the shop getting our new BF Goodrich KO2s installed. Slowly. 

They ordered the tires from the warehouse in the capital on Friday and they were here by Saturday but we had planned to get them installed Monday in case there was a delay in delivery. This is Chile: so everything went like clockwork. But a slow clock in this case. 

The tires cost $300 apiece including an alignment. I like these gnarly all terrain tires even though they wear fast and make noise. With them on the Promaster our heavy van goes anywhere reasonable, steep hills, gravel, wet dirt, and it’s performance on sketchy South American roads has been transformed. 

And then of course they look good, brand spanking new. 

They did their job well and hand tightened  the lug nuts and asked about the correct tire pressure and so forth. Then they did a careful alignment 

The process took three hours and we had nowhere else to be. Oh wait. We had passport photos to get. We’d done the waiting so now it was time to drive. 

I wanted a quick trim to look neat for my passport photo but I got an hour cut. And the all important beard trim. Layne sat and waited for an hour. 

So now we had out photos for our Bolivian visa and I had my picture for my passport renewal which we are now planning to get at the US Consulate in Cusco Perú.  Then it was time for lunch. Here’s the thing, having a hamburger in a food court in a mall is something we wouldn’t do in the US because we have our favorites of other places to eat. Here, a burger and fries felt a bit like home, not a daily thing but we enjoyed it. And yes it was a bit salty. 

Then we split and Layne went to Lider which is what they call Walmart in Chile. I went to Sodimac which is a Home Depot with all sorts of interesting things in a store that looks just like Home Depot. I bought a bottle of Meguilar plastic cleaner while Layne was buying anything she could see that we might  possibly need in Bolivia a place where middle class groceries are not much in evidence apparently. Not like this relatively small shopping mall in Chile: 

It looks too hot but this is the Pacific Coast so the air was cool and fresh and the sun was pleasant not burning. Rusty was snoring aboard GANNET2 with the roof fan and back windows letting in a breeze. He did far too much waiting all during the day. He got roast chicken for dinner though. And check out the parking. We parked in an empty quarter of the lot away from the store entrance. In five minutes a car came and parked right next to us. Why? Obviously it’s my irresistible  magnetic personality. 

He is a great companion, patient and always happy to see me. 

A Volkswagen bus came in and the occupants waved do I went over to talk to them. Bjorn is German and his partner Alessandra is from Milan so we talked Italian for fun. They looked in their 40s and work on the road. They are going north to Argentina like us so I hope we get to see them again because they were fun and I stupidly forgot to photograph them. Oh and they have two twelve year old grumpy rescue dogs about Rusty’s size. 

Layne was waiting for me inside the store so I had to go. We got $200 of groceries so it took a while. Then we had to find the pay station to get out of the parking lot. You pay to park in these malls. Fun isn’t it? 

Supermarkets tend to refrigerate their produce but Layne likes fruit stands when she can find them and here was this one outside Lider. How convenient. I sat and waited. 

After Lider we went around the corner and Layne waited while I ran into the Jeep dealer and picked up the transmission filter I had ordered. We then went looking for a transmission shop that would change our transmission fluid. That was when we got stuck in the most monumental traffic jam. It was one of those that had traffic lights backing each other up. We both waited. 

Then went to pick up our laundry and that was weird. She said it was ready but Layne found  the top layer was damp so she was not happy. But guess what there was a van from Switzerland dropping off laundry.

We last saw them in Nicaragua and because they are from the Italian speaking part of Switzerland I found myself speaking my mother tongue for the second time yesterday. The photos are from their Instagram. 

Giorgio…

…and Flavia retired and slowly driving south to Ushuaia. They will be in Switzerland for the summer and then back driving south in September. 

Their van is a Fiat Ducato the European version of our Promaster only it has a diesel engine, which is normal around here. We are the odd ones out. I_gracchi_i_van on Instagram. 

The transmission shop has moved unbeknownst to Google Maps and so we drove to the old shop and drove around looking, a perfect waste of time. Then they got back to us after we WhatsApp’ed them and sent their new address. 

Tuesday we will pursue the transmission maintenance plan. At least we will be riding on new tires. 

R And R

We spent the weekend here plugged into shorepower, Starlink and with a full water tank. We have our own bathroom with a key, a very hot shower, a toilet with a seat and campground provided toilet paper. $32 a night and no one bothers us. 

You could rent an apartment and with that you get swimming pool privileges but we are mere campers.  However we do have a beach just across the street.

Sunday morning is rowing day. 

These three guys hang around the campground and beach but Rusty does not like being surrounded. He’s a grumpy old man just like me and he bares his teeth and snarls and then acts surprised when they don’t want to play on his terms. 

The thing is he started out scared in Mexico and on seeing street dogs he ran for the van.  He’s figured them out though and he’s learned to stand his ground and he knows they are mostly cowards. The ones he senses are too much for him he walks away from and I let him.  I’ve learned to respect his judgement about dogs and people and sketchy places. 

And off he goes, happy by himself. He has no desire to let any other animals into his life which is just as well or we would be rescuing dogs all day. In Chile happily there are very few street dogs, real strays and none of them look desiccated like Mexican strays, the most piteous of all. 

He found a bone and I wanted it so we fought over it for a while. I lost. 

To the victor go the spoils. 

The campground marked by the apartments is called El Huerto -the orchard- and you can see them behind Rusty. The hills in the background are where we drive from to reach the town of La Serena.  

It’s Autumn and the beach is starting to think about closing down for the winter. I could live on Chile’s central coast if we decide to stop traveling. 

It’s more relaxed here than the US especially for a visiting foreigner. Services work, the country is clean and that cool pacific air and the rocky wave filled coastline reminds me of California, but a place that maybe existed before people had the means to crowd the places they loved. 

There are plenty of high rises here but if you drive south the coastal highway passes through villages and long stretches of cypress trees and ice plants and rocky beaches that are visited mostly in January and February. I’m just sorry we have to hurry north right now to meet our friends, I could meander down the coast doing nothing very much till it gets properly cold. 

Places to go, people to see, things to get done. 

Home sweet home for the weekend. We want to change the transmission fluid this week as a piece of early maintenance to make sure all is well before we visit the mechanical desert that is Bolivia. And after that, the plan is to cross the Amazon basin of Brazil which is a lot of miles of nothing very much. Chile is a good place to inspect, repair and  replace if necessary. 

Meanwhile we wait for our new tires to be delivered to the shop, and the replacement transmission filter to be shipped to the Jeep/Ram/Fiat dealer in town. Then we see what’s what. 

Sea Level

We awoke to frigid temperatures but no wind in our not too distant from the lakeshore wild camp. We were in Chile but we had yet to pass through customs and officially enter the country. Time to get out Rusty’s border crossing pass and prepare to be inspected. 

Yes that is ice. Many of you read my words still, after 18 years of writing this page so I don’t have to tell you the only civilized place for ice is in a glass so I took this photo with a telephoto lens and maintained a respectful distance. Ice is cold unpredictable and can be as dangerous as its cousin snow. I advise you to have nothing whatsoever to do with it. 

Faced with throwing our last banana into the trash at customs I broke off a piece and fed the wildlife. I have probably created a banana dependency now among wild creatures in this lonely place but it seems to me anything condemned to live here deserves a little sugar. The sheep pen was unoccupied. 

So in half a mile we left the ice behind and found pavement. So glorious to drive silently, smoothly and easily. And the scenery remained other worldly. 

It has been a revelation to me how barren these Andes mountains and valleys have been all down Chile and Argentina. I had expected some sort of pine forest and granite mountain range at lower elevations, like the Sierra Nevada in California. I guess I was overdue for a visit to South America. 

I hope we will get to drive Central Asia before age incapacitates us and from the photos I’ve seen of Tajikistan it looks rather like this. Perhaps we don’t need to go there after all. 

I love Chile. I was hopping around like a schoolboy celebrating the end of the school year as we walked in to present our papers. No photos allowed. 

They were as all officials have been this far, friendly, professional and as always in Chile particularly, thorough. They searched the van and checked the fridge after Layne handed over a bag of leftover contraband, a lemon half a banana and some onions. The drug dog declared us drug free and after half an hour off we went. On a smooth modern highway. 

Summer season is over so there are no more locals out camping or towing travel trailers or driving pickup truck campers. Overlanders are all making for home, some are shipping their vehicles, many Europeans are flying home for the summer with plans to return in the Fall. Team Lost is pressing on with plans to keep driving. 

Finally around 3500 feet we started to see greenery, the vineyards of summer preparing to go brown after the harvest. 

This road is a dead end, unless you plan to drive to Argentina so there wasn’t much traffic to speak of. 

Our first job was yo look for a fruit stand as always after crossing into Argentina or Chile. These are the only countries on the entire journey that do that. Every border until you get here is only interested in paperwork and the contents of our fridge or pantry have been of no interest. 

We were not far from La Serena a large beach town we stayed in for a few days last October which around here is the Spring before the summer camping season.

The plan was to drive south eight hours to Santiago to get some stuff done but as we shall see plans change.

Our powerful all terrain tires, BF Goodrich KO2s are getting worn after driving from Bogotà to Ushuaia and back and were we staying in Chile I’d drive on them for a while but we have plans to visit Bolivia and Amazonia in Brazil, places where decent tires are not readily available so as a precaution we are changing them a little early. And Layne found a dealer in La Serena…A tire shop that also changes transmission fluid. 

We have 30,000 miles since our last transmission fluid change in Ohio and we could go as long again till the next required change however a fluid change here means we refresh the transmission after some extremely hard driving and get to take a look to make sure everything bid as it should be. If itbudbtvit will be easier to repair here than before we are going… 

This means we don’t need to go to Santiago for GANNET2 which is nice. Then I made a discovery that changed our plans. It turns out there is a US consul in Cusco Perú ( on our route to Brazil) who replied to my email saying I could certainly renew my passport there and it would take six weeks. Which would give us time to explore the Sacred Valley while we wait.

And, get this, there is a Brazilian consul in Cusco so we can get help to secure a visa for Brazil. How cool is that? 

Layne looking for decent produce in the mini market. 

So it looked like we didn’t need to go to Santiago after all. And then we got a message that changed everything. $9 US for 30 eggs. Jealous? 

Seaweed. What for? I dread to think. 

Anyway our old friends Julia and Konstantin whom we last saw when we were visiting penguins in southern Argentina asked if we wanted to go to Bolivia with them. 

I will say that we have been toying with Bolivia for the longest time. It’s a tough country to visit with long lines for fuel, political protests and a high altitude climate that goes down to freezing every night. It is a bit intimidating so to convoy with friends sounded excellent. 

We have enough experience now that I think I can cope and I have promised to Layne not to lose my shit when (inevitably) I get frustrated. Breaking down in Bolivia will be a real adventure but I know we have done all we can to prevent and prepare for that. And with Konstantin and Julia for at least part of the visit we will not be alone. Plus they are easy to travel with as we don’t have to stay glued to one another as they are quite independent. 

We are working out plans to meet in Northern Argentina in two weeks and go north to the land of chaos together. Their diesel Sprinter loaded with two cats: 

It’s all just a plan do who knows if it will work out but it would be nice to see them before they ship out in a few weeks to go back to Seattle. 

Meanwhile we had to find a car wash and then a campground, a comfortable place to dust the interior of our home clean and to rest after our high altitude exertions. Overlanding can be exhausting. 

We found a spot for $30 a night in a grassy area all to ourselves on an out of season midweek stop. 

The showers were cold so we heated some water and put it in our solar shower so princess wouldn’t freeze.  

On a whim I went for a swim in the pool which was brisk and bracing and very nice after a long period of abstinence. 

Rusty patrolled the perimeter. 

Up next: Getting Things Done In The Big City.