Mishaps and Misfortunes in Chile

First of all, we want to thank all the 'followers' who read our blog, like ♥️, comment, or give us feedback via WhatsApp! We are thrilled with every visit and especially with all the praise! And for such a long time! THANK YOU!!!

We will continue to take you along on our tour, which sometimes can't always happen in a timely manner due to the occasional lack of internet. Currently, we have good network coverage, which is why you're getting multiple posts in a row. So feel free to scroll back if you don't want to miss anything!

But now, let's get started with mishaps and misfortunes…

We've decided to drive a portion of the famous Carretera Austral, the legendary gravel road through Chile. The descriptions of the scenic beauty of this road are too tempting to resist. Plus, we want to give Chile the opportunity to make up for its somewhat underwhelming first impression. The border crossing this time is relatively unproblematic, but the border guard takes her job very seriously and confiscates the only good cheese we could find. Cheese was not a problem during our last border crossing, but now it suddenly belongs to the prohibited food category. We're confused, but arguing doesn't make sense here. The determined lady then thoroughly inspects every nook and cranny of the Dub and the Nissan, and makes us go through the X-ray control again with our backpacks. We remain patient because, in fact, we no longer have any unauthorized food on board. After this demonstration of Chilean thoroughness, we continue along Lake Buenos Aires, which is now called Lake General Carrera in Chile. The landscape is truly breathtakingly beautiful. We stay overnight in Puerto Guadal, an unremarkable little village right on the lake.

Today is Sibylle's birthday, so we hope for a particularly nice day. We turn onto the Carretera Austral, and the landscape with lakes, crystal-clear rivers, the Andes, and the rainforest is truly indescribably beautiful - but the road is also truly indescribably bad! Since we crossed the border almost without supplies and lost our last piece of cheese, we want to satisfy our hunger for lunch in a tiny restaurant in the small town of Puerto Rio Tranquilo. It's the only open restaurant in town, it's crowded, the waiter is annoyed and unfriendly, the coffee consists of a cup of water and a glass of Nescafé, but the sandwich is delicious, so we return to our car refreshed and in good spirits. A little puddle has already formed under the car - the bumpy road apparently didn't agree with the diesel tank. What a mess! 😨! It's not easy to just drive to the nearest larger city for a car repair here, because it's several hundred kilometers away on a gravel road. So we set off to hopefully find someone in the village who can help us. Luckily, we meet someone who speaks English and leads us to a tiny, well, backyard garage junkyard. There we meet a man in overalls who feels confident enough to weld the tank. We have no other choice, and since the man doesn't have a lift or a pit, we detach the camper and hope for the best. There's nothing more to do than hope and wait, as there's hardly anything to do in this somewhat run-down little village. Besides a slightly shabby little cafe and an empty second restaurant, there are simple hostels and several providers of tours to the Marble Cathedral, a rock in the middle of the lake. Just the sight of the shaky and overcrowded inflatable boats on the lake, which is now creating quite some waves in the strengthening wind, keeps us from pursuing this kind of pastime. But since there should at least be birthday cake, we go to the little cafe and have a piece of cake there, which tastes as dreary and loveless as the cafe's decor looks. To make matters worse, there is nowhere in the town with WiFi, so not even the dear birthday wishes from home come through. What a sh... birthday.

The next morning, it's pouring rain. The man in overalls shows us our repaired Nissan at 10:00 am, which is no longer dripping, and we can't wait to leave this place quickly. We didn't think yesterday that the road could get any worse - but it does! Gravel and washboard are now accompanied by huge potholes and mud from the heavy rain. A great opportunity to get to know the advantages of all-wheel drive. Due to the weather, we can no longer see the beautiful landscape, and it takes us more than 5 hours to travel the 140 kilometers to the next dreary town, Villa Cerro Castillo. All of this does not exactly contribute to improving our mood.

We urgently need some cheering up and something nice, so we decide to spend a few days in the provincial capital of Coyhaique. The campground there is said to have good showers and WiFi, and a provincial capital surely has something to offer. The campground is tiny and located at the bottom of a valley, but the owner is friendly, the WiFi is strong, and the showers look clean. They even have hot water for showers from 9 am to 11 pm and from 7 am to 11 am. That's something. Then we notice that the car is dripping again 😨 not as much as before, but it's dripping. We might have to drive to a proper repair shop after all.

After a long lunch break, we climb the steep path to the town, determined to have fun, spend money, and maybe even drown our frustrations in alcohol. We walk to the city center, which is crowded and lively, but also gloomy and unwelcoming. Okay, the weather is not good and our mood isn't either, but it can't always just be us not clicking with Chile, right? The shopping streets offer the usual cheap Asian trinkets, the houses look dilapidated and rundown, and the people are grumpy and unfriendly. We want to visit a café, but the guests stare at us hostilely, and the staff completely ignore us, so we quickly move on. After wandering around in the rain for a long time, we find a Mexican restaurant that also serves sushi, with the last free table and even a nice waiter. Well, that's more like it. Back at the campground, the hot water for showering only lasts for one person, and we realize that the campground's WiFi wasn't enough to complete the update on our TomTom navigation system. Instead, all the maps were deleted, and the navigation system doesn't work anymore. 😨 We don't want to stay here anymore, and the next morning we continue driving, ignoring the quietly dripping tank as best we can. Although the weather has cleared up a bit, driving through the dense forest on bad roads becomes exhausting and oppressive over time. But we also repeatedly discover little gems along the way, such as a colorful rock chapel. Despite the rain, we take a short hike through an enchanted section of the rainforest. It's beautiful here, and the movement, fresh air, and special atmosphere of this forest do us good. In the evening, we arrive in Puerto Puyuhuapi, another tiny village, and find a nice parking spot right by the lake behind the local gas station, always a relatively safe bet for clean restrooms.

The next day, the tank is dripping considerably more, and we realize that we have to confront the problem more fundamentally. We park in front of the tourist information center because they have WiFi here, and we plan our next steps. Back to Argentina, spending a night at a nice campground, and then three days in a hotel in Esquel, the next big city in Argentina, with hopefully proper repair shops. While Sibylle makes a phone call home, Barbara restores the navigation system and re-downloads the maps. When booking the hotel, we waver between a junior and a senior suite and accidentally book three days in each suite 😨 Luckily, the mistake is quickly noticed, and we frantically call the hotel to avoid having to pay for both rooms - after all, they're expensive suites. That was a close call, and in an optimistic mood, we want to set off... but now the car doesn't start at all. Updating the navigation system has completely drained the battery. 😨 We've had enough. Before we start hysterically screaming and rolling around in the next puddle or throwing ourselves into the lake, Barbara dashes to the tourist information center, hoping to find someone in this sleepy town who can give us a jump start. Luckily, there's a young man named Jorge in the information center who not only speaks English but is also genuinely friendly and helpful. He goes with Barbara to the police station in hopes of getting some assistance there. Three sheriffs are present, and Jorge humbly and submissively asks for help as if he were a beaten dog. Barbara doesn't even give the gentlemen a glance, but even Jorge receives a harsh rebuff. 'The police, your friend and helper' doesn't seem to apply in Chile. We are truly bewildered by the behavior of the law enforcement officers.

The second attempt at a small repair shop is more successful but equally unfriendly. Jorge indicates that we will have to give money to the man who helps us, as he only reluctantly interrupted his work. Fortunately, the jump-start works, and the helper hesitates a bit when accepting money but eventually takes it. If we had any doubts, it's clear now that we want to get out of Chile, even though Jorge has shown us that there are also very nice Chileans. Muchas gracias, Jorge!

The border is nearby, leaving Chile is quick and almost wordless, the officials don't greet us, they just glare, stamp our passports, and then wave us away from the counter like annoying flies. One kilometer further, the Argentine border. No official photos of the head of state, but instead holy pictures and family photos, small chats about the last asado with a colleague, a cheerful 'Hola, como estas' for us. The officer handling our paperwork is still learning and not quite sure what to fill out for the import of our car. The older colleague who rushes to his aid has a Kaiser Wilhelm beard and speaks German. Everything goes so smoothly that we're worried some documents might not have been filled out correctly, which could cause problems at the next border crossing into Chile. The Kaiser Wilhelm beard reassures us and then, with a twinkle in his eye, shares Sibylle's new favorite saying: 'Chileans only have bars without beer.' We are just relieved to be back in Argentina and optimistic that the streak of bad luck is over. We'll keep you posted!