Caught short heading back to Chile.

20.12.12
Heading North after pack up to the San Sebastián border control. Argentinean side no problem, straight through across no mans land and to the Chilean side for more paperwork, sniffer search dogs on board searching for fruit and foodstuffs. All done we continue chasing the weather which appears to be outrunning us. Rain turns to hailstones and we encounter a terrific storm. Extremely cold, dark and miserable we find a bush camp, the remains of a quarry. Tents up it is freezing cold, hands numb we persevere, these expedition tents do go up pretty quick and we are getting faster each day. The dinner crew excels and in no time we have a hot meal of pasta and spicy sauce.

This does however have its consequences too much spicy sauce, no toilets on board, the shout usually goes up " toilet stop" boys to the left, girls to the right, the truck empties in seconds, some occasionally going the wrong way but hey we're all in this together what's the odd fart amongst friends. The usual practice first thing in the morning for your morning constitutional is to grab one of the many garden hand trowels, disappear into the undergrowth, dig a hole to minimum of 40 cm, lay your jobbie and cover leaving no trace.....!! Are they having a laugh where's the garden spade ? Ha ha

Anyway I digress, the howling wind, rain and sleet make for very cold nights but hey good old Mum saw that I was properly prepared and supplied me with some shiny silver socks and gloves for bedtime apparently the astronauts use them, yeah right. Sharing a tent with a tough old Aussie this explanation didn't go down too well, what's wrong with you soft pommies ? An explanation on technical equipment put him straight for the time being, thanks mum x

Everyone on the expedition is put into teams of three and four, each having their particular tasks for the day i.e. cook group, tent locker, bag store, site security, on board bar ( most important ) and various other tasks. Within a couple of weeks it becomes a well oiled machine and everything flows well. Strangely enough the tougher it is, the colder it gets the more enjoyable it is. Not much chance to wash when on the road, apart from the odd wet wipe, it could be three days before a hot shower and kit wash is forthcoming but boy is it good.

Well enough said about the day to day workings of the truck, sand / mud mats deployed, clagged up to the eyeballs we hit the road again on this amazing adventure heading back across the border to Argentina, Santa Cruz district.

1. Tents just visible in the storm
2. Morning just before departure.
3. Space age socks n gloves, my other hand is keeping the family jewels warm.
4. A shot inside our truck, complete with library, bar and everything else we require.

Till the next time with hopefully some better photographs.

Adios

Tony x