There's somethin' about a dirt road...

Back in Colorado there's a feeling I get whenever the pavement ends and you can hear the crunch of gravel underneath the tires. This sound and the bump as you dip off the asphalt almost always means you're headed somewhere fun. I can remember this feeling from early in my childhood headed out on family camping trips, and it surfaces now when we head out for weekend hiking/biking/camping/fishing trips. It's a gentle reminder that we're headed to a less traveled, more pristine place and good times with good people are ahead; it almost always makes me crack a smile. With mountain spires in the distance as we bump on the dirt road headed from Esquel, Argentina towards Futelefu back in Chile I can tell by the big smiles on both of our faces that we both have this feeling now. We're headed towards the much anticipated Carretera Austral, the only stretch of road that connects Southern Patagonia in Chile, and the landscape before us is a guarantee that we're headed somewhere spectacular.

4th Gear Fix

The border crossing is almost enjoyable and we quickly realize that there was no need to pull over at the gas station 30 miles back and cook all our meat. The inspection at the little office in the trees is quick and painless and were on our way in no time. Not like the last two times we entered Chile where we had to do things like remove the surfboards and send them through the x-ray machine or surrender my (extremely hard to find) crushed red pepper flakes. One of the agents is so nice he even gives us a key chain and welcomes us. Thanks, Chile- we're glad to be back!

As the dirt road winds past small cabins, farmland and greenhouse we see many people collecting and chopping firewood; a reminder of how rough the winters here must be. Tucked away greenhouses and small handmade wooden signs on the road advertising verduras for sale ease my concerns that we would have trouble finding provisions as the summer season here winds to an end. We must stop about every 20 minutes to take pictures of dramatic mountains, glaciers and the most colorful rivers.

That night we are rocked to sleep by the beautiful rushing turquoise river river we are parked just a stones throw away from. The crisp pink sunrise reveals more glacier covered peaks and granite walls around us - for a moment we wonder if the truck that flew around the washboard corner at terrifying speeds the night before killed us and we have someway made our way to heaven. George catches fish by the handfuls and I do yoga. Once the sun reaches us, we both shower in the cold river water and then warm in the sunlight.

From there we head to Parque Pumalin, part of Doug Tompkins Conservacion Patagonica project. It's a mix of Disneyland surrealness and wildly beautiful landscape. We camp at the El Volcan campground and have a stunning view of a glacier and live steaming volcano. The next morning we hike up to the Chaiten Volcano and come face to face with the smoldering core. This volcano erupted in 2008 and obliterated the surrounding area. The forest we hiked through to the summit burned only by heat- not flames. Seeing the area making a comeback was a reminder of mother natures tenacity.

From there we made our way to the northern most part of the Carretera Austal that we can drive, Caleta Gonzalo. The road there is hugged with ferns and every once in a while we get a peek at the surrounding landscape. A thousand shades of green complimented by a thousand shades of blue. Vibrant hillsides, ferns, airplants and ancient trees, contrasted by crystal clear rivers, waterfalls, granite walls and creeping glaciers.

When we arrive at Caleta Gonzalo, where we had hoped to get a map, some more information about the park, enjoy a meal at the cafe, and purchase a few extra vegetables, we find everything closed. After walking around and getting a feel for the place a ferry pulls in, the cafe opens and it starts to rain all at once. We have lunch and ask about the information center opening or the garden house that sells veggies. After we learn that the lady that runs both of these programs is not around and no one else can help us we head to our campground for the night. It rains through the night and in the morning the sun comes out to see us off.

We stopped in Chaiten for lunch and head the the hot springs for an afternoon soak. We make our way to Parque Nacional Queulat where we hike to the hanging glacier and are impressed by the jet engine noise it can make without appearing to move at all. As we get back to the van, the rain starts and doesn't stop for the next day. The rivers swell to a state that's hard to imagine and again were reminded of the grand scale of this place.

BEFORE: Evening the rain starts

AFTER: River the next morning

After Puerto Rio Tranquilo we make our way to Rio Baker another giant stunning turquoise river. We find a spot that offers great river access, a view of the mountain and protection from the road. While George is fishing and I'm getting the fire ready to grill our pork chops, an adventure mobile stops and a woman gets out and asks, "would it be incredibly cheeky for us to ask to share this spot with you? We have been driving all day and were exhausted. The other spot we checked on iOverlander is also full." Understanding the exhausted feeling, I tell them they are more then welcome and it seems like their rig would fit in a flat spot nicely above us where it appears there is another spot anyways. However, I immediately regret not telling them that there are a few more spots up the road when they manage to wedge themselves in between us and the river, blocking both our mountain view and path to the river. We try to bright side it by thinking it is always nice to have fellow travelers around and swap stories, info, etc. Again we're disappointed when they go inside their giant unimog and skip enjoying the fire, river or the view.

When we arrive it's clear that Parque Patagonia is still getting all of its infrastructure in place. Construction is abound on both roads and buildings all while guanacos mill about. That night in the campground I catch a view of a Puma in my headlamp, out of fear and to confirm I'm not crazy, I run back to the van and George sees him from a distance. We had the opportunity to help out in the garden for a bit and meet some of the other people that are involved in the project. It was inspiring to see the progress of this massive undertaking by Doug and Kris Tompkins and I was jealous of the people that were making their mark and preserving these stunning landscapes.

Although parts of the Carretera Austal are now paved and there are plans to pave the whole thing, it still offered that same pristine escape that we were seeking. With signs of fall showing all around us we turn east towards Argentina and five giant condors see us off. This time as we bump off the dirt road on to paved Ruta 40, we have the same smiles, we're headed to El Calafate to pick up our good friend Alex. With Parque Nacional Los Glaciares and Parque Nacional Torres Del Paine ahead we are again headed for good times with good people.

What next?

On February 20 in Iquique, Chile we discovered piston #1 of our motor was no longer fully functioning. Two things were clear:

#1 - we fully understood why we had such trouble in Bolivia, which you might remember from here (one of the reasons we started looking into our engine issues in the first place).

#2 - it was total crap shoot of what to do next.

All of the parts (head gaskets, piston rings, etc.) needed to repair the motor are not easily accessible in Chile. We started by looking for a new motor, but turns out our engine (Subaru ej22) is not imported to Chile because of the taxes on engine size. So we looked for a similar motor but in the end found out the similar motor (Subaru ej20) was too different to work without significant changes to the wiring harness.


With our options exhausted on the motor search in Iquique and our friend Metzler headed to Santiago we told him what parts we needed to repair Dolores' heart and decided we'd take a stab a tearing her apart. 

With that plan we took to the Atacama Desert really slowly with our fingers crossed that we would make the 1,000 mile trip in three days. After all, what could go wrong while crossing the continent’s largest desert and driest desert in the world in a 33-year-old vehicle running on three cylinders?

Metzler’s flight ended up being cancelled and we hung out north of the city for three days surfing, fishing and sleeping at gas stations while we waited to collect him and the parts that could potentially help to send Dolores and us south to Ushuaia. Surprisingly, it was a good thing his flight was delayed a day; it took until minutes before his flight left for all of our parts to arrive.

With Metzler on the ground, and parts in hand, we all agreed it’d be best to have a Subaru mechanic do the work. However, after multiple tries it was finally clear that the Subaru mechanics needed the car’s VIN number before they could perform any work. And since our VIN number was a VW they couldn't make it happen. We couldn't understand why head gaskets had anything to do with VIN numbers and thought surely we were missing something trying to understand the fast Chilean Spanish.



After a day and a half of talking to mechanics we decided to shift to plan C of plan B, which was to perform the work ourselves, by putting our best carpenter and internet cop on the job. We just needed a place to do the work, which meant more mechanic chats.



Meet: Carpenter and Internet Cop

By chance as we were getting gas, in English, someone asked us if we really drove all the way from Colorado. During our quick chat Gato told us that he was restoring a Series III Land Rover and a Datsun 510. Little did we know at the time but over the next few days he and his family would drastically impact our adventure. Silvia and Alberto, Gato’s parents, welcomed us in to their home like family and gave us every advantage to be successful at the task of rebuilding Dolores' heart. We ate three wonderful meals a day with the whole family and we were unbelievably grateful for their kindness and support. Gato’s niece, Maite, the 1 1/2 year old, stole our hearts with her wide-eyed curiosity and newfound love of the flash tattoos we gave her! Gato drove us on runs for parts and shared wonderful stories about his travels.



In a time that could have been very rough, we found ourselves laughing about cultural differences, idiocies of learning a new language, things that are the same in all cultures and eating fabulous Chilean food that we were unable to find in any restaurant. For two days George and Metzler worked tirelessly in the driveway in front of their apartment sized RV (that they insisted we stay in while we were there). We all cheered when the motor went back together and started for the first time. After the motor work was done, Silvia insisted she give George a much-needed haircut in the carport with the whole family watching.

As it became time to leave they asked us when we were coming back. It was too hard to say we weren’t – I liken it to telling your Grandma you won’t be around for Christmas ever again. I don’t know if Silvia and Alberto have any idea how much them welcoming us into their family there meant to us. They rescued us. We had an amazing experience while getting Dolores road worthy. As we all hugged and said our goodbyes, and even now as I write this, I got all choked up – there just aren’t enough words to express our gratitude.

It wasn’t all-tearful – Gato grabbed his girlfriend, Macarena, and they headed south with us for a few days! We went to Matanzas that night, stayed at the nicest campground of the trip and laughed around the campfire until the early hours of the morning. The next day we headed to Pichilemu and we all enjoyed ice cream while George surfed. Gato was planning a trip around South America in his restored Land Rover and we realized over the course of a few conversations that we were going to be in Argentina during the same time, so we made plans to see him again - such is life on the road.

It all seems oddly serendipitous – our van breaks in the only country in South America that imports Subarus, right before a friend from the states who loves to fix things comes to visit us, and we happen to be getting gas when a super friendly mustachioed man (with the nicest Chilean family) stopped to chat for a second.