A car & the minor catastrophies continue

Kathryn >> The day began early, sometime around 6.30 with our first notable earth quake. A dog barked, the aluminium window frame squeaked a little, and James woke up, admittedly not that remarkable or dramatic. Later we discovered it was a 5.1 magnitude, notable to us, but given the daily occurrence of similar seismic activity, probably not for the locals. As the trip's newly designated 'morning person' I headed off for a jog along the Mopocho river park, expecting to join a small army of 'active wear' clad locals. I was sorely disappointed, although the park was well lit for the dim 7am light, I saw only two others pacing their way through the well kept lawns and shrubs. It seems that Chile has been spared from the 'active wear' fashion craze. Don't get me wrong, tights are still highly fashionable, but they come with pockets sewn on, imitating Jeans, rather than decorated in fluro stripes and emblems. Returning the apartment, the bed stilll kept warm by James, we began to look at designs for putting a shelf for a bed in the van we planned to purchase. This threw up an exciting new find on the buy and sell page of 'drive the americas' ; 'For sale now in Santiago! Volkswagen kombi T3 1988 Diesel.' It sounded good, and looked even better in a stunning baby blue, so we made contact, and headed out to a park on the fringes of the city to have a look.
We met Marijn, a Dutch national who had spent the last 10 months visiting half the countries in South America, which meant he has now, for better or for worse, been to every country in South America! The Van was, although VERY well lived in (read dirty) completely set up with a sink, gas cooker and shower and all the various tools of daily living. For 3 million Chilean paesos ($6000 AUD) it was ideal! Having aquainted ourselves with some of the tricks of mobile small space living, James jumped into the drivers seat to take it for a spin. Marijn warned us that it had taken him a week to find the feel of the gear box, undeterred, James attempted to find reverse, somewhere near 2nd. At this point, it is important to note, that James claims he put no particular force on the gear stick, however somehow he found himself in pocession of a newly highly portable gear stick. Having snapped it off down near the floor, there was the inevitable 'oh shit' silence while we all quietly contemplated what this meant. Fortunately, using the truncated gear stick (previously 40cm, now about 4cm long) Marijn was able to find first gear, with a small push to reverse out of the parking space, we hit the road. We were off to find a mechanic, Marijn, having a Chilean ex-girl friend knew of one, although it was 20 minutes away, how long that would take in first gear, we only guessed. Attempting to find something closer, we again learnt 'it can't be done' in Chile often means 'we don't want to' but coming to a street lined either side with mechanics, we paid a slightly exorbitant $40 to have the gear stick welded back on. Admittedly, we were not in a position to negotiate, being in Santiago with a disembodied gear stick. Some would suggest that this was a sign, however somehow, with everything else seeming ideal about the van, we had over the hours of negotiating back streets at a snails pace, decided to buy the van. The van was also leaking oil from the fill

tube, the plastic having appeared to crack. Escorted across the road to buy the appropriate adhesive, the mechanics set to work, resealing the pipe, and stemming the slow drip of oil.
Marijn seemed relieved, not only was his only worldly possession now usable again, but with his Chilean visa expiring in 5 days, and his passport with only 2 months left, he was free to return home. After 4 years (and 8 different cars) travelling America, NZ, Australia and South America, he says he isn't ready to go home, but the bureaucracies of international travelling requiring a valid passport, he had conceded defeat and was headed home for the first time.
Agreeing to meet the next day at 9 to again tackle the Chilean bureaucracies, we headed back to the city, to laze about before James ventured out to find perhaps the world's sloppiest but most delicious taco - in this case a soft shelled wrap filled with 3 or 4 meats, sour cream, chilli, beans, lettuce and avocado.