Foot Worries? No Worries! - 6 March 2018

6 March 2018 – I probably woke up a million times during the night worrying about my foot and what I should do about it. Where to find a doctor or maybe some penicillin to fight the infection. When I did get up, my foot showed no significant swelling, tenderness or redness. Which was really good. I went to breakfast and the lady asked how my foot was. I showed her and she didn’t seem concerned. I think most of the dirt was cleaned off that nail when it went through my flip flop except for the rust. At breakfast I finally decided I would take the day off and stay off my foot. I have a lot of blog work I need to complete so I will do that while I convalesce. As of 5:00 p.m. my foot almost walks as if I didn’t step on a nail. I not going to abuse it because infection could revisit the puncture.

They Nailed Me - 5 March 2018

5 March 2018 – Leaving Pucon, Chile and hoping to reach San Carlos de Bariloche. All depends on the how long it takes me at the border. I filled up at the Shell gas station right next to where Russ and I purchased the Argentine Seguro / Insurance. The lady who sold us that insurance was talking to someone on the ground from her balcony. She didn’t recognize me because I had my motorcycle with my red riding suit and helmet on. Once I got Blanche tuned up I departed for the border. It was about 50 Miles / 80 Kilometers to the Chile / Argentine Border.

For the most part most of the driving was very similar to driving through the Black Hills of South Dakota. The nearer I got to the Paso Mamuil Malal 3960 Feet / 1207 Meters the more visible Volcano Lanin became. It’s a snow capped mountain that’s 12,231 Feet / 3728 Meters tall and has not been active allegedly in the last 10,000 years. I will leave the rest of that statement up to scientists to sort out. I took several pictures of the mountain as I neared the border, the last when I arrived at the border and some border pictures.

My experience at the Chilean Border went something like this. It took longer to get my motorcycle paperwork out of my top box on my motorcycle than it did to go through Immigration and Customs together. I watched real close as Immigration stamped my passport and then checked that the stamp had the right date. The Customs Officer….all he did is take my motorcycle ingress paperwork and he was done. I actually asked the Customs /Aduana Officer if he forgot something because I was in and out so fast. He said no, were finished, you can go. I drove out nice and slow in case someone jumped out a door and said “Hey wait, we forgot this one stamp on your exit paperwork”! But that didn’t happen and I was glad of it.

I drove up to the actual border and took some pictures. They actually had a real border marker. I took some selfies of me on each side of the border. They look kind of goofy. So, I took selfies with my glasses on and off. The pictures still looked goofy. I finished up with my picture taking and a guy rolls up on his Suzuki DR400. A young lad, I could tell by looking at his face. I introduced myself and told him I was from the U.S.A. He said he was from Israeli and his name was Noam. We shook hands. He asked if I was going to Chile or Argentina? I told him I was going into Argentina and on down to Ushuaia.

He was riding into Chile with intentions of ending his ride in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. I had to smile and told him to keep up the good work. We talked about our motorcycles and he said if he could find one he would like to purchase a Kawasaki KLR650. He had heard they come with a good reputation. I finally asked him how old he was and he said he was 23 years old. When I was 23 years old I was still in the Air Force and was only thinking about Harley-Davidsons. I had never heard of riding motorcycles in foreign countries and here is this kid riding around in the Americas like it was his back yard. He said he needed a new front tire and he sure did. I could see the chords / canvas showing through his tread. He said he was going to change tires in Santiago, Chile. I gave him a telephone number and name of a guy I met in a gas station who lives in Santiago who might be able to help him out. I forgot to tell him he speaks good English and I forgot to take his picture. Blasted. Anyway, we separated ways and he headed into Chile and I into Argentina.

I continued on to the Argentine Border. I took some more pictures of the Volcano Lanin and some border signs. I grabbed my paperwork and headed inside. I entered the wrong door for Immigration and everybody knew it. Anyway, Immigration requested my passport and my Carnet. I told them I didn’t have a Carnet de Passages en Douane and the whole place blew up. After the ruckus subsided I realized they wanted the title of my motorcycle. Maybe that’s the word used in Argentina for the title of your vehicle. I don’t know. I believe Carnet de Passages en Douane is a French name for a complete list of all the belongings you have on your motorcycle and the motorcycle itself. It’s used by Customs and Immigration. It basically says that when you leave the country, everything you entered the country with will leave the country with you. You can’t sell your motorcycle or anything else like cameras, tools and computers. You can be fined severely for that wrongdoing. It cuts the paperwork to a minimum and also allows you to get through Customs and Immigration much faster. That’s what I was thinking when they asked for a Carne. Anyway, we all survived that and my passport was stamped and my title returned. The passport lady folded up my title, which ticked me off. You can’t fold and unfold the title without wearing out the title. I asked her not to, and all she thought was “you dumb American.”

I went over to Custom / Aduana and they typed up my Motorcycle Ingress Paperwork. That all went smoothly. I got copies in case the police asked for paperwork on the motorcycle and I was good to go. Guess what?  The customs guy folded up my title just like the immigration lady did. I was glowing in the dark. All through Mexico, Central America and South America no one ever folded up my title. It’s not a big thing but I don’t like it.

I was cleared out of the border and continued on down the road. The road out of the park was gravel and washboard for 6 Miles / 10 Kilometers. It about rattled my teeth out. Once out of the park I was back on black top or pavement again. Yeah. I wanted to drive to San Carlos de Bariloche today but that was not happening so I will stop in Junin de Los Andes.

The hotel I found is my kind of a hotel. Motorcycle is at the front door, no stairs, no elevators, no security, no computer run reception, no parking ramps, clean and cheap. It’s a really nice place and the bathroom even has a bidet. Look it up. I got checked in and my motorbike unloaded. It still is a novelty to see green grass and trees and this place is all green. I decided to walk in the back yard and check the place out. I see they have water running into two small water troughs. So, they must have critters running around. I have seen a rabbit. They also have stick in each trough in case a critter falls in that he / she can climb back out. Lawrence and Eddie Strobach, the bachelor farmers who lived near us when I was growing up, used to have a floating stick in their water barrels which the squirrels used to get out if they fell in. It was mostly red squirrels that fell in. If you can believe this they also have dandelions down here to.

So, I was in the backyard snooping around and walked past a brick pile and stepped on a nail. It went through my shower shoes / flip flops and into my foot. I was standing there saying “what the hell?” I picked my foot up and the board came with it. I couldn’t get my foot out of my shower shoes because the nail was stuck in it. So, I stood on the board with my right foot and lifted my other foot off the nail. I know you all know this……..there was a little blue cloud hanging over my head while this was going on. I also know what the implication of stepping on a nail are.

I limped back to my hotel room and took a look at the damage. It was bleeding which was good. So, I decided to ask the hotel receptionist if she had a pan so I could soak my foot. I explained that I stepped on a nail in their back yard and showed her my flip / flop and the hole in my foot. She immediately ran and got some alcohol to clean the puncture. She found a pan and I soaked my foot for about a 1/2 hour. I tried to keep it bleeding hoping it would flush out any potential infection. I don’t know how successful I was. The hot water wasn’t as hot as I would have like it. I would have liked to have had some Epson Salt or a plant leaf. None of that was to be found. So, I went to bed saying if my foot is swelled up and red in the morning I’m going to have the hotel staff help me find a doctor. The puncture was about 1/2” behind my 2nd smallest toe on my left foot. It hurts if I stand on it but with the weight off it was pretty much painless. Thank goodness I got a tetnus shot before the trip. I continued working on my tomorrows plans thinking I would be leaving in the morning. That all depends on my foot.

Rainy Day - 4 March 2018

4 March 2018 – I woke up to rain hitting the roof. Not a good sign. It rained till about 11:00 a.m. I got up and paid for another night. I took a shower and was almost scalded by the goofy thing. It went from cold to comfortable and back to cold. I shut off the cold water when it was returning to hot. Scalding hot. I then worked on my travel plans for 5 March 2018. I will be crossing the border into Argentina. I was checking for hotels and everything is quite expensive. I’m not sure but there is a good chance my tent will start seeing some use if the price of the hotels remains high. I hope I don’t get caught up in any difficult situations on the border.

Russ and I On a Mission - 3 March 2018

3 March 2018 – I was on a mission to find Argentine Motorcycle Insurance / Seguro. The first location I was told about was a bust. The Security Guard told me where the 2nd location was and I was off to find it. I was crossing the street and I heard someone holler “Dave”. I looked and didn’t see anybody I recognized. I can’t be the only David in this town. Then I heard somebody holler my name again much closer. I turned and looked. There was Russ. He spotted me downtown. Russ Bennett is from Chicago, Illinois and we first met at the Ecuador / Peru Border. Together he and I searched out the 2nd location where we could purchase the insurance. He can speak reasonably good Spanish so his help finding this insurance was helpful. Intuitively (not), it was located above a lubrication store. We walked in the Lubrication Store and asked the lady behind the desk if she knew where this Insurance Office was. She showed us the stairway to the 2nd floor. We sat down feeling really lucky. This location also turned out to be a bust. They only sold Argentine Automobile Insurance. Another letdown. Russ went off to get his motorcycle paperwork as I was getting that choice piece of information.

So we asked the lady if she knew anywhere else we could purchase this motorcycle insurance. She said there was a business next to the Shell gas station that sold the insurance. I asked her if she could call and find out for sure if they sold the insurance. She called and confirmed that they did indeed sell the Argentine Motorcycle Insurance. She showed me the business on Google Maps so we could recognize it when we arrived there. When Russ returned I told him the news. We both set out to look for the 3rd location.

We found the Shell Gas Station ok and then we spotted the Insurance Office. It had a spiral staircase to the 2nd floor. Purchasing the insurance went pretty smooth. The lady doing the typing needed glasses and was in denial.  I offered her my glasses. She must have made five typing errors on my forms. It was mostly mixing up I’s and L’s. Russ’s form went a little better with his knowledge of Spanish. We were really happy after we purchased the insurance. God we were so damn happy about being able to purchase that insurance. A difficult job completed.

We parted ways agreeing to hook up about 5:00 o’clockish for dinner. We went out for dinner at a hamburger joint. They served a nice large hamburger that tasted really good. We then parted ways saying maybe we’ll meet up in Ushuaia, Argentina. We might but it’s a slim chance that we’ll see other. I went back to the hotel and watched some tv.

A Very Kind Family and a Family Dinner - 2 March 2018

2 March 2018 – Today I drove from Los Angeles, Chile to Pucon, Chile. I got rolling by 10 a.m. I stopped for gas near Temuco, Chile. As I was filling up with gas at the Copec gas station, a man walked up and started talking to me in English. He saw the different countries I had traveled through on my saddle bags / panniers and came over to ask me about them. There was heavy traffic through the gas station, which made it difficult to talk. Ari realized as did I we were slowing down business by being in the way. I think we moved out of the way one final time and I asked him if he knew of somewhere I could change my engine oil. I told him I had the oil and the tools to do the work myself. He thought for a second or two then offered to let me change my motorcycle engine oil at his farm.  I followed him back to his farm. It was about 5 Miles / 8 Kilometers away from the gas station. I met his wife Rosy and his son Nicolas. He is a sheep farmer after retiring from the retail business.

I removed all the bags and tires from my bike, got my tools and changed my oil. Ari provided me with a drain pan, some shop towels and place to throw my trash. I just completed my oil change and Nicolas came over asked me to come over and eat. It’s been a long time since I sat down and actually ate a meal with anybody. I don’t know for sure who cooked, or what kind of food it was, but it all tasted really good. I found out Chilean beef is now better than Argentine beef.

The talk mostly revolved around motorcycles and motorcycles travels. We also talked about families and some work related subjects. Then I found out Rosy is quite the fishing person. They had entered in a fishing competition and were excited about getting going. We had more than one Kodak Moment with everyone and their motorcycle. I am extremely thankful for the Insurance / Seguro help Ari and Nicolas researched for me and where to find the insurance. I really needed that help. I left at 5:30 p.m. and arrived in Pucon about 7:30 / 8:00 p.m.

The first hostel I tried was booked up and the receptionist said the hostel across the street had an open cabin if I was interested. I walked over and checked out the cabin. It was perfect and not overly expensive.  The young receptionist could speak exceptionally good English. So, before he left I asked him where I could find Argentine Insurance / Seguro. He asked around and told me the name of the store where I could find it. That made my night. This hostel was right downtown near the ATM’s and Super Mercados. I paid for two days.

I tried to send a SPOT to Mary but I was too closed in for SPOT to find a satellite. After I got my bags and everything in the room I walked to a park with more open sky. I put SPOT down and in less than two minutes SPOT sent my location to Mary. I walked back to the hostel and put spot away. Then I walked across the street to the Mercado and bought myself a liter of ice cream. That went down really smooth. I went to bed.

Not Going Anywhere Fast - 1 March 2018

1 March 2018 – Santiago, Chile to Los Angeles, Chile. In my mind I can feel those snowballs hitting me in the rear end down in Ushuaia, Argentina. Well, I woke up at 7:00 a.m. and went back to bed. The next time I woke up it was 10:30 a.m. I knew I wasn’t going anywhere today. I paid for another night and walked around the hotel looking at the different trees. It’s been a long time since I have seen trees with leaves and pine needles. Anyway, I went back to working on my blog. I think the next couple of days it may be difficult to have time to work on it. I’m going to try and get the pictures sorted out. I also need to find out if I can send any of the pictures from my new camera. It’s a 19 megapixel camera.

Leaving Santiago - 28 February 2018

28 February 2018 – Guess what? I slept through the alarm and now it’s 7:30 a.m. Smooth move, Slick. I went up to the 18^th floor to prove out Blanche’s routes because I needed satellites for that. Everything looked good. I tried sending a Spot Message but Spot couldn’t find a satellite if her life depended on it. I went back to my room and finished packing. I will be leaving Santiago today, continuing south to a greener countryside. I didn’t leave the hotel until after 10:30 a.m. and didn’t clear Santiago and the suburbs until after 12:00. Santiago is really a big city. You know I didn’t make one wrong turn leaving the city and that included stopping for gas. That’s funny because when I entered the city I made all kinds of wrong turns which can be very frustrating and time consuming.

Anyway, the day was a bright sun shiny day and every mile / kilometer I went south the greener the scenery was getting. I could swear I saw poplar trees and a white pine. The pine tree could have been similar to the Black Hills pines which kind of have a black trunk. I’m not sure how factual my observations are, but the trees sure reminded me of the trees when I was growing up on the farm. Another thing that is showing up more and more are green lawns. That’s a nice touch that I haven’t seen in a long time.

I never ate breakfast before I left this morning and I was starting to get hungry. I had driven 250 Miles / 400 Kilometers and decided to get gas and something to eat. I paid for my gas and went inside to see what was on the menu. They had hamburgers and french fries. They also had what looked like hamburgers, but instead of meat / hamburger they substituted chicken with guacamole. I ordered it and everything tasted fine. I cleaned up and threw my trash away and walked outside to my motorcycle.

I was giving it the 50 cent look over when a guy asked me about the stickers I have on the sides of my panniers / saddle bags. I showed him both sides and explained that I rode around the world in 2009.  (DaveRrtw2009.blogspot.com) He couldn’t believe it. He went over to his car and got out his fanny pack. He dug through it and pulled out his name tag off his police uniform. It was OD green with his name written on it. He is a member of the Carabineros de Chile Police Force. This particular Police Force has a history going back to 1927. I was truly glad to meet Mr. Herrera and have my picture taken with him. I gave him one of my blog cards and we parted ways. His family was inside the restaurant wondering who their dad was talking with.

I typed in the first hotel I wanted to stay at and Blanche guided me on my way. As I was driving there Mr. Herrera passed me and waved as he went by. I waved back. I went through the traffic roundabout and Blanche was right on target. I had to ring the bell at the gate to be let in. I was worried that this hotel was going to be very expensive. It turns out the price of the hotel was only moderately expensive, which I could live with.

I got checked in ok and the rooms were really nice. The reception lady demonstrated how everything worked and left. I brought my motorcycle around to the room and parked. No 5th floor parking ramp here. I unloaded my usual bags. My Snickers candy bars were all liquid chocolate. I set them in front of the air conditioner until morning. I got all my electrical devices plugged in, the wi-fi passwords typed in and I was ready to explore my destinations for tomorrow. I worked on that till about 10:00 p.m. and was about to go to bed when Mary called. Well I didn’t make it to bed till after 11:00 p.m. That’s not a good sign for tomorrow.