14 Bottles of Wine & 1 French Press

As I sit inside my cozy sleeping bag protected from the unpredictable Chilean weather I have come to realize that although we are certainly roughing it, I do have a few creature comforts that make life in a van just a little easier.

Once we arrived to Europe I deemed it necessary that we buy a French press. Sitting in cafes is quite lovely, especially in all of the great European cities, but it can eat into the budget quickly. The plan was to only carry our IKEA Frech press through Europe while we had the van there, but somehow it managed to find its way into my backpack and into South America. Although finding quality coffee grounds (most South Americans drink instant coffee) has been a challenge, I get to start my day in a way that reminds me of home.

So, not only are we backpackers with a French press but we're also carrying a nice supply of Chilean wine...14 bottles to be exact. When we started our trip in New Zealand we met a couple (thanks Dave & Diane!) who were so passionate about food and wine it inevitably wore off on us. Thanks to them we've been tasting wines all over the world the last 13 months and decided we needed an adequate supply before embarking into the Patagonian frontier. At only $2-$4 for a good bottle of Chilean vino, we couldn't help but stock up.

So, maybe we're not the "typical" backpackers, but a little pleasure in no man's land makes this Wicked van feel more like home.

Current Update:

After leaving Coyhaique we continued our journey south to the 173,000 acre Estancia Valle Chacabuco, a former sheep and cattle ranch that will soon be the new Patagonia National Park. Over the past five years countless volunteers have been working to remove all of the fences from the ranch, replant native grasses, and remove all the invasive species. We've spent the last five days here helping out where we can, hiking around the property, and enjoying an asado (basically the Patagonian version of a BBQ).

We'll spend the next few days fishing a few of the rivers around the estancia before heading east into Argentina. From there, it will be a long, dusty, empty drive down the infamous Ruta 40 to Mount Fitz Roy and Torres del Paine Nat'l Park.

Chilean Patagonia

Quick recap of our last week...

Sunday: Drove all day to get to Coyhaique (a town of 50,000 and the biggest city in 500 miles or more) to watch the Vikings-Cowboys game. Everything in town was closed since today was also Chile's presidential election. We had to search for four hours, but finally found somewhere that was open and had a TV. After much discussion with the waiter, who was watching the election coverage instead of waiting on the tables full of hungry customers in the restaurant, he finally agreed to let us watch the game if we flipped back to the news once in awhile. It was the first time we've seen the Vikings all year. Weird seeing Favre in purple and gold. Vikings win!

Monday: Trip #1 to the mechanic to fix the hole we put in the exhaust a few days ago. Those rocky roads are not friendly to our Wicked van.

Tuesday & Wednesday: Found a great camping spot along the Nirequao River. Lots of fishing, walking, and hiding out from the rain.

Thursday: Trip #2 to the mechanic after we drove down a long, bumpy (even by Patagonia standards) road we probably shouldn't have. (There was supposed to be great fishing at the end.) Ended up rattling the engine bracket loose, lost three of the four bolts, and almost had the engine fall out of the van. Luckily, since it's a rental, they've paid for everything with no questions asked.

Friday & Saturday: Made a second trip down "the road we probably shouldn't go down". No problems this time. Found amazing scenery, excellent fishing, and a nice spot along the river to camp.

Sunday: Had a random Chilean couple the same age as us, who we had met for all of 20 minutes, invite us to their house for a BBQ. Some of the nicest, welcoming people of the trip. We had a great meal, excellent Pisco Sours, hot showers (the first in weeks), and a warm, dry bed to sleep in. Couldn't find the Vikings on TV so we (Dustin) had to resort to watching the Gamecast online. Once it went into overtime we resorted to Plan B...calling Rachel's mom on Skype and having her place her laptop with webcam in front of the TV. Although the resolution wasn't good we were able to barely make out what was happening. Since the Vikings lost, it's probably a good thing we weren't able to watch the whole thing anyway.

As you can tell from the plethora for posts, we've had plenty of time to write between fishing, hiking, trips to the mechanic, and waiting for the rain/wind to let up a bit.

One Month To Go So Here's a New Poll!!!

Our 14-month journey comes to an end exactly one month from today. We'll be boarding a plane in Punta Arenas bound for Minnesota on February 25th. We definitely have mixed feelings about going home. It'll be great to see all of our family and friends we haven't seen in over a year. We're definitely looking forward to regular hot showers, not struggling to communicate, quality dairy products, and just being able to curl up on the couch to watch a movie. But the last 13 months have been an amazing experience and we've only scratched the surface. There's so much more to see and do out there. Plus, living in a van really isn't so bad.

Since our trip is nearing it's end we've unfortunately started to think about jobs for when we return. The last few weeks we've (very occasionally) even started to search the internet for job openings. Before we left on the trip we thought we'd definitely know where we'd like to live by the time we came to the end of our trip. Well, we don't. Although we have a few top choices, most of it will obviously depend on where we can find jobs.

With that said, we figure it's time for another poll...Where do you think we'll end up living (at least until we get the travel itch again) when we return from our trip? Place your vote in the column on the right.

Results:
Alaska 9 votes (19%)
California 15 votes (31%)
Minnesota 11 votes (23%)
New Zealand 4 votes (8%)
Oregon 6 votes (12%)
Other 2 votes (4%)

Adventureous Proposition...Interested?

Want to embark on an epic journey across one of the last great frontiers on earth? Come to Patagonia! You'll travel through unpopulated wilderness, lush rainforests, majestic mountain ranges, deep valleys, and raging rivers. You will have ample opportunities to spend time enriching your life through fishing, hiking, reading, and writing.

Test your flyfishing skills by challenging Patagonia's harsh, unrelenting winds. You may hook yourself more than you hook the fish, but each of those trout will be hard-earned trophys. Don't worry about crowds, the long drive down never-ending rough roads will ensure you leave any other fishermen far behind. No need to bring waders either, it's amazing how quickly your legs become numb to that glacial river water.

If hiking is more your thing there are miles and miles of dirt road to discover. If the baseball-sized rocks don't tickle your fancy they will at least twist your ankle. And there's nothing better to get you motivated to run than being chased by one of the local bulls.

After days of fishing and hiking in the dirty outdoors you may feel the need for a shower. Instead of a boring, basic old shower you'll soon discover the joys of river bathing, or what we like to call a "bathing experience". There's nothing more invigorating that taking a quick dip in the above mentioned glacial river water. The frigid waters will not only turn your skin lovely shades of purple and blue, but it will be several hours before you fully warm up.

And how will you get from Point A to Point B? Take a Wicked Camper of course. Don't worry about missing out on the "epic" road conditions as they don't call it "Wicked" for nothing...it's low to the ground, sounds like it will rumble to pieces, and has no suspension so you're sure to fully experience Patagonia's unforgiving potholes as you bump along to your destination. And just to ensure that you don't feel too isolated from the elements that leaky roof and drafty doors will bring the elements inside to you. Although you can spend most of your nights camped along beautiful, secluded rivers it will only be a matter of time before you get the special treat of spending the night in your van parked in the mechanics garage.

The van, your home-away-from-home, will not only be your primary mode of transportation but will also double as your bedroom, living room, and kitchen too. But, unlike your house where you have to walk everywhere to get around, here you will have your clothes, food, stove, blankets, and dishes all at your fingertips. The Chilean wine you stocked up on will literally be close to your heart when you sleep above it all night.

If you like pasta, cereal, boxed milk that sits on shelves, and plenty of canned tuna and sardines you will be in heaven here. Unlike at home, you won't have to waste hours and hours trying to figure out what to eat. Since there's no selection your choices are infinitely easier. Want to go on a treasure hunt? Try searching for a fresh fruit or vegetable, or better yet, try to find real milk or quality cheese.

If the fishing, hiking, and bathing experiences don't entice you to join us down in Patagonia, come for the scenery alone. If the scenery doesn't take your breath away the fierce wind surely will.

Potholes, Rain & Fish...Oh My!

Since our last post we have travelled 360 miles through the northern portion of Chilean Patagonia, from Chaiten to Coyhaique. The past seven days have been dominated by four main themes: Rain, fishing, potholes, and great scenery.

First the rain...After leaving Puerto Montt we had four straight days of solid rain. The next few days were a mix of showers, wind, and the occasional fleating patch of blue sky. Rain is fine when you have a warm house to go back to, but when you're living in a van it can get old fast.

Since there was no getting away from the rain, we spent a couple of afternoons doing the one outdoor activity that is perfect for a rainy day...soaking in hotsprings. We found a great spot that, for a few dollars each paid to the local farmer, we had to ourselves. It was a rustic little pool built into a small river in the middle of the rainforest...soothing, very hot water on one side and refreshing, yet frigid water on the other.

Next the fishing...All of the rain has made fishing a tough proposition. Besides soaking you to the core, the rain has also made all of the rivers very high. Of course, this didn't stop us from trying to add some fresh fish to our diet of muesli, canned tuna, avocado, and pasta. Twice we went out with a local to troll for salmon in the Palena River. Although we had a few bites, and hooked one, we never got anything to the boat. Dustin braved a few of the ragging rivers to catch a bunch of mostly small brown trout in the north. After plenty of searching, we finally found a nice spot along the Cisnes River that we made our home. The river provided plenty of small trout and at least one nice one each day for dinner. Add in the awesome scenery and nice hiking for Rachel and we were happy campers.

Our great camp along the Cisnes River...we ended up staying four days:

The potholes...Over the last week we've covered 360 miles. Of those 360 miles, 300 have been on gravel roads. We've been able to average about 25 mph while on the gravel. Our top speed has been 40 mph and we've had a few long stretches of never getting over 15 mph. Smooth stretches of gravel are few and far between. Most of the road is either full of baseball-sized, vehicle-rattling rocks or teeth-clenching potholes...and often times both. Somehow our low-clearance, no-suspension van hasn't rattled apart yet...but we get the feeling it's only a matter of time.

A better stretch of the 300 gravel miles we've done so far:

And lastly the scenery...The first 250 miles were very similar to southeastern Alaska...thick rainforest, towering snow and cloud covered mountains, raging rivers, and plenty of glaciers and waterfalls. The last stretch hasn't been as wet or quite as rugged, and the valleys are wide with a few scattered farms...more like Montana. Either way, the scenery has been stunning.

Not So Idle Days in Chile

After arriving into Santiago we picked up our home for the next 7 weeks...a 2003Fiat Fiornio that has been converted into a mini-camper. Since we didn't want to deal with the hassle of buying/selling a vehicle we decided to rent for this last leg of our trip.

Anyone for another 7 weeks of living in a van?:

We got our van from Wicked Campers, an Aussie company known for their interesting paint jobs. They're just starting up in South America so we got a pretty good deal. Its received some looks, but most of it is out of curiosity. Usually, the Chileans want to know if we painted the van ourselves, why there are skulls on it, where we're going, and where we're from...just the typical questions one encounters while on a roadtrip. We're just hoping it gets us all the way to the bottom of South America in one piece...it has almost no suspension, a rumbling exhaust, a check engine light that comes on periodically (according to the guy from Wicked..."Just ignore that"), and a leaky roof (but only when it rains).

After stocking up on supplies in Santiago we managed to make our way south into wine country. Before leaving civilization completely, we figured some serious wine tasting was in order. After all, Chile is the up-and-coming wine country. We followed the wine trail to Santa Cruz tasting at several vineyards along the way, getting a little silly, and stocking our van full of cheap, tasty wine for our adventure south. Somehow we managed to pull ourselves away from the endless glasses of Carmenere, one of the most popular Chilean reds, and continue on our journey.

We swear that we'll start roughing it as soon as we finish this wine...:

Today we're in Puerto Montt which is basically as far south as you can drive before you have to hop on a ferry. We'll be boarding a vehicle ferry tonight for the ride to Chaiten, Chile which is where the real adventure will start. We're planning on driving about 600 miles south on the gravel Carretera Austral road before we pass over the Andes into Argentina. It'll be us, our Wicked van, and miles and miles of empty road.

The Home Stretch

Tomorrow we begin the last leg of our 14-month trip. We fly to Santiago, Chile where we'll be embarking on a 52-day road trip through Patagonia, snaking back and forth between Chile and Argentina. Besides the epic drive and scenery, we hope to find some great flyfishing and hiking along the way. Upon leaving Santiago, we'll set our compass to 180 degrees south and continue until we can go no further, reaching the end of the South American continent in Tierra del Fuego.


We haven't decided on an exact route, but there are basically only two roads heading south along the Andes: 1) The Carretera Austral in Chile which runs north-south for 770 miles (almost all of them unpaved) through the southern spine of the Andes. 2) The Patagonia section of Ruta 40 in Argentina which is regularily described as one of the world's epic drives. As the route skirts the eastern edge of the Andes it crosses 18 major rivers and 236 bridges, passes 13 lakes, and goes by 20 national parks. Like the Carretera Austral in Chile, the majority of it is also unpaved. Needless to say, we should be in for one heck of a grand finale to our trip.

On a side note, after the first week or so, internet will most likely become very scarce so we're no longer making any promises on weekly blog updates. Sorry.

But before we head to Chile and spend the next two months in a van, we decided to spoil ourselves with a stay at the Radisson-Lima. Plus, tomorrow will be the one-year anniversary of when we first started this trip so we had to celebrate. We ended up getting a good deal, but the $70/night is still by far the most we've paid for a room this entire trip. Anyway, as you can imagine, we're taking full advantage of the luxury and loving every minute of it.

The Beach Life

For the past week we've been hanging out in Punta Hermosa, Peru. It's probably the least remarkable place we've spent any significant amount of time...usually cloudy, desert landscape, square concrete buildings, a few average restaurants, and, being only about 30 minutes south of Lima, it's basically the beach getaway spot for every 16-22 year old kid from the city.

But it has one very big redeeming quality...there are a handful of great surfbreaks withing walking distance of the town. For the last week we've done little else besides surf...not a bad way to end 2009 and welcome in 2010.