May 2003

May 06, 2003 - 11:42 a.m.

Had a SWEET day yesterday - we climbed to the top of Volcan Villarrica (about 3000 m high). We had to fit crampons on our hiking books and carry an ice pick in case we fell (and to slow us down while we were sliding our way back down). The top was amazing - a huge crater and you could hear the lava in the volcano. It was smoking so you had to wear a gas mask - you could feel the acid gas in the air, on your eyes and in your lungs. And them came the fun part of sliding back on your ass the entire way you just climbed up - we got some pretty good air off a couple of bumps.

Volcan Villarrica

We are still in Pucon but we plan to move on and head south in a couple days. Today we are heading to the local playspot to surf the wave. Till next time...

May 15, 2003 - 6:38 p.m.

Hey all.....

So we are back on the road and living outta the van once again, but still loving every bit of it though. Last week we said goodbye to our new found kayak friends in Pucon and drove south to the Rio Petrohue.... another great Chilean river created by the movement of lava during volcanic activity nearby. This one we did with a good ol’ jog and run shuttle at the beginning which got my wet clothes on the dry side.....and then back to wet again. Yes, slowly but surely the traffic has dwindled to us just seeing the odd vehicle rarely enough. Also, the more south we are heading the more the ¨who are you¨ stares seem to be returning.

After reaching Puerto Montt a decision came (over heaps of seafood) whether or not to pay the big bucks and bear rough seas and take a boat over to the Futa valley.... OR we could head over to Argentina and continue on the pavement a while longer. We have chosen the Argentinian route to keep our van happier and after three days of roaming the hospitable Chilean Island of Chiloe (in which Michelle concluded ¨these guys have terrible tastes in colors... kinda like the newfies¨), we have crossed the Andes and are in the land of Italian resemblances and cheap CHEAP gourmet food.... Bariloche Argentina (aka MMMM fat kids paradise.) Hopefully tonight we’ll be eating steak dinners for a buck...... be sure to investigate the history of this country for the reason of this cheapness cause it sure doesn’t make any sense to me!

May 17, 2003 - 12:24 p.m.

How life sometimes can be shit.... last night after such a sweet day of communicating with some of our families and telling everybody how great our travels have been so far, we (I guess should say FINALLY) experienced the BOOOOO side of traveling by having our van broken into and some very important things ganked ......

Just when you think you are in a place which feels safe like home you get worked over on the main street with people everywhere. So today we regroup and think of wot do..... People have been so helpful so far but you just want your stuff back! We’ll keep y’all posted.....

Stuff B’gone:

2 sleeping bags

CD player

Cd’s

2 cameras

ALL our documents/passports

about 50 bizzucks

and

MY Gawdamn CHACOS!!!!!!!!

Michelle: Plus - my travel diary of the entire trip and about 30 sweet ass pictures. For me those two things can NEVER be replaced. BOOO!

May 20, 2003 - 1:22 p.m.

So not much has changed since the last entry. We are still in San Carlos de Bariloche and we are still hoping that some of our stuff will turn up. Actually some of it has. Mark found his Chaco’s, that he thought were stolen, locked away in a hiding spot in the car. So there was a small celebration at that find. Other than that we have been interviewed (in Spanish) on the radio about the robbery, it’s been announced on TV and radio, we put up signs and I have been to all the camera stores in the area. So far nothing. But I don’t think we will get anything back - all the unimportant stuff like maps, contact info, passports, my travel diary are sure to be in a garbage somewhere while the rest is being sold.

At the moment our van is being repaired (too much off roading) but it should hopefully be all fixed by tonight. We plan to stay in Bariloche for a couple days and then probably head for Buenos Aries. Our plans have completely changed. We cannot get out of Argentina without passports (and we were planning to go back into Chile when we headed south). It’s really cold at night and our sleeping bags are gone (the replacement one we are going to get is not going to keep us warn in -10C). So we decided that we are going to come back here in December and check out southern Chile and Patagonia then (besides we are certain to find people to paddle the Futaleufu with while now there is no one there). So we are going north to warmer temperatures (I must admit I am looking forward to the beach).

May 26, 2003 - 1:14 p.m.

Just a quick note to say that we are in Buenos Aries getting new passports made. We should be done tomorrow so we will be spending less time here than we thought. It's a HUGE city (12 million, I think). We got a sense of it driving around last night trying to find a place to stay that is cheap and has parking (not that easy). On top of all that Norman decided to blow a hole in the power steering hose so we dropped a lot of fluid on the parking lot ground (not to worry, a relatively easy repair). We are going to get on our way as soon as we can - across Uruguay and into Brazil.

May 27, 2003 - 5:10 p.m.

So this morning Mark and I went to the Canadian Embassy to pick up our new passports only to give them away to the Brazilian embassy so we can get a visa. Essentially what that means is that we are able to leave Buenos Aries tomorrow and continue on with our adventures.

Next stop Uruguay...