...Out of Chile

Sunday, January 25th: The team arose early to tackle what lay between them and the Argentinian border: 5 hours of bone-jarrring, nut-shaking travel over ripio, which we speculate means "Devil´s washboard" in Spanish. Slowly, but slowly, we covered one kilometre after another on the dirt and gravel surface on a typical summer day in the Antarctic circle. (Read: "Cold and windy.") Back into Argentina without a hitch and, after yet another infamous ham and cheese sandwich, we were on paved road again. The little cars thanked us by cranking out the remaining miles blissfully until we arrived at our lodging in Rio Grande. We got there with enough time to prepare for tomorrow´s run to Ushuaia, the end of the road.

Into Chile...

Saturday, January 24th: Valuable lessons were gleaned at the Chilean border, as the team naively waited in a long queue of cars waiting at the Argentinian checkpoint, only to discover we were not even "in the system." Eventually, by watching the locals, we learned one had to queue up in person inside the Customs Hall. Four hours later, we had mastered the process with few scars to show (unless tedium leaves a noticeable mark). We were finally in Chile. Another hour of driving and the cars boarded the ferry to cross the Magellan Strait. While Jack mused about how the original explorer must have felt in the beautifully jade green waters, we were entertained by a pod of Commerson dolphins, the smallest dolphins in the world, who played in the ship´s wake as we crossed to the other side. Tierra del Fuego at last!

River and Diana Lose Their Bearings

Friday, January 23rd: A lo-o-o-ong day, interrupted by an "unplanned tea break" in very windy rain to pull the engine out of the Chummy (yes, the engine). The cause of the problem was the clutch release bearing, which failed, luckily enough, at the entrance to a roadside cafe. Some 3 hours later, we celebrated a successful "transplant" with hot tea and yummy scones and were back on the road to finish the 225 mile day. And the irony? The sun appeared only as we were finally pulling out, thawing most of our frozen bits as we rode on. Diana and River say "Many Thanks" to the "Awesome Austin 7 Pit Crew!" (You know who you are.)