30, The End

We’re back. Both in the sense that we’ve finished our trip but also bad news for you we’re back writing another blog. And there you were enjoying the peace and quiet. But this is it, our closing summary, so if you do take any pleasure in reading our ramblings then enjoy this while it lasts!








It’s been over 7 weeks since we landed back and we’ve been pretty busy. We’ve filed taxes, bought car insurance, gotten phone plans... but let’s talk about more interesting stuff. We’ve moved in to an actual building with walls and doors and everything like that. Our generous landlords (also cousins) extremely kindly filled the fridge with food and beer and even helped move all of our stuff out of our storage locker. Why do we have so much stuff?! We did just fine with a small van load of junk, why did we keep all this other crap? We’re sure it will be useful ooonnneeee dddaaaayyyyyyyyy……




We also found a really cool bus Jenjen really said we really should actually really buy and convert into a home to live in. Really she did... or was that Steve’s stupid idea? Life on wheels just seemed to suit us, may as well do it in style.

And then a UK VW camper magazine paid us (a little) to write two articles. Four pages of our words and pictures about our travels through North and Central America were published in the June edition. South America earned six pages and comes out in a couple of weeks for July. How cool is that? And Jenjen is even on the front cover if you squint and stare at the bottom right hand corner.






But I know you don’t care that much about us, it is Westy Rick you’ve been missing. Well, he made it too! From Chile, to Colombia then up to Vancouver his time in the shipping container is over. Unscathed and only a little bit smelly he started up first time and conquered the 6 hour drive from the coast to our physical dwelling without missing a beat. What a champion. We missed him just as you can imagine we might and it feels great to have him back.



Oh and we bought a 1980 Volvo as a winter car. Westy Rick all summer, rusty Scandinavian classic all winter.

Naturally a road trip beckoned and so we made our way up to Whistler reminding ourselves that British Columbia isn’t a bad place to return to in the scheme of things. Unfortunately the sand in the fuel tank situation that caused our only breakdowns in Chile and Argentina came back to haunt as and the fuel pump died leaving us broken down again. In fairness this fuel pump had previously seized, been taken apart twice and used to pump more sandy crap around our fuel system so it is no wonder the lifespan was short. Fortunately Steve bought another spare when in Vancouver so it was a quick filter and fuel pump change and we were on the road again within an hour.





But what did we learnnnnn? How does it feeeeeel to be back? Now is when it gets really hippy gap year preachy preachy….

People are nice. Everywhere. Yes there are bad people out there but they are few and far between. We used what little common sense we have and got by just fine. Sure, lots of people stared at us but it wasn’t threatening, it was just we were extremely odd to them and unusual looking (fair enough right?). And if we needed help, or were looking for something, almost everyone was patient and understanding trying to point us in the right direction despite our terrible Spanish. We know of people who had problems on their trips, things stolen etc, and that is a constant worry but these seem to be most likely to happen in tourist hot spots where a criminal industry is set up to take advantage of the relative wealth of travellers. So we took advantage of our freedom and travelled to the less frequented spots. And now it’s strange being back and not feeling like celebrities anymore, before everyone would smile and wave at us as we drove along but now we have become just…. traffic. People are nice. Well, apart from that yank who wouldn’t do our wheel alignment. Git.

We, and presumably anyone else, can adapt quickly. Crossing into Mexico was a massive shock, everything changed from the driving to the attitudes, the language and the culture. It was a tough week, but we figured it out and it wasn’t long before we were soaking it up. Yes it’s tough to step outside your comfort zone, or two footed leap off a cliff out of your comfort zone in our case, but it’s worth it. Learning how to cope doesn’t take long and then as we travelled further it just got easier and easier. Desert to jungle, hot to cold, low to high, rain to sunshine we saw it all and each change in climate needed a different strategy. And the more you do, the more you want to do and suddenly things that terrified you once are now a walk in the park. Border crossings were once an intimidating mess of buildings, people trying to “help” you (aka extort you) and corrupt border officers trying to rob you. But by the end it was just a case of turning up and figuring it out, no more stress.

We’re even surer than before that we are a perfect match. We made it through 9 months living in a cramped van and no we’re not glad to have time to ourselves while one of us is out the house, we actually we miss each other! We know some of you won’t believe that but it’s true. And we were perfectly happy living with not much, the van didn’t have many luxuries but we didn’t miss anything. Once we got used to the feeling of being sweaty for 5 days without a shower and our noses adjusted it was fine. So our goals remain firmly set not to earn money to buy toys and fancy things, but to earn time for adventure. When you think of a “successful person” you picture someone in an executive job driving a posh car, and yes who doesn’t want lots of money. But we’re more sure than ever that to us success will be focussed around freedom and happiness and not just piles of dosh.

Perception is an ever changing thing, and boy did it change fast for us. It felt normal to be doing what we were doing once we met other travellers, it didn’t seem odd at all to be living in a van. We slept better than we ever have waiting for the sun to wake us up as it shone through the curtains. Every night we noticed the moon, and how it changed as the days went by. We spent a whole week not knowing the clocks had changed until we showed up to meet a friend an hour early. There was no answering to anyone else, just doing what we felt like. It was just as amazing as it sounds, and absolutely addictive.



And then like a fish on a hook, we were on a plane getting dragged back to reality flying in an hour what had taken us a fortnight to cover by ground. The songs on the radio are the same, the adverts playing still annoying and now we have to adjust, we have some serious adjusting to do.

So now we settle in to “normal” life. Jenjen has been back at work for 6 weeks, doing fantastically but not enjoying the early morning alarms. Her colleagues are naturally happy to have her back, and it took no time at all for her nurse superpowers to regain full strength. Steve doesn’t have a job, but plenty to keep him busy. He is expanding on an already running 3D printing business and then will find some part time work. There’s also some TLC that needs sending in Westy Rick’s direction.

Lots of people think the hardest part of doing a trip like this is the saving, or learning the language or any of the other challenges. And then many believe that the hardest thing was actually taking that first step and leaving.

They are all wrong, the hardest part was stopping.

29, Westy Went Northy

And there you were wondering if you’d heard the last from us, well no here we still are, still travelling but now Westy Goes Northy. We’ve got to get back from the end of the world to the coast of Chile, near Santiago which is somewhere around 3,500km north of Ushuaia and 3 weeks to do it. Our engine is running smoothly now that we’re not pumping sand through it and our spirits are high, despite the sadness that comes with an adventure approaching its end.

Pampa, oh pampa how we are getting bored of you. Prior to reaching Patagonia we heard about “the Patagonian wind”, over and over again and yet we suffered very little, that is right up until now where we suffer and suffer. Driving in a tall brick with worn out suspension against strong winds leaves Steve with sore arms, trying to not look like a drunk driver and stay in our lane. The cross winds are so strong that the steering wheel spends most of its time way off centre, and the headwinds enough to cost us a fuel economy loss of 20% over our first 1000kms heading home.

If you’re riding on two wheels, or four legs, they don’t discriminate in Patagonia. And why not wear a beret to complete the style?

Guanacos continue to entertain us, gently raising their heads still chewing as we approach and occasionally reminding us why there are signs warning about their crossing so frequently.

How does this sound, a 10 minute detour by car followed by a 15 minute walk to go and see a wild penguin colony? Yes, too good to miss is right. Forgetting karma, and back into our mindset of rules are made to be bent, broken and completely ignored we don’t worry about registering at the visitors centre and make our way straight to the car park. Later a ranger asks us if we signed in before visiting like we were supposed to… he wasn’t angry, he was disappointed.

Penguins are part of the food chain, especially for ferrets and pumas, so the first penguins we see are the unlucky ex-penguins. But then there they are, the real life living ones, thousands of them, and they are SO CUTE!!!

Steve may have gotten a little too close to this penguin, this photo was half a second before he snapped at the lens 3 inches from his face. Fair enough buddy, fair enough.

 

Does a penguin think, does it dream?

Last time we became propaneless was 2.5 months after a refill, this time it happened unexpectedly after just 1 month due to all the tea and coffee we’ve been making to ward away the cold. We ran out on the same night that we found the imbeciles that rotated our tyres removed the mud from our wheels with a metal bar, banging it against the rim creating dents that have now propagated into downright dangerous cracks that are leaking air. If only we’d bought a tyre changing machine with us…

Our propane hunt proves fruitless for days and days although one visit to a household with propane bottles littering the yard results in us leaving with handfuls of freshly baked local delicacy, fried donut rolls. Mmmmm warm food! But still no propane (sobbing).

It isn’t unusual for us to feel that timing couldn’t be better, so many times things have just lined up and we’re left with our mouths open. It starts to rain, the sun is setting and we make our way to a beach to sleep. As we arrive the rains stops and the most spectacular double rainbow we have ever seen suddenly shines above the ocean. The colours were so intense we literally had to squint, almost reaching for our sunglasses. It lasted until the sun set behind us. We returned to the van realising that rainbows were yet another thing that would never be quite the same again. “Oh look at that rainbow” someone might say, and sadly we will have to reply “It’s nice, but this one time, in Southern Argentina…”.

How about a 15 second detour to see a huge colony of sealions? (are they sealions?)

A victim of the salt flats, our rust ridden speedo cable gives out (the second to die on this trip) and our search for propane continues. Cold hot dogs aren’t so bad, even four nights in a row…

A petrified forest, whatever that means, is our next stop. 90 million years ago this area was swamp land ruled by dinosaurs and now it’s a dry and barren sandy landscape. Because of just the right conditions, logs from 5000 years ago were replaced with salts as they decomposed turning them into rocks that have now begun to surface as the sand erodes with the rain. Layers in the distant mountain tell of the time that this area was swamp, or jungle, and even volcanic ash as the Andes were formed west of here.

Our desperation for propane doesn’t make propane appear, so much for things working out at just the right time… But they have a drink here that they love, called “mate” (pronounced mat-aye) that is kind of like a green tea. As such, each petrol station sells hot water to keep their thermoses topped up and so we have managed to keep up our coffee consumption. One petrol station however told us their machine wasn’t working, quite rudely. Perhaps they knew we were after coffee and not mate… But Steve remembered seeing a kettle when he paid for the fuel in the staff room, shaking with coffee withdrawal he staggers over and is granted use of this life saving, water heating device. Winning!

We get desperate and use the soldering iron to attempt to heat the water, it fails miserably but then we finally get ourselves filled with the delicious fuel! We woke up disgustingly and without coffee at 7am to get there before their propane trucks left, but were asked to come back at 2pm. Then after 3 hours of waiting the truck returned and YAYYYYY.

After all this travelling we think it’s time for a holiday, and so a holiday we commence. We’ve reached the Argentinian Lakes District and it’s gorgeous. No more pampa, just mountains, lakes, greens and blues. Despite the time of year the days are warm, even hot but the mornings are freezing. We wake up at 8am and the thermometer reads 1 degree so we wait in bed until the sun rises over the hills and it gets to at least 4 degrees before we put the coffee on.

There are lakes, and then there are lakes. This is the latter, and we spend three nights camped beside the crystal water. This is as long as we’ve spent anywhere, but these were the most relaxing days so far. We got a few bits done in preparation for shipping, some cleaning and documenting. But mostly relaxing. Can you tell?

Reluctantly we moved onwards, past rivers and under monkey puzzle trees to then relax somewhere else. Isn’t this what we should have been doing from the onset? We even passed through some towns that were created by Welsh folk but the character wasn’t the same since the sun was shining. However, there were lots of sheep.

One last border, back into Chile makes our 18^th land border crossing of the trip.

And so now we’re driving up the same road we travelled down before, and it’s really weird! The inevitable end to this marathon holiday is looming but to make our trip feel young and sprightly again we detour over to meet up with Rolando, the friend we made when we broke down in Santiago. He’s just about to start his own travels and so he came out to camp with us. We also visited another soon to be overlander just wrapping up his bus conversion. See you in Canada weones! (Weon is a Chilean word that means pretty much everything, and it’s extra useful since we don’t speak very good Spanish still...)

Sometimes we have to work for a photo, we have to wait for the sun to get lower and walk around until the angle is just right. Then other times we turn around and a truck from the 50’s, beat to crap but all the more beautiful for it, is reversing into a river to fill water tanks for probably the thousandth time as the warm evening light reflects off the still water. Click.

T minus 4 days until shipping, time to squeeze in an Easter weekend beside a stream, swinging in a hammock, eating chocolate and making friends with Weon, the scruffy but loveable stray dog who came to hang out.

One night left, and we need to be up bright and early for the paperwork. Well, not bright since the sun won’t have even risen before we start our last few miles. The most convenient spot is a truck stop beside the road but how could we spend our last night somewhere so dire? So we set off towards the hills, past vineyards and posh houses until we find a tiny spot beside this steep road, a much more appropriate spot to while away our last evening.

And now suddenly, after much cleaning and packing, we’re driving to the port in convoy to stuff our vehicles into a container. Two beautiful vans and a magnificent motorbike all destined to return to Canada. It doesn’t go quite to plan and a one day process becomes two as this is still Latin America after all. So we have to come back tomorrow for the actual “Stuffing”, but at least they’re tucked up warm for the night.

But overall the process was going smoothly, and so we had a couple of beers to celebrate. And then some scotch, and then something else and there was some wine involved and oh god we have to be up in 4 hours. So in the AM the hungover crew reassembles in the fetching hat and vest uniform. And finally, drunkenly, we park the vehicles inside their home for 5 weeks. The container will make its way to Colombia first for no reason, crossing through the Panama canal. Then onto another ship and back through the canal again before arriving in Vancouver.

Done. Mission complete. Westy Rick made it, 39,200km with many of them ridiculously tough going. He’s been a true champion, the van has covered a total of 163,000km but the Subaru engine we installed now has 310,000km on the clock and spent the last 45,000km hauling around a much heavier vehicle than ever designed for. We even fed it sand and it didn’t seem to mind too much! We’re pretty proud.

We’re hanging out in Valparaiso, a port city covered in wall art and a short bus ride from Santiago from where we fly very soon. Our 4 flight, 26 hour journey back to Canada will be sad one but we can’t really complain. On to the next adventure!

But yeah, the driving is done, the adventure was a success. You might expect that at some level this comes as a relief for us, that we must be at least a little tired of living in a van but actually no. We didn't want it to end. We're so comfortable and used to this life that we don't actually miss warm showers or flushing toilets all that much. The comforts of a home don't compare to the freedom we've grown accustomed to and it will certainly be a shock to the system waking up to an alarm every morning. 

Oh and if you think we’re finally done bugging you with these, you’re wrong. We’re going to send out one more blog once we’ve found out what returning to normal life feels like, and once we’ve found out if we’re the same people as when we left all those months ago.

Westy Went Northy