MUNGO EATS Latin America

When last I reported, we were on our way to Los Antiguos, the oasis town on Lake Buenos Aires where supposedly the Patagonian wind does not blow.  Well we never quite made it there.  We made it to within 25 km of the town.  As we were driving, the van engine stopped, just stopped.  It had been making some slightly strange noises at an idle for the past couple of days, and Kevin thought that maybe the oil filter was plugged.  He was hoping to check it and change it in Los Antiguos.  In any case, the van wouldn’t start, so we decided to go back to Perito Moreno and try to find a tow truck.  Perito Moreno is a slightly larger town, so we thought we would have better luck there.  We managed to catch a ride with a travelling salesman.  He dropped us off at the tourist info booth and for a while, we thought all was great.  Pinned to the wall was a picture of exactly the tow truck we were after.  Unfortunately, the info folks could not get a hold of this guy.  They pointed us in the direction of the other tow truck in town.  This one was an old, pretty beat up old thing. 

In any case, we managed to hit town at siesta time.  I HATE siesta time.  You know it makes a lot of sense to have siestas when you are in a hot climate, so that you can rest during the hottest  part of the day, but why do you need a siesta here in the wintery cold climate of Patagonia?  In any case, at 3pm the nice looking garage opened it’s doors, and we went to ask if they could arrange to tow us back to town.  They said it was “impossible” and we ended up back at the door of the fellow that owned the less than impressive looking tow truck.  He said he could help us, but not until 4 :30 or so.  So we waited some more.  And where were the kids and the dog during this time.  Why waiting patiently in the van for us, of course.  You see, we were kind of stuck.  Kevin knows about the van, but I speak Spanish, so we both had to go get the tow truck.  Don’t worry though, the kids were safe with the “guard dog” and 2 machetes, and to tell you the truth, they didn’t even miss us. 

Okay, so 4:30 comes and we pile into the old beat up looking Ford.  As we start driving down the road, the mechanic/tow truck driver’s 2 dogs start chasing us down the street.  He yells at them to go home, but eventually has to put one of them in the bed of the truck and one of them, he leaves to run after us down the road, claiming that eventually, he will get tired and go back home.  We really did not know how far away from Perito Moreno we were when we broke down.  We told the driver that we were about 25 km from Perito Moreno, so as we hit the 25 km mark, he started getting a little antsy.  He kept shaking his head and raising his hands.  When we eventually spotted the van, he told us that it was almost 40 km from the town, although how he knew I can’t say, for not one gauge in that whole vehicle worked.  Typically, he will not go further than 20 km out of town.  We had to roll down the window, to open the door to let ourselves out of this stylish vehicle, because there was no door handle inside the truck. 

The towing actually went quite smoothly, and we left the tow guy about 7pm with the understanding that we would meet him in the morning at 10am to start checking out the van.  We had managed to find a place to stay in town, a small cabaña in the municipal campground, so we all headed off for “home” to await the morning. 

This morning, Kevin and his interpreter, aka me, were at the mechanics at 10am.  He was nowhere to be seen.  We think he was sleeping in.  Kevin started to check out the van and his worst fears were confirmed.  The turbo charger had broken and in the process, damaged the engine.  This van is going nowhere.  The mechanic finally graced us with his presence at about 11am and confirmed Kevin’s theory.

So this is where we stand folks.  The van needs a new engine, or a rebuild of the current engine and we need a new turbo charger.  All this is likely going to take more than 6 weeks to organize, so we will not be trying to fix the van here in South America.  What we are  now going to try to do is get the van and ourselves to Valparaiso, by June 1, which is when we had actually arranged to have the van shipped.  Up until now, all had been coming together quite smoothly.  We had organized somewhere to stay in Valparaiso and a time and company to ship the van with.  But now, we just have to get there.  We need to find a transport company, that will take the van, the trailer and hopefully us to Chile.  If we cannot go with the vehicle, we need to find a way to get Mungo to the coast.  There is an airport in this town, but I am not sure where they fly and if they will transport a dog.

All you readers out there, here is your time to shine.  If anyone knows a transport company in Argentina or Chile, please let us know.  It could earn you an extra souvenir!! 

Oh well.  I am not too upset about where the trip has to end.  I would have been much more sad if the trip had been over back in Bolivia.  I am not looking forward to the next few stressful weeks of trying to organize the trip back home, but I sure we can manage it in the end.  I will keep you all posted.  Wish us luck, I have a feeling we are going to need it!!!