Monthly Archives: December 2018

Officially into Argentina, a Wild camp near Uspallata and Mendoza

November 24, 2018 – November 28, 2018

The next morning we drove through the tunnel, and officially entered Argentina….our 14th country of the trip since leaving Canada. The border procedures were quick and organized…we had read that this border can take 4 to 6 hours if you hit it at the wrong time, as Argentinians cross here to go shopping in Santiago, Chile. We got lucky and it wasn’t busy at all. We were stamped in in about 30 minutes. We began driving through a beautiful valley along a river lined by multi coloured peaks….red, yellow, orange, brown, purple-grey….stunning.

Northern Argentina near the border with Chile.
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Paso los Liberadores

November 23, 2018 – November 24, 2018

The highway to the border of Argentina was in great shape. We sped along through small towns and fields of grape vines, slowly gaining elevation. Then the switchbacks began. Traffic slowed as we followed semi trailers up the numbered switchbacks, about 29 of them in total.

The first set of switchbacks on the main highway.
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Santiago de Chile

November 19, 2018 – November 23, 2018

When I had dreamed about this trip, I had romantic visions of us visiting cities like Santiago. I pictured us getting a bit dressed up, visiting museums, churches and parks, then heading out for a late night dinner, maybe on a patio with a full moon and soft music playing in the background. But after visiting many colonial cities on this trip, to tell the truth, they are starting to all look alike.  In addition, it is hard to “clean up” nicely when you live in a small camper with no bathroom and most of your cloths are dirty and/or slowly deteriorating from harsh laundry service.  Also big cities can be quite a challenge with our truck and the dog….we want safe and secure parking that we can fit into and Piper is not always welcome at all establishments (What!  I know!  They just don’t know her like we do).  That being said, it seemed a shame to be so close to city such as Santiago and not visit…in we went.

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La Serena, Horcon, a Copec gas station and Embalse del Yeso

November 13, 2018 – November 19, 2018

We returned to La Serena to take Seymour into the Dodge dealership for diagnosis. We arrived early, left the truck at the garage and walked, with Piper, to a nearby outdoor mall to kill some time. We moved from shady bench to shady bench as the sun made its way across the morning sky.  We snuck into the Sodimac (South America’s version of Home Depot) to use the washrooms. We watched the security guard watch us. We went for a coffee. We searched for an outdoor plug to recharge our phone and tablet. It was a little like being homeless for 6 or 7 hours, except, of course, we knew we would have a nice warm bed at the end of the day.

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