The Great and Powerful Maz Has Spoken!

Yesterday, and many days before, we have been in a quandary; wither to fly North and miss Bolivia or take on the long drive ourselves.  Today, Maz told us the answer.

We were heading towards Santiago with intentions to pull of the highway before the capital and stay at a nice hot spring in the country outside of the city.  I was peacefully reading the Lord of the Rings, when I realized that something was fishy.  My mom turned around in the passenger seat and told me the car was not working.   Gulp!   I threw a slew of nervous questions at my parents and found out that we were going to turn off the highway into a smaller town before Santiago and try to get Maz fixed.  The car was popping out of gear and was making weird noises.  We pulled into the small town of San Francisco and found a road side mechanic working on a car.  We asked him if he could fix maz, but he said something in Spanish that we took to mean, “I don’t have the parts.  You will need to go to Santiago.”  He also told us that if we drove very slowly, we would probably make the fifty kilometers between here and the city.  Gulp....Gulp...Gulp!
 



We looked at each other and we all realized two things; first, this was a big deal not just a simple loose screw, and second, Maz was helping us with our decision.  We got on the highway and experienced yet more road juju.  Mom chose the wrong highway and  missed the city center.  Then, Dad accidentally exited the city bypass and entered into a random side of town.  Are you ready for this?  Turn on the cheesy music!  Around every bend and every corner there were car shops, dealers, plazas, and malls dedicated to cars.  We had stumbled into the car part of town.  Who knew?  We asked pedestrians for directions to the nearest mechanic but we could not understand their answers.  Within minutes, we came upon an Auto Planet car parts shop.  “It is maybe not what we are looking for but, hey let’s give it a try!” we said. 



Auto Planet was ideal.  Three friendly employees said that they could not fix the car, but they knew a mechanic who gladly would.  They called him and he agreed to come to the Auto Planet shop and look at our car.  While we were waiting for the mechanic to arrive and look at our car, we decided to change the battery and windshield wipers, two small hassles that we had been putting off.  One employee, actually wanted to buy the car, unfixed, for a reasonable price.  Unfortunately, we cannot sell the car until we have our padron, the Chilean car owner’s certificate.  We will not have the padron for at least another two weeks.  Soon, the mechanic arrived and took the car for a drive.  The transmission apparently needs to be rebuilt, and we arranged to meet tomorrow.

We looked in our guide book and headed to what we hoped would be a good hostel with our hearts weary, but hopeful!  We called on the way and were offered a double room.   We arrived and instead of peace, we found chaos, noise, filth and no private room.  We eventually slept in a common dorm with loud, late night guests.  We all agreed that we need a chill place during these stressful times and will move tomorrow.  It is my hope, that we can get the car fixed, sell it, and fly to Ecuador.  Maz has spoken!!!




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Paths to Take

If you have read the last few blogs, you can guess what we did today, drive.  It was an ordinary day on the road, happy and relaxing in the day and melancholic and pensive in the evening, watching the sunset.  We are heading towards Santiago with different options and paths to choose.  In six weeks, we need to be in Ecuador for a trip to the Galapagos.  After that, we have three weeks until our flight leaves from Lima, Peru, to Anchorage, Alaska, my home town.  Ecuador is so long a drive from where we are now, that we are thinking about selling Maz and just flying.  If we fly, we miss Bolivia, a country on the way to Ecuador that is said to be amazing.  We are all getting bored and tired of the road, so we are left with these two main options.  One, to sell the car in Santiago and fly from there to Ecuador.  In Ecuador we would hang out at a friend’s place for the six weeks before we need to be in the Galapagos.  This would give us some serious chill time, but we would miss Bolivia.  The second option is to just keep on driving!  We are still unsure of our choice, but are leaning towards flying to Ecuador.

Today, we drove for six hours to the town of Talca, about two hundred fifty kilometers South of Santiago.  Along the way, we briefly stopped at a hot spring pool.  This was a regular sized swimming pool, except it was filled with hot water from a natural geothermal spring.  I have never seen anything like it, but I am hooked! 






Tonight, we are staying at a German hostel just outside of town.  It is a little bit weird to see the German culture again, after we have changed so much, and have gotten used to the South American vibe.  We arrived around 9:00 PM, and to our chagrin, dinner was long since passed.  OHH, that’s right, OK I need to remember this.  South Americans eat late and Germans eat early!  Got it!

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The Long and Winding Road

Volcan Lanin

Today was again a long, six hour day of driving.  We drove from Argentina into Chile, crossing the Andes at Liucura, and will be heading North from here.  We checked into a hotel in the town of  Lonquimay late at night and I was feeling miserable.  I was hungry and tired from several days straight of driving.  It has just been a little too much for me.  I ate some dinner, so now I am feeling a little better, but I still am homesick and tired.  I am also feeling like I haven’t had much time to be close to my parents.  We haven’t snuggled down and watched a movie, or talked and played a social game of cards, in a while.  All this has me in a bad mood, and I have been upset all night.  In the midst of it, I am feeling bad for feeling bad and making my parents have to care for me, though I need the care.  I don’t want my parents to change the course of our journey and stop the road trip just for me.  It is probably just late, I’m tired, and I need some attention and energy from my parents.  Tonight, we will watch a movie together and it will all be fine.  I am feeling better already!

Mate ("Mah-tay") for the road!

Mooooove!

Down the Pass into Chile

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A Day in the Haze

Today we drove for six hours straight and made some progress on our long road trip.  We have almost made it half way across Argentina and have uncertain feelings.  Every day, we stop by the side of the road, question what we are doing, and sometimes redirect our course.  So far we have ventured East and North, and have only just left Patagonia.   Even today we pulled to the side of the road and questioned our course.  Thankfully, we continued on our same direction, North.  Not to say our road trip isn’t amazing.  Today we saw some different and exotic scenery and weather, as well as some cool and weird animals.





Along our drive, we gazed in awe at the amazing views and haze.  The scenery first started to get eerie with the haze.  A thin layer of distant fog created coatings of blown out whiteness upon the distant cliffs.  The fog and clouds also gave rise to chills in the many dells that we crossed during the long drive.  When the haze eventually cleared, we were again held speechless.  Large spires and tall cliffs, towered like natural ruins and made eerie shadows over the cold road.  We charged on with alacrity and braveness.  Soon the cliffy land scape turned into a wide wold, with draw dropping and glittering lakes braking up the small and rolling hills.  Along the drive we also passed a wide marsh with some queer animals.






In the middle of our drive we stopped the car, and strained our eyes to see small pink figures about a furlong from the road.  We crossed the old fence that bordered a wet marsh land.  The pink figures were flamingos!  We silently crept up to about hundred meters away from the flamingos.  Sadly, the moment we looked out from our hiding place behind a  group of tall plants, the flamingo’s pink wings lifted, and the flock of about twenty birds disappeared into the horizon.  On the way back to the road, a little bit disappointed, we saw another queer animal movement.  A line of hundreds of ants carried sticks and plants three times their size back to their hill.  The ant hill was more like an ant hive.  It was made of sticks, and a white, flaky, and dry substance unknown to me.  It was built up from the ground, and looked a little bit bigger than a bee hive.  I think ants are intelligent, but I don’t think they have any respect for personal space!  They are all so close together, and their small, little feet tickling and pushing upon one another creeps me out! 








Today was spectacular.  I think I saw some of the best scenery I have seen so far in South America.  I also liked the feeling and the chill of the pervasive haze.  I was amazed at the beautiful flamingos I saw, if only from a distance. We have settled down in a B&B in the town of Junin de los Angles.  I wonder what tomorrow will be like!

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My Kooky Parents!

We are still in Argentina and are having blast.  We are currently undertaking a great road trip from Patagonia, in Argentina, to Bolivia, in northern South America.  Today was mostly spent in a small national park near the border of Chile and Argentina.  The main thing I have learned today is that my parents are down right kooks. 



After waking up this morning in our cozy tent in the Parque y Reserva Nacional Los Alerces,  I started to work on some math.  Soon, it was time for breakfast (el desayuno), or so I thought.  My parents pulled out a cooler from the back of the truck where we normally store groceries.  A couple bananas, some bread, and a piece of cheese were shared among us.  I thought this was something to tide us over before breakfast, but I was wrong.  The first thing that my parents said once we packed up the tent and started to drive was, “Why leave the park, why not go for another hike first?”  You can guess what I thought of that, or more importantly, what my belly thought of it!  I sighed and got out of the truck.  



The hike was interesting. We saw some cool trees and a river that looked fun to kayak.  The trees reminded me of Ents, the tree herders from The Lord of the Rings.  They had arms and stern and shaggy faces. I enjoyed the forrest, but my hunger was growing.







After another two hours of driving, we came to the town of El Bolson.  I got out of the car ready for breakfast... no lunch.. well by this time some would call it dinner.  I was wrong again.  My parents tried for about half an hour to solve a cell phone problem.  I do admit, my parents bought me a ice cream cone along the way.   Then we looked for a place to spend the night.   Ah, but it was 7:00 PM and Argentineans don’t start thinking about dinner until after 9:00.



I have been doing some work at our nice cabana where we chose to spend the night.  I am writing my blog and it is already 8:30.  Man, I am hungry!  After this, we are going out for dinner I am so excited!  mmmmmm!!!

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