Over the course of this trip, we’ve stayed in many different kinds of places — campsites, trailer parks, hostels and hotels, sex motels (hey, it’s what they are), short-term apartments, gas stations, and even the side of the road once or twice — but Curicó was the first city where we stayed as guests in a stranger’s house.
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Posted from Buenos Aires, Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
“Well, there goes fourth gear.”
We were an hour south of Santiago on March 11th, pulling out of a gas station back onto the highway. Everything seemed normal until we got to fourth. Fourth gear had been a little finicky since we bought Peanut, popping out of gear from time to time if the car was going faster than about 60 mph. Since Peanut couldn’t really go faster than 60 mph anyway without killing the gas mileage (boxes aren’t all that aerodynamic), we didn’t bother fixing it.
Whoops.
After our sketchy crossing from Argentina to Chile, the fourth gear on Peanut went out. Driving the last 5000km in third gear at 40mph didn’t sound too fun, so we found a mechanic.
I’ll have to devote a whole post to the things we learned, shared, and experienced that week, but for now I’ll just sum it up and say our mechanic invited us into his home. With lived with his family for a week. Their hospitality was amazing and we are so thankful!
Now we’re back in Argentina, heading steadily south to the end of the world! We camped at a brewery last night and we’re driving now, so I have to wrap it up!
Posted from Rio Negro, Argentina.
Since we last spoke, Daniel and I have been through Chile, into Argentina, and back to Chile again. Ideally, we’ll jump back into Argentina, back to Chile, back to Argentina, back to Chile… back… uhh… okay, losing track. Basically, we have to cross several more times to get to the isolated tip of Tierra del Fuego and back.
Ideally. Meaning, as long as we don’t get banned from Chile.
The document causing all our problems.
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Posted from Colina, Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile.
As promised, here are the gas prices for the South American countries we’ve visited. All prices are per gallon in US Dollars for regular, unleaded gasoline, except in Peru. In Peru, regular is only 84 octane so we always filled up with 90 octane.
Fuel Prices By Country (South America):
Northern and Central Colombia: $4.35 (as of 6 Jan 2012)
Southern Colombia: $2.92 (as of 7 Jan 2012)
Ecuador: $1.48 (as of 12 Feb 2012)
Peru: $5.26 (as of 25 Feb 2012)
Northern Chile: $6.45(as of 28 Feb 2012)
Northern Argentina: $5.28 (as of 05 Mar 2012)
Argentine Patagonia (south of Bariloche): $3.55 (as of 31 Mar 2012)
Note that unlike Central America, there’s quite a bit of variation between gas prices at different stations and in different parts of the countries. For example, prices in Peru ranged from $4.73 per gallon in Lima to $5.82 per gallon in Juliaca. Prices in Agentina have ranged from $4.72 per gallon in Cafayate to $6.07 per gallon at Paso Jama on the border with Chile. Note also that regular gas (Super) isn’t always available in Argentina even if it’s advertised, so we had to fill up with Premium a few times.
Looking for gas prices in Central America? Check out my earlier post.
Posted from Córdoba, Cordoba, Argentina.