After making it to our all along intended destination of Ushuaia, for the first time since this trip started about two years ago our destination was north. Not just a little way north, we're talking about almost 2500 miles north to Buenos Aires. A little breakdown of this stretch of the adventure by the miles below:
2473 miles from Buenos Aires (our first morning in Ushuaia to be exact) the van wouldn't start, the alternator had failed. Thankfully we had an extra from our first mechanical back in California. On the side of a busy city street in the southern most town in the world George quickly changed out our alternator and we went on with our day.
2228 miles from Buenos Aires we saw these guys. They were huge – like little toddlers waddling around all over the place. They smelled bad and made the most entertaining noises.
2184 miles from Buenos Aires we took the ferry off of the Island of Tierra del Fuego and back to mainland South America. After racing to the ferry, when we just made it in time for the departure, they let us know the ferry for that night was cancelled and we’d have to wait until the next morning. The sunrise was worth it.
1897 miles from Buenos Aires we realize we don’t have enough cash to buy enough gas to make it to Buenos Aires. In this part of the world, cards are rarely accepted. We had already changed our American Dollars and apparently we spent the stash we thought we had hidden. *Unlike some of the other countries we visited you’ll receive a very favorable exchange rate for changing American Dollars vs withdrawing money from an ATM. We have to pull into Calafate to withdraw money from the ATM so we have enough cash to buy gas when we leave El Chalten.
1711 miles from Buenos Aires we set out on one of our favorite hikes of the trip, Mt Fitz Roy. It’s stunningly fall and off-season. We felt spoiled by the weather and to have the place to ourselves.
1175 miles from Buenos Aires we are invited to a fantastic dinner with a fishing guide that sought us out at a gas station. We enjoy a memorable evening with fantastic food, a much-needed hot shower and an opportunity to do laundry.
1142 miles from Buenos Aires we find an enticing winding road up a beautiful valley. We explore it to the end and then take off on foot to find a beautiful clear river where George fishes the afternoon away.
978 miles from Buenos Aires we sleep under towering rock spires on the rivers edge.
754 miles from Buenos Aires we had to sleep at a gas station because the fuel pump started whining so insistently that George had to pull it off the car and run it backwards to unclog it.
500 miles from Buenos Aires the horn started randomly honking really loudly. Scaring ourselves and innocent drivers, pedestrians, and dogs.
200 to 300 miles from Buenos Aires the cross wind on the road was so intense that when there was a semi in the oncoming lane the backdraft was so strong that it would pull the windshield wipers off the glass and, with a startlingly loud WHAM, slap them back down. You can also imagine what this did for efforts of keeping the van straight on the road.
299 miles from Buenos Aires we slept at another gas station.
71 miles from Buenos Aires we pulled in to the most crowded campground of the trip where we needed to prep Dolores for shipping. Luckily it was Sunday night and the crowed cleared out by the evening. We then unpacked, removed and repacked the rocket box and placed it inside the van for shipping security… during this exercise we found a different long forgotten stash of money; so that was nice.
2 miles from Buenos Aires we are one peso short at the last tollbooth into the city. We have to pull over and change $20 of our newfound cash at a fake insurance office in a rough barrio to a guy wearing a shoulder padded gray suit with long 80’s metal style hair and lip and eye liner.
When we arrive at the apartment that we will call home for the next 9 days our AirBnB host had baked us fresh bread and placed cold beer in the fridge. Bienvenidos a Buenos Aires!
