WE MADE IT!!!

Wednesday, February 25th: Just an "unofficial" post to say that, with a good bit of perserverence and effort, we made it into Buenos Aires. Starting well before sunrise, the team took a calculated risk and made it through rush hour traffic all the way back to their original hotel. The cars are now back in their garage, drivers are now working with the shipping agency for their return, and (hopefully) Vince will finally be able to see some of the city. Lots more to tell, but we are working feverishly to get the cars into customs this afternoon, so it will have to wait. Stay tuned...

The Journey Northbound

Thursday February 12th: Leaving Rio Mayo, once again in extreme Patagonian winds, the little troop made its way northbound to Esquel, a quaint town steeped in Welsh tradition. The decision to stay two nights was made since Vince needed time to correct his still dodgy steering from the evils of the ripio. There was time, however, to ride La Trochita aka "The Old Patagonian Express", one of the world's oldest narrow-gauge railways.

Saturday February 14th: We arrived in El Bolson via a very scenic drive through Los Alerces National Park. The terrain took on an alpine look with trees and lakes as far as the eye could see. Along the route, we passed Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid's old home, nestled in the foothills of the Andes.

Sunday February 15th: A lovely casual drive to Bariloche through more mountains where we were met half way by the car club from Bariloche, headed by Mac and Phyllis good friends of Vince. The members of the car club made us very welcome and fed us coffee and goodies before escorting us into Bariloche to our hotel.

Monday February 16th: Time to explore the town of Bariloche, catch-up on laundry, and with the aid of Martin and Phyllis, get our return shipping documents notorized ready for the anticipated battle in the docks of Buenos Aires to get our cars loaded on the ship home. Our friends from the car club treated us to a wonderful evening of food and beer at a popular local pub - thank you!

Tuesday February 17th: Guided by Martin, we took a quick drive around the Circuito Chico in the morning and saw the gorgeous views of the lake. In the afternoon, Vince, Johny, River and Diana went horse riding and enjoyed the tranquillity of the hills. In the evening, Phyllis and Mac invited us to a wonderful evening at their home. What a treat!

Wednesday February 18th: Stan turned 60. To celebrate, we thought we'd go for a drive! Once again, the friends we made through the car club made our day, and they took time to see us off and wish us safe travels. We drove to San Martin de los Andes through the Nahuel Huapi National Park and along The Road of the 7 Lakes. Although this was a ripio road, the scenery made it worth the roughness. We are now finished with ripio - yeah!

Thursday February 19th: Another rest day and time to maintain the cars. Grease all the nipples, check all the fluids, tighten the loose nuts, clear any blocked jets, check the tyre pressures, and plan the route for available petrol stations. We will be ready for the next few days of the last leg of our trip.

Box on the Rocks (or Lightning Strikes Twice)

Tuesday, February 10th: The ripio claimed its second victim, this time from none other than Vince himself. Shortly after starting the ripio again after the town of Perito Moreno, history repeated itself as Vince's Box Saloon took what was now a too-familiar nosedive into the unforgiving surface. Another kingpin had come out! Once again, repair had to be done on site, and, as admiring busloads of southbound tourists watched, Vince and Jack proved anything can be done with a little mettle and a handy stone or two. Once the two-hour repair was completed, we drove the rest of the way to Rio Mayo, one day ahead of schedule. It was quickly decided to use that extra day to tend to the care of the cars, especially now that Vince had noted the front spring on his car was severely broken. No dissension was noted from the team, who were now fully aware of the toll the ripio had exacted from the Baby Austins.

Cueva de las Manos

Monday, February 9th: A long, hard drive over even more challenging ripio paid off in big dividends as we reached Cueva de las Manos, a world heritage site located in a spectacular canyon. With a setting reminiscent of the Grand Canyon as a backdrop, we viewed the very interesting cave paintings, with an estimated age of 1000-9000 years. In such a nice setting, and with the Chummy still showing some "hiccups" from the previous day´s roadside repair, another 2 hours were committed to resolving its remaining steering issues. Finally, in late afternoon, we started the grueling drive to our next destination. On the way out, we stopped at a small shack for the advertised coffee. (Our only commercial choice in an otherwise barren land.) Due to our late start after the tour and the rougher-than-expected conditions of the road, we finally pulled in to Estancia Telken well after 9 p.m. for a night of "campio" (as Stan calls it). After setting up our tents, we sat down to a stellar meal prepared by Chef Jack, who (unfortunately for him) has demonstrated his cooking prowess, with even the most rudimentary of ingredients. Exhausted, but well fed, we all slipped into our sleeping bags well after midnight under the bright luminescence of a near-full moon.

Chummy on the Rocks

Sunday, February 8th: The day started innocently enough: A bit more ripio to cover before reaching Bajo Caracoles, a windswept blip of civilisation in an otherwise austere Patagonian desert. All was going well as we found ourselves on freshly graded ripio from time to time, in anticipation of asphalt (which will surely change the character of this famous route). The only contentious element was the fierce wind, which often slowed us down to a crawl and also forced us to seek shelter under the alcove of an abandoned roadside hotel--the only building for miles and miles--to brew up a pot of coffee. Within striking distance of our final destination, however, the Chummy suddenly skidded on its front axle, coming to a grinding halt. What had happened? With a sinking feeling, we looked around the front of the car to see the right wheel lying almost flat under the car, with the front suspension having taken the full force of the nose dive into the hard ripio rocks. We were done for---or so we thought. In short time, the calvary arrived, and, with the aid of everyone pitching in, we were able to pick up the pieces (literally) that had fallen off the car and put "Chummy Dumpty" back together again. The king pin had somehow worked its way out from the suspension, causing the near-disaster. Vince commented that this was apparently a fluke, but we checked the rest of the nuts and bolts, just in case, and slowly limped to our hotel, still smarting.

Austins Meet Ruta 40 Ripio

Saturday, February 7th: After leaving El Calafate, we sped along a paved portion of Route 40, only to be slowed later by the ripio that has made this highway infamous. We stopped for a welcome repreive in Las Leones for "cafe con leche " (we can ALL say that now) and some delicious desserts. There, we learned the same hotel/cafe had been used previously by none other than Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, who used the hotel in the late 1800's to lay low for a month after a bank heist. Then, it was more ripio to cover before we arrived in Gobernador Gregores. The plan to camp was quickly altered by the arrival of rain and we luckily found ourselves a house to rent, which we quickly sullied with fresh mud as we once again trundled all the essentials (Read: "luggage and G and T mix") inside.

El Calafate

Wednesday 4th February: We arrived in El Calafate after a day of mostly ripio roads, our last border crossing between Chile and Argentina, with Torres Del Paine in our rear-view mirrors. El Calafate is full of more wonderful scenery, which we are experiencing for the next two days of rest.

Friday 6th February: The team headed out for a scenic drive southwest of town. Our destination: the famous Perito Moreno glacier. After a very enjoyable drive along a winding and hilly country road, we were treated to spectacular views of the glacier ahead. We arrived at the approach road to the glacier, only to find it was closed to all traffic except tour buses. After pleading our case to the local authorities, the Austins were given special dispensation and we happily churned up the hill to the parking lot at the top, with jaw-dropping views of the world´s most famous glacier.

We took the handy foottrails to get even closer to the mass of indescribably blue and white ice and to hear it serenade us with creaks and groans as the ice field slowly advances into the fjord. We were even treated to thunderous crashing of icebergs calving from the forbidding ice face. A very humbling experience for all of us.

Glaciers

Tuesday 3rd February: We entered Torres Del Paine National Park and saw the most amazing scenery of glaciers and snow-capped mountains. Words, and even our pictures can't do it justice but here is a sample.

We discovered the local drink of Chile - pisco sours - and they are very good!

Punta Arenas, Chile

Saturday January 31st: A 4:30 am alarm began the day enabeling us to leave San Seastian by 5:40 am as dawn was bearly cracking. With estimates from previous experience that we would only be be able to travel at 15 mph along the 95 miles of ripio road between us and the only ferry to Puntea Arenas, we left with only a 2o minute buffer for things to go wrong. Although the road was treacherous in parts, we were able to average just over 20 mph and made it to Porvernir to catch the ferry with over an hour to spare.

It took 2 1/2 hours for the ferry to cross the Magellan Strait to Punta Arenas where we found shelter at a hostel with lots of character!

The End of the Road

Friday January 30th: A quick 2-hour drive before breakfast saw us at the end of the road, as far south as we could drive along Route 3. Stopping only for petrol and breakfast, we left Ushuaia to begin the second leg of our journey back to Buenos Aires.

Our goal for the day - cross the Border into Chile, stay in San Sebastian, and get an early night so as to be ready to leave at dawn the next day for Porvenir to catch the daily ferry to Punta Arenas. All was going well until Vince's rear wheel bearing went. Another roadside repair adding two hours to the plan.