Yeah, finally, we get to start having some more fun.  We have been so busy making miles and making van repairs, that we have forgotten to have some adventures.  Today, we remedied this.  We actually thought we could go whitewater rafting, but we were told that the water was too low and too cold, so we opted to visit a cave instead, the cavern of the witches!!  Sounds good and spooky. 

Before we went to the cave, we got to stop at a waterfall.  The fall was not terribly impressive, I guess it has been a low snow year, so there was not much water going over the fall.

Even though there was little water, there were a TON of fossils to see.  They were mostly ammonite and trilobites, but there were EVERYWHERE!

Very, very cool.

After the waterfall, it was off to the cave.  Super, super cool!!!  Or as Sean would say, pwnage!!!(pronounced pownage, for all you folks out there without 9 year old boys, it is the ultimate expression of cool).

You enter the cave into a very large chamber, but shortly after you pass through the large chamber, things get a little squishy. 

Sometimes it takes a little thought to figure out how to get through the spaces.  Sometimes the ceiling is low and you have to duck, sometimes you shoot through legs first.

There were ladders to climb and go down as well.

There were plenty of cool crystal formations, some that looked like icicles and some that looked like curtains.

We all had a lot of fun, and would gladly do a little more caving if the opportunity arose!!

We leave Malargue tomorrow to continue south.  There may be only driving for the next few days, but hopefully we get to pack some fun in soon again.  It was a great day!

We have spent the last couple of days on the outskirts of Mendosa.  I would like to tell you that we visited all the sites in the town, but that would be a big fat lie.  We DID visit the Walmart Supercenter, the first one we have seen since Mexico.  Our intention was to stay 2 nights at the campsite.  The first afternoon evening were just for resting up and relaxing.  The second day we were going to try to hit the Walmart in the morning and then catch a cab to the main square in the evening, have a look around and have dinner in town. 

It takes a long time to shop a Walmart Supercenter, and it was almost 2 pm before we got back to the campsite.  Also, our adventure to Walmart made us realize that we were no where NEAR the center of Mendosa, in fact we were only in one of the small towns surrounding it.  A cab ride would take us about 30 minutes, provided we could find a cab, and we doubted we would be able to, since we saw exactly zero cabs on our whole walk to Walmart!

So, we did not see the city center.  The  campsite was very nice, filled with beautiful shade trees.  There was even a fig tree that we could pick figs off of in the morning.  There was a rope swing in one large tree and I am pretty sure Sean spent about 6 or 7 hours a day swinging back and forth.  There were even a couple of other kids in the campsite to play with.  What more could you ask for. 

This morning we left Mendosa, on our way to San Rafael.  This is another “wine town”, and like in Mendosa, malbec is the favorite varietal.  Tasty…it’s nice to be in wine country.  As we drove today, we could see Mt Aconcagua, the  highest mountain in the Americas (North, Central and South).  This is it in the background.

Pretty nice.  Tomorrow, we are driving a short distance to Malargue, which is a smaller mountain town.  We hope to indulge in a little adventure there.  We need a break from driving.

We have been racking up the miles lately…well, for a westy, all in an effort to reach south, before the winter hits and the south freezes up. 

Two nights ago we were in Cafayate.  This is a little town in the heart of wine country.  It was a very nice little town.  It was clean and neat and there were some nice little shops to check out.  We stayed in a very clean campsite, which was a bit noisy, but otherwise quite nice.  There were only 3 campers in the campsite, and they were all Volkswagen vans of different vintages.  There was the really old “hippie” bus.

Then there was our vanagon, and finally, there was a new generation Eurovan.

After supper we walked into town and checked out some of the shops.  Sean managed to lose his sandals after ONLY nine months of trying, and so we bought him a pair of flip-flops to pad around in.  The kids found some incredibly cool kaleidoscopes.  The best one had little testtubes of sparkles and beads threaded through them, but we ended up settling for the slightly more plain variety, in favour of getting them home in one piece.  The drive to Cafayate was very cool, through MORE cool rocks.

When we left Cafayate, we drove through miles and miles of vineyards. 

Unfortunately, after leaving wine country, the road took us DOWN, below 1000m of sea level, for the first time in a VERY long time.  With the low altitude, came the heat, and driving was a bit uncomfortable for a few hours. 

We managed to climb up a little bit, before finding a campsite for the night.  The campsite was private, we had it all to ourselves, but it was a fair bit run down, and if we had had other options, we likely would have stayed elsewhere.  One night was bearable, but just. 

Tonight we are in La Rioja, camped in a huge city park.  The heat was pretty bad today, but luckily there is a large pool in the park that we could cool off in.  Sean spent hours in the pool, and seem to gather a little bit of a fan club.  Mostly, the local kids were clambering around him, trying to learn and speak a little English.  Sean did not seem to mind the attention much.   This evening, it is cooler and there is a pretty nice breeze, so I think sleeping will be okay. 

Tomorrow, thankfully, we start climbing back into the hills again.  Hopefully it will be a little cooler up there. 

Hello everyone.  We are still alive.  We are actually doing very well.  Argentina has great campgrounds in almost every town, so we are camping almost exclusively.  This has the benefit of allowing us to travel very cheaply, and we get to cook our own food, so we are much happier.  The only BIG downside is that we have not been able to find any wi-fi and even internet is sometimes hard to get to because sometimes the campgrounds are slightly out of town.  In any case, we are fine.  I am recording all, and eventually, you will be able to read all about it!!  Sorry about that guys….patience, patience!!

Right now, we are in a little town called San Antonio de Valle Fe´rtil.  Tomorrow we hope to be in San Juan and Mendosa in a few days.  Take care.  I will try to keep in touch!

We have been in Argentina for almost a week and have only travelled about 500km, but in that time, we have seen a lot of different scenery. 

Shortly after crossing into the country, we passed through a gorge, which started at about Humahuaca.  The gorge was home to some pretty cool hills.  The rocks were shades of red, orange, yellow, black and grey. 

After leaving the gorge, and before reaching Salta, we passed through a cloud  forest.  This was so refreshingly green, that I found myself smiling the whole time we were driving. 

Today, we left Salta, heading towards the small town of Cachi.  We went from about 1200m to 3300m.  As we did, we passed through a beautiful green valley, with red cliffs topping out the hills.

After reaching, our high point of just over 3300m, we dropped back down the other side of the mountains, apparently into a rain shadow, because the scenery changed to this:

Yep, those are cacti you see, and not a lot else! 

Tonight we are in Cachi, and tomorrow we will continue down the valley to the town of Cafayate.  It is supposed to be a very scenic drive.  Somehow, I don’t think this country can disappoint me when it comes to scenery.

Well, we have been in Argentina for a whole 3 days, and wow…what a difference.  Initially, we noticed little subtle differences.  The roads are paved, no more bouncing along on washboard.  It seems that drivers respect the  road signs a bit more too.  One driver actually WAITED until there was a dashed line on the highway before passing us.  Unbelievable!

We were in the small town of Humahuaca for the last couple of nights.  This is a bit of a tourist town, set at the head of a gorge.  It was kind of cute.  Even though it was small, there were a couple of smallish grocery stores available, and there was a good market to get fresh produce at.  We stopped in at an internet place and the computers were FAST.  All the internet we used in Bolivia was SOOOOOO slow.  In an hour you could check your email and send at most, one message. 

The scenery was still rather dry looking in this little town, BUT there were trees planted in the plazas and trees along the rivers, which was a nice treat.  There were TONS of stray dogs, and none of them seemed to get along, so there was constant growling and scrapping going on. 

We left Humahuaca today and tonight we are in the city of Salta.  To get here, we drove through a cloud forest!  A CLOUD FOREST!!!  After months of dry and dusty terrain we were finally surrounded by trees dripping with vines, and epiphytes.  It was heavenly!!!  Salta is not in the cloud forest, but it is plenty green.  We are camped in the municipal campground.  Argentina is a camping haven, with nearly all towns and cities having at least one campground.  The one we are at in Salta has a huge pool, plus bathrooms and hot showers.  We should be in town for a couple of days. 

I think I will like Argentina very much!

Hey, just to let you know, all is well.  We are in Salta, Argentina.  Haven´t seen much of the town yet, but we are staying at a nice campground.  We have spent the better part of two days finding YET MORE autoparts!!  One day, I promise, I will have more to write about than groceries and car problems.  I would pick another fight, but my Mommy got mad at me for the last one and I had to promise not to be in anymore fist fights for the rest of the trip!!  It is the post that got the most comments though!!

Tomorrow we will hopefully have a look around town and then head out of town the day after that.  We are enjoying the Argentinean beef and wine.  Yummy!!

We followed the Olympics as best we could while we were down here.  It is great to know that Canada did so well.  We are very sorry to have missed them.  Bad timing again.

Today marks the 9 month mark of our trip.  It is hard to believe that we have been gone for so long.  If all goes according to plan, we should be loading our van on a boat in Chile, in pretty much exactly 3 months.  We are kind of in a rush to get far south now, so that we don´t miss all the summer season, although I am sure the mountains will be spectacular in fall as well.

Just to let you know, we did not feel the earthquake in Chile, although many people in town said that they did.  We hope that the damage is more or less dealt with before we need to head home in 3 months, because we think some of the damage was near where we will be shipping.

That is all for now, keep you posted.

If you recall, I left you at a very exciting point yesterday, waiting in line at the border.  I know, it was evil to leave you hanging like that…what suspense!  Yeah, here is what happened.  We got very close to entering Argentina…but not quite. 

As we FINALLY neared the beginning of the line (or the end, I guess), we were approached by a customs agent, who asked us if we had purchased any insurance for driving in Argentina.  We replied, that we had not yet, but realized we had to.  This apparently was a big problem.  Unlike all the other borders we have crossed, they do not sell insurance AT the border.  You actually have to go into the town to buy it.  Which normally would not be a problem,except that it was now 9pm and there would be nowhere open that would sell insurance.  Without insurance, the vehicle could not enter, without entering, there was no other option other than return to Bolivia…NOOOOOOO! 

So back to Bolivia we go, look for a hotel, end up in a dive, just to get up at 6am the next morning to do it all again.  Seems we don’t get to go to the front of the line, just because we waited all day yesterday.  Nope, back to the end of the line (which was longer today, by the way).

At least we knew what we were doing, kind of.  I also wondered if the dog was going to give us any problems, so I asked two different police guards on the Argentinean side, whether I needed to do anything about bringing in a dog.  I did not want it to be 9pm again, and have them turn me back a second time.  Both guards said there was nothing special I had to do about the dog.  Of course, this was not exactly true.  I was supposed to have gotten a dog “paper” from the Bolivian side, which would then be exchanged for a permit on the Argentinean side.  I think luckily, there was no one at the Bolivian office, so the Argentineans nicely let that pass and issued me a permit without needed to see a Bolivian permit.  Also, I was supposed to go pay a fee at the  bank to import Mungo, but now the bank was closed, so again LUCKILY, the officials let me pay them instead (much easier!). 

The reason for the super long wait at the border, was that EVERY vehicle was thoroughly searched.  All bags were removed and searched by hand as well.  Crazy!  No wonder it took so long.  We were really dreading a thorough search, not because we have anything to hide, but you really have no idea how much stuff you can fit in a Volkswagen Vanagon.  There are hidey holes EVERYWHERE!!!  But, we were spared.  We only got a VERY cursory glance in each door.  That was  it!

So we are finally in Argentina, at a relatively nice hotel, with wi-fi, that has let our dog in, even though there are large signs that say NO PETS.  Go figure.  So, if you have time, look back at some of the newly posted, older posts, that are finally online!  

Waiting, waiting, waiting.  It just seems to be the name of the game.  We are sitting at the Bolivian/Argentinean border at the moment.  Nothing new, we have been here for 6 1/2 hours, and we have finally made it through the Bolivian side.  Actually, the hold up seems to be the Argentinean side.  I believe they are searching cars. 

Sara and I stood in the immigration line on the Bolivian side for about 2 hours.  When we finally got near the front of the line, the part INSIDE the building, people started shoving and pushing, and there was some discussion about which line you were supposed to be in to get to where we were.  I just stood my ground, looking dumb, not a real difficult thing to do after standing in line for 2 hours, and hoped that they would not decide to send me back to the end of a line.  They did not, thank God.  Must have looked sufficiently dumb. 

So here we sit in “no-man’s land”, checked out of Bolivia, not checked into Argentina.    The Argentinean border is supposedly open 24 hours,  I hope we are not there all night. 

Our last night in Bolivia was okay.  Almost all the restaurants are pizzeria/pasta places, but not real good pizza/pasta places.  We did however manage to find one restaurant that served pasta, but also other dishes.  And, the food was GREAT!  The chef would come out and tell you what he had that night on the menu.  They served a wonderful steak, that was so good that even Sara ate it!! (Sara hates steak).  In any case, we ended up eating there 3 of the 4 nights that we  were in Tupiza.  Our chef spent some time talking to us each night, and last night, knowing that we were leaving in the morning, he said goodbye to us all, with a hug, and kiss and a handshake.  So cute! 

I will have to let you know exactly how long we ended up waiting tonight in tomorrow’s post.  It could be a very, very long night!

Okay…we are not in Argentina.  Remember when we couldn´t leave Guatemala?  Apparently, this place has the same hold on us…except that we are not happy about it! 

On the way into Tupiza, the brakes started making ¨not good brake noises¨.  When Kevin looked into the problem, he discovered that 3 of the 4 brake pads were due to be replaced.  One of the brake pads was ¨beyond due¨and we were grinding metal to metal.  Need new brake pads.  In Canada, you would just walk into a Canadian Tire, get some new brake pads, for $20, and away you go.  Ahh, but this is not Canada!!  First you have to track down someone who has anything to do with brakes.  So, after walking pretty much the whole town, we find the one place in town that does brakes.  They don´t actually sell new brakes…why would they do that?  They will fix your old brakes, but not right now, you have to wait for the son to come to the shop, come back at 2pm.  Poor Kevin, this really goes against the grain for him.  He wants to walk in with a part number and get a NEW part.  But the 60 year old grandma behind the counter in the autoparts store doesn´t DO part numbers!!!  Come back at 2pm. 

We return at 2:30 pm, knowing that no one will actually be there at 2pm, and are told that the ¨son¨ has not come back from lunch yet, but I am sure he will be back soon.  Finally…he comes back about 3:15, after a call from his mom( how embarassing).  He starts to repair the pads right away, but every customer that enters the store, distracts him, so that it is about 4:30 when we finally leave the store with 4 ¨repaired¨ pads, and 60 Bolivianos lighter (about 10 bucks)! 

So now the brakes are good.  We (isn´t it cute how I say ¨we¨?) discovered that a little welding was required on the frame as well, while we were checking out the brakes, so this morning, Kevin got a welder to do a  little spot repair.  So….. finally, we think the van is in shape to make the final push to Argentina!!!  Please, please , please!!! 

We really think that all this bad luck is the fault of the condor amulet that we picked up on La Paz at the witches market.  We think there is a power struggle going on between St. Christopher and the amulet, and all this is resulting in bad carma.  But, how do you get rid of a charm?  We are afraid to smash it, because that might bring WORSE luck.  We think it needs to find a new home, but we can´t bring ourselves to give this bad luck charm to anyone we like.  We think it might just find it´s way onto some other vehicles rearview mirror some day.  Hopefully soon!   

By the way, Sara and I got haircuts today.  This set us back a whopping 20 Bolivianos, for the pair, a total of about $3.33.  Harsh!