Welcome to South America! – our decision and the way there were a bit hectic. In the end, however, we arrived safely in Uruguay in the early summer. The children did a great job on the many flights, or should we say they enjoyed them? In any case, it was exciting – for us too, because flying with small children no longer consists of long drinks and films.
We had to look for a place to stay until Zacharias arrived in Montevideo, and we ended up with Jan and Marieke at Chacra Holandesa. The two have been in Uruguay since 2015 and gave us a very warm welcome. They have set up a beautiful campsite primarily for overlanders. They also have a room and a cottage that they rent out. There are horses that are always happy to be ridden, chickens, dogs, cats and a pig called Schnitzel (although the lady is not made into this). Many thanks to Jan and Marieke for their hospitality and the wonderful time we were allowed to spend with you!
Since Uruguay is a beautiful but also expensive country, we offered Jan and Marieke our help and were able to help them a lot on the farm and in return live with them a little cheaper to save on the travel budget. Our tasks included mowing the lawn, cleaning the campers' sanitary facilities, watering the garden in the evening, covering the roof of the annexe to the barn, attaching blinds, patting cats, chickens and dogs, building mosquito nets, gardening, and whatever else came up spontaneously. But before any work was done, we first arrived, because everything is always "tranquillo" (= calm, relaxed). Work is done as it suits and if possible not in the midday heat, then preferably the next day 😉
The children could always feed the animals with us, get the eggs from the chicken coop and sometimes even ride Chikitita, their bravest horse, for a little while. The weather was generally good and just to Juliane's and the children's liking, but not so much to my liking, as 30°C was the norm rather than the exception. At 38°C there was actually no more work, just relaxing at the pool. The kids did that with Juliane almost every afternoon anyway 😆
Since we didn't have our bus yet, we always had to rely on Jan for shopping, who usually went shopping with me. It was a bit far with bike and backpack at 30°C and more to our favorite shop. Unlike by car or bicycle, you don't really get ahead on the Campo, as Uruguay's hinterland is called. Most of the time we were able to combine the purchases so that Jan also went shopping or we bought screws at the Ferretería or did other errands.
While we were enjoying our time at the Chacra and waiting for our bus, we met some exciting and very nice overlanders. Many of them arrive in Montevideo (respectively their vehicles) and then drive to Jan and Marieke to sort themselves out and then to make South America unsafe. When things started to get exciting for us around Christmas and the ship with our bus came closer and closer to us, we began to organise all the necessities. Our agent in Montevideo, Eduardo Kessler, was very helpful and seems to handle pretty much all incoming vehicles. Unfortunately, there were a few other problems with the container that have not yet been fully resolved - but more on that in a separate blog entry.
Christmas in South America - a bit strange, especially since I couldn't find any "European" signs of it on my trips to Atlántida with Jan. No decoration, no gingerbread, nothing at all. And Uruguay tends to be Christian. But Jan assured me: almost everyone has a Christmas tree at home...made of plastic. What doesn't exactly create a cozy Christmas atmosphere are of course the high temperatures during the day. Fortunately, it almost always cooled down to below 20°C at night.
It was Juliane's birthday on December 21st - also rarely in such a summery atmosphere - but with Dutch flowers, an improvised birthday cake and delicious asado (i.e. a big barbecue) in the evening. Christmas is also celebrated in Uruguay in a classic way with asado and fireworks. This is also the case with us (but without fireworks), also not in the classic way at home. We don't know exactly whether they give each other presents, but of course Luisa and Jonathan got a few little things. Unfortunately, the stollen that my mom gave us was still on the bus.
The day after Juliane's birthday I had to go to Montevideo to get Eduardo ready for all the documents for the bus. Also an adventure in itself - 1.5 hour bus ride to Montevideo at 35°C, bus without air conditioning and without a seat. In Montevideo it was a smooth 41°C. First I had to try to get some cash, because so far I have been able to pay everything by credit card. That was an easy first task. Next I had to print out the documents of our freshly taken out Argentine liability insurance. So off to a copy shop. One sheet had to be printed on green paper. I had to buy this at another store though, then go back to the copy shop and print it all out. Then to Eduardo's office and from there to the migration for a «Certificado de llegado». It's still not 100% clear to me what this document can do, but it was important for the customs clearance of our bus in the port (which Eduardo also organized). My guess is that I need to be officially registered in Uruguay to be authorized for customs clearance. Then we went back to Eduardo's office and then to the next bus back to Atlántida.
It took a while before we got Zacharias, but on December 30th. I was finally able to pick it up at the port in Montevideo. The battery was dead, so we had to push it out of the container, but after a short jump start it purred like a little panther again. Unfortunately, the few kilometers on the port area were not enough to start again after customs clearance (despite the 180A alternator👆), so there was help to start again. With Zacharias, a piece of home finally arrived (although we were beginning to feel at home in the Chacra), Jonathan's bobby car, many other toys, a Herrnhuhter mini christmas star with a USB port (my parents' Christmas present) and of course the Dresden stollen. The stollen was the best I have ever eaten from my mum, although of course that could also be due to the fact that we didn't have anything else for Christmas. In any case, it was excellent and was very popular with everyone else present.
New Year's Eve was also celebrated with a particularly large Asado, some overlanders and friends of Jan and Marieke. Since we have a lot of animals (generally on the Campo), we didn't have any fireworks, but we could watch a little over in Atlántida.
In the coming days there were still a few things to be put in or rearranged on the bus and repaired or even optimized. We've had nasty vibrations under heavy loads when starting for a while already. It had gotten so much worse in the last few months that I was very glad that it was still possible to get into the container. In the last few weeks I had already checked various parts in the process of elimination and actually only the gearbox, the rear constant velocity joints and the wheel bearings or housing remained. I tested everything, but unfortunately didn't find the problem. The test drive without rear drive shafts showed that it wasn't the gearbox - very reassuring. After I called Marcus from Virat Mechanik again, I checked again whether something was hitting the bodywork somewhere. And lo and behold - the right exhaust bracket hit the skid plate. Why didn't I think of that sooner? Good question - probably because the noise didn't sound metallic in any way and I had already checked everything (except for this point) at the beginning. Well, after briefly using the hacksaw on the holder, the vibration disappeared and we could set off towards Patagonia!
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