Punta Arenas
Back to storage to prepare our camper for the rest of our trip.
Catering, shopping and cleaning.
Quiet evening before reaching our next stop " Puerto Natales "
Faro San Isidro
We have to part sometime ... and this one happened.
It is with great emotion that we leave our friends hoping to see each other again on the road or at the latest in France next summer.
We descend further down at the tip of Chile to the "Faro San Isidro".
The road is easy, but time is not up.
To reach the lighthouse, the hiking trail goes through a pebble beach ... Very difficult to walk, we do not go all the way.
For the evening we find a parking at the beach admiring dolphins.
The weather is getting better ... Sunny day ... We stay on site for one more day
Punta Arenas
We take our time since we have to pick up the camper around noon.
Then back to the storage for a quiet afternoon in the company of our friends and for an evening around a shrimp curry cooked by Christophe
Punta Arenas
Wake up at 5:45 ... Who tells us that we are retired or on vacation!!!
We drop off the camper at 7 am and the manager tells us that we cannot stay inside our vehicle and that there is no waiting room.
What to do at 7:30 in the morning? Nothing ... except to take a " Chocolate con churros " and wait for the opening of stores to recharge our sim card.
The Chilean government asks all foreigners to declare their mobile phone under penalty of blocking it after one month. The reason given is to detect stolen phones!
We go to the antenna of the ministry responsible for this process which gives us a document to fill out on the internet.
To pass the time we return to the " Free Zone " looking for an electric heater to save gas when we have electricity. We can’t find any.
At noon the garage sends us a whatsApp with photos, informing us that the small leak has been located but this repair requires a drying time of 20 hours.
We are forced to take a hotel for tonight, hotel that we find easily and by passing live we get a price 30% cheaper than on "Booking.com".
Back to the garage to take some things and we settle in the hotel until dinner time.
We chose a restaurant renowned for its "king Crab Showder" .... A real treat.
Punta Arenas
It’s been a long time since we had any problem with the engine.
Since our return in September everything worked perfectly.
Today we discovered a small oil leak. In fact, for two days Christophe was adjusting the oil level.
We spend a good part of the morning looking for a mechanic and after several refusals, and almost at the end of the list we find a garage.
This one cleans the engine to see more clearly.
It’s lunchtime and he asks us to come back at 3:00 after we have driven.
For lunch we meet our friends at the "Mercado Municpal".
Back at the garage, he asks us to come back the next day at 7 o'clock to allow him to look for the leak and buy the spare parts.
Returning to the storage we retrieve the gas adapter that has been made.
This allows us to check our installation which unfortunately does not work.
New evening with friends.
Punta Arenas
It’s Sunday and everything is closed.
The cemetery is the only thing open but has not much interest.
The weather is not good, so we go to the "Mercado Municipal" for lunch in a small fish restaurant.
Then head for the "Free Zone" located in a 27-hectare area. It houses a gigantic shopping center with 80 stores. There is nothing extraordinary and the items are not " cheap ".
When we return to the storage, we find "Fanny, Pascal and the children" with great joy.
Then we meet Carole, Julien and Valentine who are also on a motorhome tour of South America.
We all spend the evening together for an impromptu dinner.
Punta Arenas
No visit planned today.
Our programme focuses on gas. For the rest of the trip, dealers are very rare, therefore we must imperatively refill our bottles (Argentine and American) and it’s hard job.
It is almost impossible to find a gas plant for filling as in the other countries we have crossed. The majority are dealers whose main activity is the exchange of bottles.
So, one of the solutions is to buy a Chilean bottle for the time travelling in this country.
The special feature of these bottles is that they connect with a specific adapter. We make a first stop in a DIY store without finding our happiness. Good start!
In the storage where we have found refuge for the days to come, the very kind and welcoming owner to whom we expose our problem, loaned us a Chilean bottle to make sure that the dimensions are compatible with the chest.
No problem ... it’s not like in Brazil ... we just need an adapter... Only this one is made of a pressure reducer that is fixed by a clip ... not good for us.
We spend a lot of time in various specialist stores to find a solution: build an adapter.
Quiet evening ... We are the only travelers
Punta Arenas
Cool but very quiet night.
Fortunately the day before we stopped at the park. To get into the park it is mandatory to make a reservation on line.
The employee booked us live for the opening at 11:00 a.m.
It is a reserve that houses the only colony of king penguins established north of the subantarctic line.
This exceptional place offers us the opportunity to observe their way of life.
We are lucky, the colony today is composed of 173 members, whereas a few days ago it had only about thirty.
In Chile, we find the ease of paying by credit card without having a difference on the exchange rate. Thus, we draw only a small amount of liquidity from a ATM.
Then we head to the Magellan Strait where a ferry has just left .... two hours waiting for the next one.
We arrive in the middle of the afternoon at "Punta Arenas".
Small supply and search for a SIM card for internet and phone.
As always it is not so simple, the operators' offices close early and the following day is a bank holiday.
It takes us a long time to find a dealer, who sells us a sim card and we have to go to a pharmacy to recharge it.
Border crossing/ Onaisin
We leave Argentina for Chile.
Before reaching the border we fill our argentine gas bottle " and then we take the road already driven on a few weeks before... There is no other choice but to take the " Route 3 ".
The crossing of borders is very easy.
Of course we had a goods’s health control ... Adieu garlic, onion and honey pot!
We planned to spend the night in the parking lot of " Parque Pinguinos Rey ", but the owners did not accept ... because of the dogs!
We took refuge 500 m away on a small parking lot.
The temperature is dropping rapidly and the wind is getting stronger.
ROAD BOOK 192
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