ODO: 338,111
The day starts with dogs barking, and birds screaming, and beautiful weather. We’ve been missing the consistent lovely weather, so it’s exciting every time. There is a volcano across the lake, so we choose the scenic route towards it. Unfortunately by the time we get close, a cloud has covered most of it. Oh well. Back on the highway, we head towards the mountains where we crossed out of Chile the very first time. There is a dirt road we’ve heard good things about, and we need to experience it for ourselves. Once we turn off the highway, the road to the dirt road is it’s own twisty and narrow adventure. Once again we are camped on a lake shore, but this time out in the country where it’s quiet and full of stars.
There is a cow somewhere near by that is MAD. It is yelling, and yelling, and yelling. Very effective alarm…Once Berne goes outside the birds get upset as well, adding to the morning noise. Nature is not often quiet, but its not usually this noisy. We have an unknown adventure in front of us. Our adventure road runs through Reserva Nacional Villarrica, along the border. After checking in, its a dirt road through the forest, dirt shelf roads, very dusty dirt roads, and more water crossings than we could count. There were a few gates we had to cross, and even a large waterfall. We tried to add on a section at the end because we were enjoying it so much, but got stopped by a locked gate. Oh well. Back on the slightly more main road, we cross back, back, back, back, back (we’ve lost count of how many times we’ve crossed between these two countries) into Argentina for a hotel night on a quiet lake. There is almost no one in the hotel so the nightly DJ plays us a private concert for a few hours before bed.
Now that we’re in Argentina, its time to lay down some miles. We pass through a lot of really interesting landscapes, partially desert, sometimes mountains, the odd volcano. But not a single guanaco…We score another beautiful riverside camp. It feels like all the water along the spine of Argentina/Chile is this amazing glacier blue color. And it’s warm out! Warm enough that we can sleep with the windows open. A thing we’ve been missing since Peru. Once the sun goes down we are treated to a very intense Milky Way, and a large lightning storm off in the distance.
We learn that our camp spot is also a really good trout and salmon fishing spot from a nice older gentleman that arrives in the morning. Back on the road, back on Route 40. In some places this road is a gravel superhighway, in other places its a paved, potholed disaster, and in others, there is twenty feet of perfect pavement between single lane gravel. It always keeps us guessing. And still no guanacos! Today is a day to lay down some miles because we want to get to Mendoza at a reasonable time this evening. All four of our friends are waiting for us, and hopefully some new friends as well.
We arrive to the Finca (small farm in South America) and indeed meet five new friends! Abigail, Zoe and Ritchie, who just bought this finca and are working to turn it into a campground, and Raph and Karina who are staying long term to fix up their camper. There is also a very friendly cat named Oreo. Dinner is a gigantic pile of fire roasted meat (steaks, and sausages and chicken, and different other steaks….) and potatoes. There are no complaints.
The morning is chilly and rainy, it looks like we may have brought some weather with us. Everyone decides to enjoy their separate indoor activities except for Berne and Jason who spend the day working through a giant burn pile and helping with finca chores. We get to celebrate a birthday today, our OG friend Will is turning 35. He gets two cakes, a stress ball, and an evening full of roasted meat and wine. Again, no complaints.
Complaints this morning, everyone is varying degrees of hungover. The good weather returns so its time to get to work. Our roof has been leaking recently, so we re-seal every rivet on the roof. Next up are the uniballs, which are way, way over due. We had grand plans to change them after Bolivia, but racing to Ushuaia derailed that plan. Berne discovers he does like cats. For dinner? you guessed it, more fire roasted meat! This seems to be the way in these parts, and we are here for it.
We wake up to a little bit of rain, but it quickly clears. Todays repair list is trying to patch up the fenders some, they are always trying to fall off. The sheet metal in and around the fenders is full of cracks, and from time to time we need to reattach parts of it to other parts of it. And taking the 4WD apart again, again….The fender repair is aided by Oreo, the kitten that loves to help and be involved. Berne doesn’t appreciate her help. The 4WD is tricker, obviously because we’re still trying to make it work properly. The mechanical bits all seem to work fine, so Berne removes its computer to see if that’s the problem. Jason and Berne start probing the wires from the front 4×4 actuator to see if they can diagnose what is wrong. It appears the computer is sending and receiving the correct signals, so back to checking the mechanical parts again. Off comes the front skid plate, drop the diff down a little bit to get to the top actuator bolts….and out it comes. 6 little screws later reveals that it is FULL OF WATER….ugggh. Half hour of brushing, soaking, cleaning, and some casual rebuilding, and its reinstalled and sort of working again. Its still not 100%, but, we’re functional. After a long day working on the truck, we opt for a medium length walk to a brewery for some delicious burgers, and an early night.
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