When the end of the World is not far enough

Ushuaia is a cool sort of spot for Christmas. We’ve had a few nice days here, and been keeping an eye on the various travel agencies in town offering last-minute deals to the Antarctic. We spotted one particular deal that we decided we could not pass on, so we are setting sail on the high seas again, this time heading south from Ushuaia, destination: Antarctica!

As you can imagine, we will be off-line for a few weeks, so tune in again in the new year to see how we got on. Wishing everyone a happy new year, hopefully somewhere warmer than where we will be!

Merv and Sarah.

but not Moglander, the truck was too big to squeeze into our luggage for the trip 🙁

Categories: Antarctic | 6 Comments

The end of the World – Ushuaia

Well, we made it to the end of the world. It’s been a thrilling roller coaster of a ride with it’s share of ups and downs, but we would live every minute of it again. We’ve been meeting other folks from all over the world here in Ushuaia, Argentina  and everyone has their own way of travelling, and their own reasons and motivations to do it.  The sense of relief, achievement and even surprise is evident on everyone’s face and in the tales that they tell.

Anyway, To show you what it looks like here, This is where we spent last night…

 

Camping in Tierra del Fuego National Park

Camping in Tierra del Fuego National Park

 

The park is stunning, and has some free camping areas (after you pay to go in). They allow you stay 3 days, 2 nights on one entry fee which is fair enough.  The part has some things you do not expect to see this close to Antartica…

Flowers in the cold...

Flowers in the cold…

More flowers

More flowers

 

We met up with Dave again, having met him in Viedma at the bikers meeting, and went to the end of Ruta 3 with him, and a Dutch couple (Ingrid and Branko)  that he had met along the way.

Dave and Sarah

Dave and Sarah

Sarah and Merv at the very end of Ruta 3, end of the road, end of the world.

Sarah and Merv at the very end of Ruta 3, end of the road, end of the world. Ushuaia

We thought we would go for a pleasant hike to see a glacier

We thought we would go for a pleasant hike to see a glacier

but, when we got high enough we could just see about 40 feet due to the cloud that was delivering the most impressive set of hailstones. As the glacier was also white, we still do not know if we saw it or not.

 

We had to wipe the snow off the sign, and it wanted to know if we knew what Glaciers were made of? We didn't need to read any more.

We had to wipe the snow off the sign, and it wanted to know if we knew what Glaciers were made of? We didn’t need to read any more.

 

We’ve parked up in a campsite so we can eat, drink and be merry with some fellow overlanders. Tomorrow we will be going on a Turkey hunt, starting with shopping trolleys in the various supermarkets, and if that does not work, the hunt may continue with bows and arrow in the national park! 🙂

Feliz Navidad amigos.

 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Categories: Argentina | 3 Comments

Highlights of the Atlantic Coast of Argentina!

As we were back on the road after our hiccup we headed to the Atlantic Coast to see the whales.  However, we didn’t get to see as many as we would have wished as we were a few weeks after the peak viewing time, but nevertheless we did see some. I guess even when travelling everything doesn’t always go according to plan. Mind you those that we did see , the Southern White Whales, were quite spectacular as they were swimming only 15 or 20 meters from us as we strolled along the beach on a couple of mornings, and it was as if they were there specially for us as there was nobody else in sight, hence we stayed 3 days here and when we moved to another little beach we saw some Orca’s also swimming close to the shore and they were keeping a very close watch on the sea-lions which were snoozing on the beach , the sea-lions all escaped for another day without being eaten!

We got to see whales through the kitchen window.

We got to see whales through the kitchen window.

Also here we bumped into our pals from Grimaldi ship Ute and Achmed and spent a super day catching up on both of our adventures so far, hopefully we will bump into them in Chile next year.

Fantastic views here in Peninsula Valdes, the whales are an added bonus. Maybe one of the best things on the Atlantic coast of Argentina

We then went a little North to Viedma , a little spot called El Condor, to meet up with a bunch of overlanders for the weekend. Mind you they were all on motorcycles so the Moglander was given special dispensation to enter and camp for the few days. A great weekend of travel stories and tales, a few beers and in typical Argentinian style plenty of meat. Believe or not on the Saturday we all went on a visit to an Agricultural Show, yes no kidding, and we couldn’t decide whether we were in Tinahely or Tullamore, what a lovely few hours it was, but yet again the motorcycles were on display in front of the main stage for the afternoon, the Mog was shunned to the car park, ah well can’t win them all.

We had a few great meals at the HUBB meeting. BBQ, Asado and Braii.

We had a few great meals at the HUBB meeting. BBQ, Asado and Braii.

Here the campsite was just across from the beach, and a short stroll brought you to the biggest parrot colony in the world, over 35,000 parrots here, what a lot of chatter and gobbly gook each morning and evening! Managed to get a couple of nice sunsets here too, sunrise was a bit too early after beer and meat, lol.

Stuart talking about English Rugby to a fascinated Irish rugby fan

Stuart (on the right) talking about English Rugby to a fascinated Irish rugby fan

So the penguins were next on our list, at Cabo Dos Bahias and at Peurto Deseado, The Magellanic Penguins ,and my god there were hundreds of them. You could actually sit on the beach drinking your coffee and they would just wander by, going up and down to the water , totalling ignoring you. Once you kept at their height level they didn’t feel threatened. Also a lot of babies had just been born so the females were very protective of them, as overhead loads of gulls and Skuas (type of bird)were flying trying to grab the chicks. Unfortunately we did see quite a few dead chicks , but take it from me the Skuas are not so nice, they fly real low , ( obviously to catch their prey) and in doing so I got hit 3 times by them, not funny. Alfred Hitchcock’s movie ‘Birds’ movie came into my mind, hmmm. Was never a great fan of birds but am even less now!

skoon

skua

Penguin parents are very attentive

Penguin parents are very attentive

Then we went to see the Rockhopper Penguins,also in Peurto Deseado, and yes these are a treat. They are really comical to watch, full of expressions and really inquisitive. They live in the wildest place of the coast, only accessible by boat and here they share their habitat with Elephant Seals, Cormorants (black ones and the very unusable grey ones, each have their own habitat on the rocks and they do not mix) Magellanic Penguins, Elephant Seals and Sea Lions, Skuas ,Commerson’s Dolphins and Peal’s Dolphins, all of the above which we saw and watched in great detail and for some time as we walked all around the island. Also here was a centennial lighthouse , still in use, however , it is now lit by solar panels and batteries, plus some of the penguins use it as a Hotel.! We really felt we were at home with nature as we walked around this wonderful place.

Penguin Island with Darwin Expeditions atlantic coast of argentina Photograh

Penguin Island with Darwin Expeditions on the atlantic coast of argentina

The Penguins have taken over the old buildings from when they had to live on the Island to man the lighthouse

The Penguins have taken over the old buildings from when they had to live on the Island to man the lighthouse

You on the left - I said look this way and smile

You on the left – I said look this way and smile

Sea Lion male with his girlfriends

Sea Lion male with his girlfriends

Sarah's impression of a Rockhopper Penguin

Sarah’s impression of a Rockhopper Penguin

 

Commerson Dolphin

Commerson Dolphin

 

The punks of the Penguin World - the Rockhopper

The punks of the Penguin World – the Rockhopper

 

Sarah with the rockhoppers

Sarah with the rockhoppers

 

Merv with his Rockhopper tribute hat

Merv with his Rockhopper tribute hat

 

 

 

 

Categories: Argentina | 3 Comments

Back on the road again after UPS customs hickup

Things were going just a little too well. Sure, we have had hiccups with the truck, and it does require a bit of TLC but at almost 30 years old, who can blame it! When the problem got compounded by a UPS customs screw-up it really did not help.

This time however, we got let down badly. The back axle sprung an oil leak, and since we had spare oil seals for the rear hubs, we were not too worried, but when we went to change the seal, it turned out the bearings were wrecked, and needed replacing. This was a bit of a pain as we had no spare bearings with us, but we tracked down an Argentinian supplier who could provide some unimog parts, and we ordered 2 sets of bearings. At this stage we were mobile, but decided not to drive any more in case we did any more harm. Turns out, the harm was already done!

This is the first time we inspected the leak, we picked a nice place for it!

When the bearings arrived from Buenos Aires, we launched into getting them fitted. A local mechanic who worked on heavy road working equipment during the day took the hub and new bearings to fit them. However when he arrived back after about 30 minutes, we knew something was wrong. The main drive gear was toast. Dead. ex-gear. deep-sixed. kaput. Think back to John Cleese and a sketch about a parrot, and you would be on the right path.

 

A this stage we were “the regulars”, most people who went through the camp site stayed for just a night or 2, and we were the regulars. We gave advice on the way to the supermarket, where the steam train went from, what days it ran, how much food to bring to the national park when you’re backpacking, what gifts to buy for their granny…. We did have a bit of fun with Dave who we did a before and after portrait of.

Dave – Before

 

After

So, we looked at our options for getting another gear, and options on getting the busted gear fixed. We decided to buy a complete hub assembly from Atkinson Vos in the UK, who had serviced our truck before we had headed off. They reconditioned a hub with a gear, set of bearings and set the tolerances of the bearings to the precise measurements we took from our axle. We also left our damaged gear into an engineering shop to get re-conditioned so we would have a spare part if we got in deep trouble in the future.

Atkinson Vos sent the parts using UPS. Once the parts got to Buenos Aires, Customs (Aduana) spotted the package and pounced. You see, Argentina recently passed a law, a rule, a customs edict that used parts could not be imported to Argentina. Somehow, UPS didn’t know about it until Customs hand stopped the package from being delivered. UPS have a customs Agent who deals with these things, and they got in touch with us. They quoted us over 4,000 pesos to process the package through customs, and said it would take over 3 weeks. This didn’t sound right! UPS customs experience in Argentina seems to be pretty out of touch with what can and cannot be done.

We asked for some extra opinions on this, and got some great feedback from an online forum called “the hubb”. more than just opinions, we got some offers to help, and we took up Sandra from Dakar Motor’s offer to contact a different customs agent, a private one. It turns out this was the best move we could have made.

But this meant getting to Buenos Aires from Esquel, a journey of 1800km. Each way. We had a few options: Air – there is an airport in Esquel, Road – There are car hire places, or by bus. We chose the bus as it was half the price of the flight, and it would let us see the countryside on our way. The tickets were about 800 pesos, about €120 each person, each way. Not cheap, but considering the distance it is not crazy either. Even if the mog was going, we would have spent more than that on Diesel alone. We also had to look for accommodation, and we decided to stay in the city instead of out by the airport. This was a good call, as the city is really worth seeing. So, on Sunday morning, 18th November we set off on our bus journey. The seats are really massive, just 3 people sitting across a full size bus. The seats recline back to almost flat, and have a foot/leg rest to make sleeping pretty easy. The bus carries 2 drivers, and they alternate driving and sleeping as we travel. The bus covers the 1800km in about 25 to 26 hours. Our journey was 25.5 hours on the way to Buenos Aires, and 26 on the way back.

We looked up some bed and breakfast places on the web having spotted them in our rough guide, and sent emails to them. We booked a really nice place for 3 nights, and once we got to the city, we caught a taxi to the B&B. We were pretty shattered! We arrived there about noon on the Monday. We had planned to visit the airport/customs on Tuesday 20th, and this plan got knocked on the head pretty quickly as Buenos Aires decided to go on strike for the Tuesday! There were to be no buses or trains, and more importantly no banks working on the Tuesday. This meant we would have had no way to pay the customs duty. We visited with Sandra in Dakar Motors to go over our plan of attack, and she explained how the customs thing actually works. This put our minds at ease, and we relaxed and enjoyed our Tuesday “off” due to the strike. On Wednesday it was all business. Here is how it went.

1. Whoever the shipper of the good is has an “Airways Bill”. We had to get a copy of that. It is vital that the Airways bill is in one persons name only, not even “Bugs Bunny, C/O joe blogs” on the second line as Joe Bloggs will have to turn up at the airport as well as Bug Bunny. Luckily ours was just in Merv’s name. However, we had to get this document from UPS, and in their quote to us, it would cost $74 US to produce the Airways bill. “Produce” in this case means “print”. We visited UPS’s city office on Wednesday 21st to get the airways bill, and once we could show proof of identity (Passport), they printed the Airways bill for free, and wished us good luck with customs. They clearly did not think we would get the package.

2. With this in hand, we caught a taxi to the Airport, and to get to the customs area for air-shipped goods, you get the taxi to drop you at the petrol station just as you enter the Airport (and NOT at the cargo area!). You then cross the road to go through a gate, turn right and head towards security. Once there they check the airways bill with your ID to prove you have a need to be there and let you through with a security slip in your passport.

3. We then went to the next building, it’s sort of a working area for the various Agents and Brokers. We met up with our contact there, all arranged via Sandra. Diego was a really nice guy with no English, and our spanish is still pretty basic. We knew enough to follow him around, sign what he pointed at, smile and nod when prompted.

4. We then followed him to the Aduane building (Customs hall), and we got our “application” set up on the computer by some administrative staff – At least that’s what seemed to happen. They also needed to see (and copy) our vehicle registration documents, Passport and our Temporary Import documents. These documents were to prove the parts were for a non argentinian tourist. I’m not sure what would happen if an Argentinian wanted to import them. We also provided a photo of the truck parked up on 3 wheels, which seemed to explain the situation better than anyone could have done.

5. Next, All this had to be presented to a Customs Officer. We had to with him to inspect the package, and we got to see the box sent from Atkinson Vos. They opened the box in our presence, and we got to glimpse inside before they closed it again. We did recognize the hub, so we started grinning on our way back to his office. We had to wait outside his door while he pondered the mysteries of the universe, rolled the dice and made up a number that would sound “about right”. Within a few minutes we were handed a document that required us to pay $100 (US) duty.

6. Off we went to the bank to pay this fee. The money is lodged directly to the customs bank account, so no-one gets their hands on any cash. The bank then stamp the form as paid, and we went back to the customs office. Once you hand in the form, you’ve to wait until they see the money in the account, and then you go visit the guys who have been minding your goods.

7. The warehouse manager (This is probably not his formal title, but it works for us) did a lot of head scratching, Calender reviewing and calculator button pounding, and came up with a fee of A$750 for our storage fees. This translates to about $120 (US), which is a huge amount less than the $400 (US) that UPS felt would be needed. We paid this by Credit Card, and got yet more forms stamped.

8. Then, it was back to the Administrative office with this new stamp, and we got the document that let us take the parts away with us. We took this around to the warehouse “goods out” doors, and handed it to a guy with a forklift. Then it got kind of funny as everyone else who was there had a truck or van to collect the goods, and these were reversed up to the warehouse doors. We were on foot, so they gave Diego a roll of duct tape to make a handle with. Once the handle was complete, we headed off to the security gate, passed through without a hitch and caught a taxi back to our b&b with the goods.

Since we were in BA anyway, we decided to take a good look about.

Sarah checking out a famous sign on a skyscraper

We got in touch with a fellow hubber (Def: A Person who frequents the Hubb) and arranged to meet for lunch. A grand way to pass an afternoon, and as he had completed a full lap of South America over the previous year and was now heading for home, we got a good few tips and tales from the road. Cheers Delbert! One of th highlights in BA was to go see the Polo, and on Saturday there were 2 matches from the national competition. We decided to go see that, and met with Delbert for the day and had a super time. It really got our minds off the truck, and the repair that had yet to come.

The guy in front goes slow to upset the guy with the ball

The game is started by the ref throwing in the ball

 

 

Sunday found us back on the bus, and this time enjoying a 26 hour journey, looking at exactly the same scenery as on the way to BA, but in reverse 🙂 At some stage in the middle of the night, we were woken up by the bus crew, and asked to accompany them to a border crossing office. In Argentina, each region has controlled border crossings that restricts the transport of things like fresh fruit and Veg, raw meat, and as we now assumed, 2nd hand Unimog parts!. Once they had opened the box and discovered we didn’t actually have 25kg of fruit in there, were we on our way again. Bang went that nights sleep.

We got back to Esquel and our truck on Monday 26th November, and we were glad to see it. We got the campsite owner, Luis, to contact the mechanic to see if he would press in the half shaft and bearing so we could reassemble the whole thing. And as if we needed another delay, that Monday was a bank holiday, so Tuesday afternoon would have to do. It really felt like it was 2 steps forward, 1 step back! What’s another day?

Package

On the Tuesday, we got our hub sorted, and the mechanics proceeded to put it back on the truck for us. We didn’t intend for them to do it, but they seemed to be upset that we wanted to do it ourselves. So we let them at it 🙂 They did a pretty handy job, and we were finally back on 4 wheels.

So, On Wednesday morning (Which means that Merv’s sister owes us a big night out for beating her challenge!) we were rolling. We said goodbye to Luis and his campsite. He did not want to charge us for the week we left the truck in his campsite and disappeared to Buenos Aires so we left a tip for him, partly for the 3 patches of dead grass from under the 3 wheels that stood quietly on his grass, and the big circle of dead grass where the 4th wheel lay, and partly as he was a good sport about the whole thing and helped us a lot.

Can you tell where we were parked? and this is Luis, a great guy who helped us a lot. Muchos Gracios Luis!

We made our way to collect the re-machined damaged gear to carry it as an emergency spare, and were on the road again, or so we thought until Merv checked the hub to see how it was doing and noticed it was twice as hot as all the others. This was not good! Luckily, all that was wrong was the auto adjuster on the brakes had over tightened the brakes, and needed to be adjusted back out. This meant removing the wheel again, but we’re getting good at that now 🙂 We also got all the oils in all the hubs replaced, just to be sure.

 

Machining down the gear after the welding

And we’re off to see the Whales in Peninsula Valdez!

Categories: Argentina | Tags: | Comments Off on Back on the road again after UPS customs hickup

Broken down in Esquel, Pategonia

I think we have a pretty slow Angel looking after us. Bikers believe that they have a guardian Angel, and so long as they don’t ride any faster than the Angel can fly, they will be fine. It’s a good theory, but makes me wonder if our Guardian Angel is missing a wing, and has lost a shoe. Either way, I think we got away from them.

We have damaged a wheel bearing, which in turn lets the wheel wobble a bit on the end of the axle. This then damages the oil seal, and then oil comes out, making the bearing run with a lack of oil and gets damaged even more. I think you can see where this is going. We got a new set of bearings here in Argentina from a company in Buenos Aires, and that was great news for us, we thought we would have been all ready to make repairs, but when we went to do the job and opened up the hub on the Unimog, we discovered that the drive gear was also damaged.

So, we have a complete hub with good gears and bearings on its way to us, but we will be sitting tight for another week or so till that gets to us.

We’ve spent the last 10 months moving every week, so sitting in the one place for a few weeks is pretty strange to us. Even when we are on the ocean we were moving. Now, the people in the bread shop know us to see and we now get a smile and a nod. Very strange!

This all leads up to the fact that we don’t really have a new story to tell this week. We’ve gone back over the photos we’ve taken in South America so far, and picked out a selection of trucks we’ve spotted on the road. We think one of these has swiped our Guardian Angel, and we’re trying to get them back. Keep an eye for them won’t you?

 

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Shrines

No, it’s not rubbish. It’s a shrine for the trucks and other serious road users.

Roadside shrines are a big thing in Argentina. They can be seen on almost every road, and we previously wrote a post about Gauchito Gill, an infamous Argentinian cowboy. Back then we never imagined how many of these shrines we would actually see. People here really go in for this, and there are different types of shrines for different groups. The truckers have a habit to leave a bottle of liquid at a shrine, usually water.

Some of these were all over the place, and could pass for a plastic bottle full of water recycling center, with not much centre or recycling going on. But some are very well cared for. These shrines mean a lot to people here.

roadside shrines

This truckers shrine was spic and span

Most of the shrines we have seen have been by the roadside, but that is probably because we are mainly on the road. We’ve seen a few in villages, but most are out on the open road. We’ve even seen a few on cliff edges, mountain tops and in peoples gardens. We’re not sure why these locations are picked, but similar to the some of the small roadside crosses we see in Ireland, it’s probably the scene of a tragedy.

These shrines can be anywhere, including on mountains.

A whole van became this shrine, there for ever unlike the 4×4 whizzing by.

We even spotted some in trees!

roadside shrines

This inside a larger one. Note they can be built in concrete, with plaques set into the walls.

This little tree mounted shrine had a few characters in it.

There must be a booming trade in models of Gill!

Many shrines have locked steel boxes in the middle with toys, car parts, shoes, hats…..

Categories: Argentina | 2 Comments