MUNGO EATS Latin America

Hey folks,

Just thought I would let you know that we have one solution to our strandedness. We have managed to find an international mover, that will, for a LARGE fee, pick up the van in Perito Moreno and ship it all the way to Calgary for us. We will call this plan B.

We also have a fellow looking for an engine for us in Buenos Aires. Hopefully this will be a fruitful search and in a week or so, we will be switching out the engine, in the municipal campsite parking lot! If we are unsuccessfull with the engine search, etc, at least we KNOW we are not stuck.

We can’t fly Mungo out of Perito Moreno if we end up shipping the van, but we can bus him out. So keep your fingers crossed on the engine search. It really is the best (and cheapest) option.

Our route up to Perito Moreno, Argentina:

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Perito Moreno in a larger map
And an update as to where we are with things as of Tuesday morning, April 27.

First things first;  a HUGE thank-you to all the people out there that are working to help us.  Friends and family are all helping us to find a solution, but what is just so unbelievable is how people that we don’t even know, but have read our blog, are putting tremendous amounts of energy into helping us work out our problems.  We have people all the way from Canada to Argentina and Chile looking into possible solutions.

Finding a way to truck the van and trailer to Valparaiso, Chile is proving to be a chore.  So far, there are trucks that can take us from pretty much from anywhere in Chile to where we need to go, but they don’t want to cross the border into Argentina to pick us up.  Similarly, it is possible to find trucks to take us around Argentina, but they don’t want to cross into Chile.  It is possible that we could get one company to haul the van and trailer to a border crossing near Bariloche, Argentina and then use someone else to get everything to Valparaiso, Chile (after we push the van across the actual border by hand?).

Another option would be to get a trucking line to haul things to Buenos Aires, Argentina and then we would ship things home from there.  We already have shipping home for the van and trailer arranged from Valparaiso, plus, we have found accommodations in Valparaiso that will let Mungo stay (not an easy task!),  so it would be nice if we didn’t have to go to Buenos Aires .

We are also looking at moving companies that might be able to pick things up here in Perito Moreno and look after shipping all the way back to Calgary.  But this, and all the other shipping options, leaves us with another issue to look after:  MUNGO.  However the van and trailer get hauled out of here, there is still the matter of getting the family (which includes Mungo) home as well.  Once we get to a major city (Santiago, Chile or Buenos Aires, Argentina) it is not a problem;  we fly (likely via Toronto) coach and Mungo goes as cargo.  Getting to a big city might be interesting.  We don’t expect that Mungo will be allowed on the bus and we don’t know if he would be allowed to fly out of Perito Moreno, or even where flights out of Perito Moreno go to.  It might be possible to rent a car or hire a car and driver.  This is something we will try to find out today.

Another option, that is looking more and more likely, is to work on getting the van running again.  It is only 2080 km to Valparaiso, which, after travelling 30,249 km already, doesn’t seem like much.  We spoke to a mechanic here in town and he is supposedly looking for a used replacement engine for us.  He was supposed to get back to us yesterday evening, but so far no word.

Through internet contacts we are also trying to track down a good used engine on our own.  This is starting to look more promising and I may end up just changing the engine out here in the Perito Moreno Municipal Campground!

Stay tuned for further updates as news come in!

We awoke this morning to find a tent pitched near the van with a motorcycle parked close by.  The motorcycle was draped with Canadian flags, but had California license plates.  We awaited the emergence of the tent’s occupant to find out the true identity of this traveller.  Was he a Canadian with an American bike, or was he an American trying to pass as a Canadian to make his travels easier?  Sara made first contact.  It turns out the rider was indeed Canadian, from Edmonton, no less.  Marty, the computer geek turned professional musician, is travelling from Colombia to Ushuaia, Argentina on his motorcycle, that he purchased from an American (hence the California plates).

We had  a wonderful talk with Marty.  We discussed things we loved about South America, didn’t so much love about South America, and things we missed from home.  Marty had 640 km to cover today, after a noon start, so after coveting his almost finished jar of peanut butter (one of the things we miss), we said goodbye to our new friend and wished him safe and happy travels.  It is so strange sometimes to find folks from so near home, as far away from it as we are.  Safe travels Marty, thanks for the English conversation!!

On to other news.  Shortly after arriving in this town, we passed an old dog in a doorway that was shaking.  The kids thought the dog was cold, but truly he was having a seizure.  Seizures are not that uncommon in old dogs, so I didn’t really spend too much time thinking about it.  A few days after we hit town, we were told by our old tow truck/ mechanic friend, that someone had poisoned his dog, the very same one that had chased us halfway to our van on the highway.  We felt very sorry for our friend as it was obvious he loved his dog a great deal.  A second dog of his had also been poisoned, but had recovered.   News of the poisoning however put the shaking dog in a new light, and I started to think that perhaps it had been poisoned as well. 

The campground we are staying at is near the edge of town.  Every day we walk Mungo near the campground on some gravel roads.  I think the roads are mostly just there so that the residents can drive out to the desert and dump garbage more easily.  We have let him off leash in this area as well.  Mungo really has the attention span of a gnat and it takes very little to distract him, so when we let him off leash, it has to be in a wide open space, with very few distractions around.  If we are going to let him off leash, we first need to get passed the killer greyhounds that live a few houses away from the campground.  One of the hounds is an old fart with a limp, the other is a younger, more spry specimen.  They always bark, but it depends totally on the old fart as to whether they give chase or leave the yard at all.  The young fellow is able to give chase, but will not do so if he doesn’t have the old fart to back him up.  So if the old guy is feeling lazy and doesn’t want to leave the yard, the young one will bark from the yard edge.  If the old  guy is feeling spunky, and starts to hobble after us, the young guy will give us a great rush.  Occasionally they are not in the yard, and one day when we passed, the young guy was tied to his dog house.

This morning as we passed “greyhound gauntlet”, the old fart started up his predictable bark, but we could not see the young guy anywhere.  Old fart even started to hobble down the road toward us, and his younger friend was no where to be seen.  As we passed the dog house, we finally caught sight of  the young hound, laying flat on his side, next to the dog house, dead as a doornail.  I have no proof that the dog was poisoned, but I am very suspicious that this is how the hound met his end.  So now I am petrified to let Mungo off leash.  If he finds a tasty tidbit, it takes him seconds to gobble it up.  Even if he does come when called, he can gobble down a tasty treat, while running back to us.  So unfortunately, Mungo is now restricted to leash walks until we get out of this town.  I couldn’t bear to have him poisoned!!  Poor hound, I know he loves to run, but better walk for a few weeks than never run again!

Hey folks, just wanted to let you all know that we are recieving your emails, mostly. Perito Moreno has a couple of wifi places, but they only periodically work, and sometimes we can retrieve mail and then the connection is lost. There is one internet place in town where we can try to send messages from…you know…ice cream/internet place. The lady that runs the place is quite nasty though, so we try not to stop in there too often. So, it may take us a couple of days to get back to you if you do send us a message. Be patient…we are trying to be!

We have been staying in the municipal campground, in a cabaña, while we try to sort out this mess of a situation.  Since we don’t really know how long we will be stuck here, we have been paying for the room day by day.  Yesterday we decided to commit to paying for the weekend, since it is unlikely anything will happen over the weekend.  When we tried to pay however, we were informed that the cabin we are staying in is already rented for the weekend and we would have to vacate it on Sat. am.   So we need a new home for the weekend.  Nothing like a new problem to take your mind off the current one!!

We tried to find another cabin, and we asked at the local hotels, but the cabins were rented and the hotels said no dogs.  We therefore were forced to have the van towed to the campground and we will be staying in there for the weekend.  It is not a bad solution.  In fact, just the day before I told Kevin that I would feel better if the van was near us, but it meant bugging the cute little old mechanic again to tow us.  Kevin and I both are very bad about letting anyone help us.  If there is a way to accomplish  a task on our own, we would  much rather do so (even if it is twice as difficult), than bother anyone.  But the campground is 10 blocks away and we did not think we could push it the whole way ourselves (nor would the scrawny kids be much help), so we asked little cute mechanic for help.  He really is the sweetest little  old man.  I don’t even know his name.  I think he liked having our van parked in his yard though, because it meant he could keep an eye on us and know that we were okay.  He now greets me with the customary kiss on the cheek, and always asks about the kids and the dog. 

He hooked his million year old tow truck to us and towed us down the road to the campground and then he made us promise to come and visit him at the garage and keep him posted on how we are doing. 

As far as how our escape from Perito Moreno is progressing, a few people are working on trying to get a transport out to us, and we are even exploring the option of putting in another engine, enough so we can limp our way to the coast.  We would prefer a used engine, but apparently there is really no market  for used engines because all paperwork in Argentina contains not only a VIN but an engine number as well and it is quite complicated to get the necessary paperwork figured out when dealing with a used engine.  So no fixed solutions yet, but we are trying.  Thankfully, the town is much nicer than Uyuni, the last town we were stranded in.  The weather has improved as well.  It is warmer and the wind is not ever present as it was the first few days.   So we will just keep plugging away, hopefully we  will get out of here one way or another.  By the way, thank you to everyone who is trying  to help us.  It is overwhelming  to be helped from so many miles away!!