Posts Tagged El Quisco
Posted on December 8, 2011 by angela
We met Lorna and Steve back in Lima. Californians driving a 1970 LandRover. They are finishing up their 18-month trip and are now trying to ship their vehicle back to Eureka. Luckily, we were able to catch up with them on their way up the coast.
We met them in our old haunt of El Quisco, if for no other reason than we could direct them to it. It’s taken a while, but the place is losing it’s appeal to us. After all, there isn’t really much to do here. The pink place on the beach just sold, so we can’t daydream about it anymore. It must have just been a ‘right place at the right time’ sort of deal. Still, the tide pools and beach kept us entertained.
It was Steve’s birthday, so we celebrated with him cooking us a huge roast. They also introduced us to hote – wine and coke – just the way the locals drink it.
It was a fun and laid back few days, and when the weather cooperated, we did some serious tide-pooling and rock scrambling.
Posted on November 17, 2011 by jason
We’re still working on some projects and getting prepared to spend our summer in Patagonia – and taking our own sweet time. While we try to make some progress, here’s a random BodesWell sighting…
Mumsense!
Really… Mumsense.
I’m sure most of you have a subscription (UK) and have already seen it (pg 52-53), but this was the special ‘Education Issue’ and I’m really not sure how we earned our space.
We appreciate the attention*, but if you are looking for tips on educating you child, we suggest that you may not want to take advice from some bums living in a VW bus!
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And, if you received a BodesWell sticker, send us a photo of where you stuck it for a future blog post!
* Seriously, thanks for including us, Alice! Great article!
Posted on November 14, 2011 by jason
This is the question that we heard 100 times over the past few weeks in the U.S. Plenty of folks reminded us that it was supposed to be a one-year trip.
The answer? Well, it seemed to vary each time we were asked. Our general response was something along the lines of “we’re just going to keep going as long as we’re having fun.” That’s a plan, right?
Realistically, I think we could spend up to another year in South America. Zig-zagging through Patagonia and the Lakes District down to Ushuaia, and then driving up the Atlantic coast through Brazil. Suriname? Guyana? It’s a long way and there’s lots to see. And, I drive slow.
Of course, I’d love to drive all the way around the globe, too - that’s been an unofficial goal from the start, but we’re taking it one continent at a time.
Much of southern Africa seems doable, and it’s really not too far from Brazil. Loop up to Kenya, then ship to India, do a southeast Asia circuit and swing up to Japan before heading home via Alaska.
Europe would be expensive, but easy and fun. Drive every country in Europe – that would be a cool. Angela has always wanted to live in Italy. Then, figure out a way home across Asia.
Australia seems like it could be a bureaucratic mess with our bus, but who knows. I’ve always wanted to go. Despite all the worries in the rest of the world, some say Australia is the most dangerous (poisonous?) place on Earth.
Heck, I also have a Caribbean sailing adventure floating around somewhere in the back of my mind too. Hitting every island would be an interesting goal. I literally know nothing about boats. Angela has zero interest. Last week, I picked up a sailing magazine in the airport and was bored to tears. Still, the idea of lazily floating around in warm turquoise water has it’s appeal. The back of the mind is there for a reason.
In line with our normal planning, We’ve done very little research with any of these options. We’ll just wing it.
But, everything with us is a 3-body problem. It’s a bitch to solve. One thing we know for sure is that once one of us is done, we’re all done. Ending a trip/lifestyle like this is a pretty permanent thing. Why stop unless you have to? Why think small? Besides, there’s always the chance that I’ll end up in an office cubicle somewhere without any planning or dreaming at all. I don’t even want to think about that option.
Anyway, “living the dream” can’t last forever, can it? What’s it going to cost to do all that stuff above and how do we fund it? You can’t keep washing your clothes in a motel bathtub your whole life, right? Shouldn’t Bode go to school like all the other kids in the U.S.? Shouldn’t we be working hard and saving for our Golden Years? Lot’s to think about, if we wanted to think about it.
Regardless, a Random Tuesday could change our lives forever and render it all moot. It could all end tomorrow.
So, until we figure it out, we’ll just stick with our answer. We’ll keep going as long as we’re having fun.
So, why ramble on about not knowing what we’re doing? Well, it’s honest. That’s where we’re at.
I got an email from a reader a while back with lots of questions about our trip and I had a hard time answering some of them. Moreover, he indicated that we weren’t writing about the things that he was interested in hearing – and I see his point.
It’s pretty easy to write about what we did and where we went. There’s a big pelican on the rock in front of me – really – that’s pretty easy to write. Border crossing logistics – simple. Writing about our motivation to leave the comforts of home and how our trip has affected our lives takes a little more time and thought.
So anyway, we’ll try to include a little more insight into our clouded minds whenever we can. If you have any questions you need answered, just drop us line. If we can come up with a good answer – and even if we can’t – we’ll put it here for everyone else to read too.
Posted on November 11, 2011 by jason
We had a long day of traveling that included a plane change due to a ‘strange smell’. It wasn’t me.
After finally arriving in Santiago, we were a little surprised by a $140 USD (per person) reciprocity fee for entering the country at the airport (good for the life of the passport). It seems that most countries have something like this now – all thanks to the US doing the same to their citizens. But, it’s still free to drive into the country. Obviously, we recommend it.
Then, it was just a quick taxi ride to see our friend Marisol and fetch the bus (they even washed it). Then, to see Benito with our piston kit order (and a nice Kleinbus Club discount). Then, it was finally time to rest.
Driving an hour and a half to the coast and back to El Quisco was a no-brainer.
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Also, our buddy Kjell in Norway published an article about our camping trip with the Kleinbus Club in his newsletter. The Chile-Norway connection is complete. Our work is done here.
Posted on October 12, 2011 by jason
Me: “What do you want to do before we head back to Texas?”
Bode: “Go skiing!”
Naturally, he says this when we are at the beach.
We checked the weather forecasts. We checked the slope conditions. It’s late in the season, so our best bet was to drive 8 hours closer to the South Pole*.
Eight hours later, we were in the snow.
*I expect this phrase will be repeated for some reason during Bode’s teenage years. As in, “Your father and I once drove you 8 hours closer to the South Pole just so…”
Posted on October 11, 2011 by jason
Christmas is coming early this year. Well, at least we are.
Due to a very long and growing set of reasons, it just made sense for us to book a flight back to the EE.UU. in the very near future. So, in just a few short weeks, we’ll take a red-eye from Santiago to Houston, via Dallas. It’s not exactly a preferred itinerary for international jet-setters, but a timely bargain nonetheless.
We literally watched prices fluctuate an order of magnitude on a daily basis before hitting upon a deal. Purely by luck, we’ve managed to snag what seems to be a yearly-low for airfares and it couldn’t have come at a better time. One of the many benefits of sitting down with internet access for a while.
Most importantly, of course, Bode needs to visit his grandparents before we commit to the run on Tierra del Fuego and south South America. If we get much farther south, there just aren’t any major international airports and I suspect we’ll be down there a while. I think I’ve adequately documented my increasing bummery, so some U.S.-bargain shopping will also be in order to replace my disintegrating wardrobe. You can’t live on VW-club shirts and duct-taped shoes forever – but I’m trying.
The car parts issue keeps lingering too. I can finally find repuestas in Chile, but everything is much cheaper in the U.S. Besides, maybe I can convince some of our readers to donate a few parts if they have them lying around in the garage (hint, hint – especially if you’re connected to a supplier – we’re cheap to sponsor) We’ve already scored an electronic ignition (thanks, Larry!) but still need a new piston/cylinder set (stock or 88 mm?), gaskets, some random rubber bits, carb parts, a door lock cylinder (can you even buy this separately?), and who knows what else. Heck, does anyone make a magnetic drain plug anymore? That might be a good idea too.
Bode needs books, Legos and other random 6-year old stuff. Angela wants a ukulele. And, we’ve got to sort out some banking issues, amend taxes, renew licenses, etc. etc. We’re not completely divested of our US residency and things tend to pile up. By the time you add it all up, it may actually be cheaper to fly home than to try to do it all from here. Making a ‘big list’ of lists is on my list of things to do.
So anyway, if you are inclined to help us out with some VW parts, or if you are in the greater Galveston-Houston-Austin corridor in late October and just want to meet up for a beer, just let us know. I’ll put it on my list.
Posted on October 10, 2011 by jason
We’ve already been here a week and I see how it would be easy to grow some roots here. The town is nothing special, really. It’s just… comfortable.
It fills up on the weekends with folks from Santiago. Other than a few extra people on the beach, and a few tables overflowing with beers at the restaurants, it’s hardly noticeable.
It’s easy to dream about just staying here a while. A long while. Summer hasn’t even started yet.
There’s a neat little place just up the beach with a se vende sign and I’ve already started daydreaming about what it would be like to give it a shot. I could be Chileno.
Do you know how people always say that the grass is greener on the other side?
It is.
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