Back to dear old Blighty again

The final few weeks of this trip have not exactly been the most interesting, although we have a tale or two to tell.  Our main purpose was to drive over the Andes, across Argentina and then to the southern coast of Uruguay where we have arranged to store Footloose Lucy for the next nine months or so.  This has meant covering a similar distance in three weeks to that which we have covered in the last three months.

We circumnavigated our way around Santiago without going wrong once and then on Good Friday we crossed the Andes into Argentina.  The Andes were stark and savage and high with seemingly nothing on them apart from the occasional distant glimpse of a large raptor.  The ascent to the Chilean/Argentine border was steep and quite formidable but the descent to the foothills around Mendoza was much more gradual and gentle.

Switchback up the Andes

Road through the Andes

Lunch stop at the top

Turquoise lake on Argentine side

We arrived in Mendoza, a lively and attractive city in the middle of the Argentine wine growing region, on Easter Saturday.  We looked for various cabanas, hostels and hotels to stay in Mendoza, all of which were full, it being Easter weekend.  The only place that wasn’t full was the Motel San Isidro which is where we ended up staying.  Motel in South America is a euphemism for sex hotel but any port in a storm!

The Motel San Isidro was all that the name suggests.  The entrance was discreet, the car ports had curtains that closed behind the vehicles in order to protect them from prying eyes.  The room itself had an extremely large bed and a two-person shower with two shower heads.  There was a cunning device, a bit like a leper’s hatch, for ordering food and drink.  This presumably enabled the occupants to ring up and say, ‘Immediately send two dozen oysters and a bottle of champagne’ and somebody would trot along, open a flap on the outside, push the food in and then close the flap.  The occupants could then open the inside of the flap and, when they had a spare moment, consume the provisions.  All that said, we were very comfortable and the staff, who were quite amused at a couple of white haired travellers taking refuge at their motel, were very friendly and helpful.

Little furry rodent without a tail (not a mouse)

 

Monk Parakeet sitting on the BBQ

After our dirty weekend we descended onto the Pampas looking for wild Gauchos riding around on sweat flecked ponies.  What we found was combine harvesters.  The harvest was in full swing and everywhere we looked there were combines spewing grain and soya and millet out into the backs of trucks which were keeping pace with the combines as they moved through the flat unending prairie.  The Gauchos have probably all gone to work as extras in Hollywood

We found this nice secluded spot for lunch and then the heavy brigade decided to join us

The roads across the Pampas in Argentina are by and large, dead straight, dead flat and deadly boring.  We agreed that if this is the Pampas you can keep it.  This part of the trip has not been without its incidents and amusements, however. 

After driving our daily average of 250 kilometres we turned up one evening in a little town and found that it had an attractive lake which we thought would make a nice place to camp for the night.  We looked around for somebody who might tell us where we could camp, and we happened upon the man from the water purification company.  He was a very pleasant chap who pointed out where the camping area was and then he asked us if we would like some fresh water, he being in the business.  We took up his offer and he filled the water tank and then we proceeded round the lake to the area designated for camping.

We sat for a while and chatted and then a friend of the aforementioned water company employee turned up and said how pleased he was we were there and had come to visit their little town and, by the way, was it okay if he got the local television company along.  We weren’t quite sure if we had understood him correctly but we said “yes, yes, yes” and he took some photographs and then we got on with making our supper in the time honoured manner. 

About fifteen minutes later the television crew arrived complete with outside broadcast stuff and a lady to do the continuity and they proceeded to interview Sue (the only one of us who speaks a bit of Spanish), slightly flustered, but who made a pretty good fist of it in the end.  Meanwhile the guy with the very sophisticated camera went all the way round Lucy and inside Lucy and up in the tent and took long shots and shots of us and they ultimately went off with great expressions of good fellowship.  If we were the local headlines then it must have been a quiet week in Lake Woebegon.

Sue with Argentine TV crew

After a week of driving seemingly endless miles along seemingly endless roads and staying in forgettable towns we finally approached the seemingly unpronounceable town of Gualeguaychu, close to the border with Uruguay.

Coming into the aforementioned unpronounceable town we missed the turning and Alan decided that he would take a short cut across a little grassy bank onto the right road rather than turning around and going back.  There was a ditch, quite a deep ditch, too deep for Lucy.

There was this shortcut . . . . .

Lucy got comprehensibly stuck, so we hitched the winch up to a handy telegraph pole but unfortunately it was at entirely the wrong angle and therefore would only pull Lucy sideways rather than out.  Before long two policemen came along, followed by another two and, whilst they undoubtedly thought we were completely stupid (and they were right weren’t they Alan? Should have listened to Sue), they were very helpful and ultimately they persuaded a chap in a large pick-up to tow Lucy out backwards.  On this occasion it was a VW pickup, not a Nissan.

During the initial attempts to winch Lucy out of the ditch, her bonnet catch broke which meant we could no longer open the bonnet.  This resulted in us having to stay in the aforementioned unpronounceable town for longer than we intended in order to get it fixed.  That said, it turned out to be quite a pleasant town and we managed to while away the time along the banks of the Rio Gualeguaychu and the surrounding park which was full of bird life.

Female Green-Barred Woodpecker

Red Crested Cardinal

The crossing into Uruguay on Tuesday 10^th April was our fastest ever, fifteen minutes from start to finish and that included obtaining a 365 day Temporary Import Permit for Lucy.  It made us wonder why other countries have to spend so much time shuffling round bits of paper, sending you to half a dozen different check points and stamping everything in triplicate.

The Plaza at Mercedes, Uruguay, with Cathedral and flowering tree

Close up of prickly tree in bloom

Mercedes Cathedral

By Wednesday afternoon we had arrived at the overland depot, otherwise known as Paraiso Suizo.  Heinz and Sylvia, the Swiss couple who own and run Paraiso Suizo, were very pleasant and made us entirely welcome.

Having got ourselves shaken down Heinz suggested that we should park Lucy next to the bungalow as there was a big thunderstorm coming in during the night.  This we did, in fact very close to the bungalow.  Unfortunately, the wind direction was not as predicted and during the night we got the full force of the thunderstorm with lashing rain and heavy winds on the tent.

The tent awning supports flew away some time during the high point of the storm and we felt like a couple of young rooks in a nest high in a poplar tree being whacked around by the vagaries of the February and March gales.  Interesting experience.  The tent also leaked, it leaked a great deal.  In fact, Sue’s side was mostly a pool of water and she was understandably far from entirely gruntled.  Needless to say, neither of us got much sleep.

Washed up marker buoy - victim of the storm

Attempt to re-float fishing trawler - another storm casualty

Next day we decamped and moved into one of the nice, dry, spacious cabanas where we have been ever since even though the weather is now beautiful and sunny again.  We have spent the time getting Lucy serviced and other bits of her fixed, cleaned her inside and out and generally prepared her for a long stay here at Paraiso Suizo although we still haven’t worked out what to do about the leaking tent.

We’ve also had time to chill out and relax here.  There are miles of deserted white sandy beach to stroll along, there have been birds for Alan to photograph and the nearby town of Piriapolis where Lucy has had her repairs done is a pleasant enough seaside town to wander around.

She's nicked my hat again!

Totally in control of the situation - chairlift to the Mirador, Piriapolis

Male Green-Barred Woodpecker

Female Green Barred Woodpecker

Monk Parakeet

We don't know what this one is, but it's very pretty

We have booked our flights home and on Wednesday 18^th April we will be leaving for UK and Lucy will be staying at Paraiso Suizo in the tender care of Heinz.  The highlight of this trip has most certainly been the time spent in Patagonia (except the disappointment of not seeing Albatross and Elephant seals) and on Chiloe which was everything we hoped for and more.

We are already thinking about our next trip when we plan to make our way to Bolivia and Peru and somehow include a trip into Brazil and the Amazon.  Watch this space!