Argentina

11-21-24 Mendoza is the Target

Crossing later in the afternoon and needing to stop driving, we barreled down the Argentinian side of the Andes and thankfully it was a more consistent and more manageable grade for driving.  The scenery was also different – more “lush” (relatively) than the Chile side and had a very different mountain look and feel.  After 2.5 hours we arrived in Mendoza at a winery called Posada Cavieres Wine farm.  Hans was the host and he immediately took to Edel’s rig…why you ask?  Well he also had a Defender.  Oh and his Malbec was delicious!

11-22-24 Mechanic Work and Relocate to Mendoza

John broke his camshaft in 3 places on the drive over the pass and needed to visit a local Rover mechanic.  The guy was able to rebuild one using a metal lathe in under 2 hours!  Crazy.

   

Matt kept the search going for brake rotors to no avail – but did meet Daniel who was happy to reassure Matt his brakes “could”? make the rest of the journey? lol

We then relocated into Mendoza at a hotel and retired to the Asadito for an awesome beef and wine late lunch.  Yeah – Tomahawk and T-Bone…before and after

11-23-24  Wine Is Good Food!

We set up 2 wine tour-tasting experiences for Saturday the 23rd.  One at Los Toneles and the other at LaMadrid Estates.  What a wine day it was!  1st was Los Toneles as it was closer to town and we took a 10 AM tasting/tour.  Franco, our guide, gave the tour and tasting in Spanish for the benefit of the larger group but he spent some quality time with us and hooked us with some special Cab to taste.  The winery was beautiful.

                    

The tasting pours were like 6 oz each and it being 10 AM in the morning after the 3rd pour of Malbec we all were feeling no pain.  The winery also produced olive oils (which we bought), but the wine we walked away with was their signature Cabernet Sauvignon  from their line of wines called Margarito Muerta – which means Dead Fly.  Oh and Roz did send a case of wine and some olive oil home!

LaMadrid was up 2nd and we booked a noon lunch/wine pairing session over a 4 course lunch.  Well, feeling very good when we arrived from Los Toneles, the team at LaMadrid did not disappoint.  Again, the grounds were incredible and the weather was a perfect temp for eating outside under a tree.

        

The options for wines for each of the four courses and the choices for food were excellent.  We all selected the beef short rib as the main entre and as you can see the rib was not short and so good no meat stayed on anyone’s rib bone.

 

The Malbec tasted was incredible as was the gran reserve cab and an awesome red blend.  Not surprisingly, another case was sent back to the state by Roz and more bottles were purchased for our drive south.

Saturday night Tracy and Matt went to walk off the midday wine tasting and stumbled into a casual night in the main Independence Plaza with vendors and a fountain water show.

And what is this…?

Oh!  and Racing (soccer team in Buenos Aires) won the South American Cup over Cruzeiro 3-1.  How would one know something good in soccer happened in soccer in Argentina you ask?

11-24-24 Back to Chile for More Wine Exploring

We left Sunday morning to get back over to the wine regions of Chile south of Santiago.  The border crossing getting back into Chile was a mess, taking over 2.5 hours to get through.  Borders are interesting…all have rules, none follow the same rules and somehow you are supposed to know what rules each border crossing for each country follows.

See you on the Chile page!

Ciao!

12-31-24  Crossing Into Argentina

After a very simple border crossing (which we love!) we arrived in Rio Grande, Argentina, later in the day on New Year’s Eve and had some minor issues getting into a hotel for the night.  The casino we landed up in had its fair share of procedural nuances (let’s say), but it was dry inside as it was raining outside! We had dinner at the hotel and figured it was midnight somewhere in the world so we could claim we made it to midnight and hit the sack.

1-1-25 HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

We can’t believe it is New Year’s Day!  The day we will reach the ultimate destination of our trip – Ushuaia, Argentina.  It is amazing to think we started this journey a year ago and now here we are a mere 3 hour drive away.

We made the drive and it was nice to see the scenery change back to mountains with snow capped peaks.  We are a little surprised at the traffic we encounter, but then again it is New Year’s Day, summer holiday and this is the prime destination for people doing overlanding down into southern Argentina.

We take Ruta 3 through town and into a very busy Tierra del Fuego National Park and come to the end of the road – incredible!

The end of Ruta 3 is popular as it marks the official end of the PanAmerican Highway.

Matt’s Sequoia odometer readings at the start and at the end of the road…and the math says the crew drove 19,531 miles from the Denver start.  And we still have to drive back up into Chile to ship the rigs back!

It is amazing to think we safely made the entire journey – it feels a little anti-climatic in all honesty.  All the long days of driving, the wonderful people we met, great food we devoured and the incredible scenery all wrapped into a sign at the end of a road – crazy.

1–2/3-25  Checking Out Ushuaia

We have a couple of days in Ushuaia to look into the area a bit.  Matt needed some minor maintenance (alignment/rotation/etc) and the rest of the crew had stuff to fill a day.  The skies cleared by midday revealing some pretty views of Ushuaia.

   

John enjoying a little lunch – that poor crab never stood a chance

1-3-25 Taking In Some Sights

John and Roz headed out for an off pavement drive to a remote restaurant with great reviews in a village called Almanza out on Estancia Harberton. The drive out was gorgeous – rolling hills and horses that opened to an expansive view of the channel – especially as the clouds cleared and the sun came out.  The ride back was a bit tortuous as the winds picked up and Edels and Roz got a taste of the 40+ mph winds Ushuaia is famous for!

 

Matt and Tracy took a Beagle Channel tour to take in sights from the water.  Weather was a little wet at 1st and then cleared up with great views of the surrounding mountains, an elusive Orca, 3 different kinds of penguins, some sea lions and a cool old lighthouse out in the middle of the water – the southernmost lighthouse in the world – San Pio.

Roz captured a screenshot of where we both were during the day – the pull even further south is strong!

Tomorrow we start the trek north with the 1st target:  El Calafate

1-4-25 Heading North

We left Ushuaia in the morning and headed north, crossing back into Chile and taking the short ferry back as we re-trace the path that took us into Ushuaia.  The scenery leaving Ushuaia is very different than the dry plains we will spend the next 2 weeks driving up in Argentina.

It will take us 2 full days to reach El Calafate, so we stay at a place 30’ minutes from the Argentinian border – a “rustic” (and We mean rustic) hotel on the outskirts of a very small town.  The hotel Donde Rupe had a decent write up – but it probably beneifted from being the only place in the middle of nowhere to stay!

1-5-25 El Calafate

The 4 hour drive from Donde Rupe – crossing back into Argentina – and then into El Calafate was challenging due to the winds.  You hear about them and we haven’t experienced many sustained high wind days – but we got one on the 5th.  Felt like it was a combo head/tail/cross wind the whole day and very strong – never letting up.  Tough on the vehicles and so it was nice to finally arrive.  We stayed at a campground outside of town called Camping Punta Soberana – right on Lago Argentina – but blocked from the lake by trees and the wind blocks everything needs to survive the winds!

   

1-6-25 The Perito Moreno Glacier

It is likely El Calafate exists due to the presence of 3 glaciers at the end of the lake the town sits alongside.  The most spectacular is Perito Moreno.  This thing is 50-70M thick at the water’s edge (that is over 200’!), sheds ice bergs/calves constantly and is truly beautiful.  Whether you are far away or us the park’s walkway to get up close, the glacier is stunning.

          

 

The video captures a scan of the glacier and also some calving we were lucky enough to see and get the cameras on…

The picture below shows how far the glacier has retreated since 1968  – it is amazing how fast the retreat has gone in certain time spans.

After the cool glacier viewing we head back into El Calafate, about an hour away.  Right as we get to the edge of town, Edels Rover has an issue and upon lifting the hood oil can be seen everywhere – no bueno.  Turns out one of the bolts holding valve cover/rocker arm stripped and so we found a local mechanic and Matt towed him in.

The mechanic could fix the issue, but not today so John and Roz camped in the mechanic’s lot, Matt & Tracy returned to the previous night’s campground and the crew will see what tomorrow brings.

1-7-25 Mechanic Delivers and off to El Chalten and Fitz Roy

The mechanic was able to work with a local machinist to make the bolts available locally work for the rig.  He got the work done by mid-afternoon so we loaded up and did the 2.5 hour drive to El Chalten.  El Chalten is a very small town that is the jump off point for lots of cool multi-day trekking in and around the mountains containing Fitz Roy – the mountain the Patagonia label helped to make famous – but in all honesty – it doesn’t need the marketing!

You get a glimpse of the beauty of the mountain as you approach the town – it looks incredible bounded on either side by other mountains with glaciers and the last 25 miles of the road into town has you drive straight at the mountain – very cool.

Impressive from 35-40 miles way – but once you get into town and climb the mirador for a closer look – it is even better.

 

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Go figure that we were lucky enough to find a traditional Argentinian restaurant for dinner – such a nice surprise!

Tomorrow the weather is expected to change – rain in the AM and then steady 15 mph winds with gusts to 40 mph.  We want to do the hike to get closer to Fitz Roy and so will see if Mother Nature is agreeable or not 🙂

1-8-25 Poor Weather and the Drive North

We awoke to high winds and rain and so decided to start the long trek up to San Carlos Bariloche to check out what we have heard is a cool town and do one more fishing excursion.  The drive is a mere ~870 miles and so it will take us 2-3 days.  And the landscape could not be more different from Chilean Patagonia – which was lush.

The 8th we make it as far as the Argentinian side of Patagonia National Park and squeezed in to an unprotected camp spot on a hill between other wind protected sites- but at least we had a spot.  We fought 40+ mph winds all day – no abatement and it was hard on both vehicles – especially Edels.  His Rover and its diesel engine started showing a little more burn in smoke out the exhaust battling the crazy headwind.

1-9-24 Keep On Truckin’ and Then???????

We head out early in the AM to try and go as far as we can before the bad winds kick back up again.  We were making good progress, reached Perito Moreno – gassed up – and hit the road.  About 22.5 miles north of Perito Moreno, John’s rig started belching smoke.  His engine revved wildly, couldn’t be turned off and he was losing control of the ability to shift the gears.

He got off the road and Matt turned around – and in that 5” – John’s rig had a full blown engine fire –  smoke and flames billowing from the exhaust and engine bay – there are no pics as this was a real emergency.  Matt grabbed his extinguisher, John cracked open the hood and Matt unloaded the extinguisher on the engine.  While that killed the fire, the engine was done.  Job well done fellas!

John’s rig took her last breath here…

Matt & Tracy quickly rolled back into Perito Moreno, got a tow truck and we had the rig back in town and at some cabins we grabbed for the day/night to figure out a plan.

Lots of calls/texts to fishing guides in Chile-Argentina (for their local knowledge), John working with the tow truck driver and exchanges with the shipper we are using to send the vehicles home shaped a plan.   John negotiated with the tow truck driver to take him to the border crossing at Mamuil Malal – near Pucon in Chile.  The driver also secured a Chilean tow truck driver to meet us at the border to take the rig to the port town of San Antonio from where we will ship the rigs home.  Crazy how fast this situation went from “FIRE”! to a full blown plan to finish the trip – 4-6 hours and it was done.  Amazing!!

1-10-24 Executing The Plan

We hit the road early on 1/10 with the goal of making to El Bolson- some 450 miles to the north.

The drive is windy, steady and 14 hours long – and the road wasn’t always as good as you would want it…

but we roll into El Bolson near sunset and it is a beautiful mountain town.  Very different than the Argentinian plain we have been battling.  El Hoyo was another cool mountain town right before it – you couldn’t tell if you were in the northeast Appalachians or towns near Lake Tahoe – really pretty.

We grabbed dinner and then crashed as we needed to leave at 4 AM on Saturday to get to the border early, cross it, hand off Edels’ vehicle to another tow truck driver and make Osborne, Chile by night fall.

1-11-25 To The Border!

Saturday AM we leave at 4 AM and drive 4 hours to the border – where we sit in line as getting to the border early on a Saturday must not be a secret idea.  Hundreds of cars in line and the process is steady, but takes time.  We get stamped out of Argentina and are waiting for the Chilean tow truck to show up – only to find out he broke down less than an hour from the border.  So he arranged for a colleague – Marcello (24, has his own truck and runs his own lil bus for 3 years now) – to come to the rescue.  But it takes Marcello a few hours to make the journey from Osorno – and apparently no one told him he was bringing 2 people back because he brought his girlfriend with him. WT_????  The team at the Argentinian border!

His truck only holds 3 and so the girlfriend was left at the border until Marcello’s mom could come and get her…LOL…mom’s are always to the rescue :).  Now that we are ready to roll, we head to the Chilean border, cross it and head down into Osorno…14 hour day.

At the Chilean border!

Again – we grab dinner, crash and plan to make Santiago the next day, but it is a minimum of 10.5 hours on the road.

This ends the Argentina part of the journey and so we’ll see you once again back on the Chile page.  Ciao!!