XL, look, the mountains are behind us, there are no more trees around… no grass and it’s hot…

Where are the birds, my friends that I like to chase….

Well, Ulla, let me break it to you gently : you’ve slept for the last 300 km and we crossed over from the earth to the moon, all that to tell you that we’ve reached the Chilean border, and that this country is 756,626 sq. km. For 13,994,000 inhabitants thus : 19 persons per square kilometre.

Tell me, Ulla, it’s a change from Peru and Bolivia, here, we’re in a modern country.

Yes, XL, I’m afraid we’re stopped here for several hours, we must expect the worst, on the other hand, today’s December 31st… maybe the customs officers will want to go home earlier and quickly stamp our many administrative documents… let’s hope this happens !

It’s true, Ulla, you’re right, it’s not going to go as easy as that : first, they stamp our passports then they decide to visit everything from inside to outside, from top to bottom, from the car to the trailer, since we’re coming from Bolivia but also from Peru… they speak to us of a fly we could be transporting in our fruits, vegetables, dried raisins but also in the Gypsy’s Bonzai’s earth that’s been travelling with us from Alask and the worst of the worst maybe even in our dry food… !

Result of this operation : Goodbye Bonzai, you who crossed 15 borders, you’ll go to the cemetery in Chile with your 35 years… we’ll miss you… it’s sure.. (no respect)… goodbye garlic, onions, tomatoes, frozen meat, dried raisins but also… our well-known trade mark good quality dry food… This is really crazy !..

Ulla, I don’t believe this… ! You must leave for the next city to be checked up by a Chilean veterinarian on the pretext we no longer have your live animal exportation health certificate… what a fuss !

Calm down, Ulla, the Gypsy’s coming with me…. ! and fortunately I’m in a cage since I would’ve gone stark raving nuts straight away… I hope… !

Ah ! There you are at last ! We’ve been waiting for you for the past two hours, the gypsy and yourself… it’s been so long… !

Imagine, XL, first that I’m thirsty as anything… then the famous veterinarian found me in great health on the other hand I had to take the thermometer in my a… and we did a 44 km round trip

And tell me, Ulla, those Chileans are mad, they’re worse than in Northern America : just crazy

Let’s leave for Arica to get a SOAT insurance policy as here there is no office handling that : that means we’ll have to run 22 km without insurance…

Be careful, my Gallic, as if you want to end the year with a smile, no accident….

OK, you see, XL, everything is closed since midday at Arica, so our gypsy’s found a super parking spot, on the jetty facing the « Morro de Arica, el Christo de la Concordia » ; we’ll have to wait until January 2^nd for the SOAT insurance policy and we’ll have to wait for our dry food… from Chile… and yet it’s the same trade mark, but well… business… business… no comment…

Ulla, calm down, this evening is again a firecrackers evening for the New Year… and on top of everything we’re right in front of the city’s biggest fireworks ….

Ulla, honestly, we’re something of an attraction with our gear… but it’s great to meet adventurers such as we are, Jean Philippe and Corinne, French people who, in their case, are headed Northwards.

See you soon, both of you, on the Web, as you’re really nice : it’s a pity we’re where our paths cross. We would’ve liked to go a little way together on the same road…

Allez Ulla,tu vas pouvoir dormir nous partons vers Santiago,la capitale,qui est à 2091 km.

Desert, desert.. and again desert… with peaks of 53 degrees Celsius (127.4 Fahrenheit) and this year the Paris-Dakar race took place in Northern Chile, not far from here.

Ah, a great city, Antofagasta….

Here, even buying gasoil we can’t obtain water for our tankers, so we must buy it and at a high price too… normal, we’re tourists !

Ulla, what’s a capricorn, so-called there’s one here ?

Of course, XL, but it’s not going to eat you, that one… it’s the imaginary line of the Tropic of Capricorn ; that means we’re leaving the tropics.

Ah, yes, I remember that in Mexico we looked for the Tropic of Cancer everywhere but over there they didn’t erect a monument as they have here… in Antofagasta.

In Chile, it’s obligatory to drive with car lights lit up and the police sees to this. They don’t joke with justice, there are remains of « Pinochette » and police corruption does not exist here…

In spite of this there are accidents like this one… this truck passed over the car and the whole went on fire, two persons died… what a sad affair, yet the drivers are very respectful of signposts, and don’t ever drive faster than 100 km/hr.

It’s good to live and rest on the edge of the Pacific Ocean… relax… relax…

Oh, Ulla, wake up, we’re reaching a big city.

Well, yes, it’s Santiago, the capital, and I believe this time our companions are going to untie, that is, detach the car from the house to be able to visit the place….

In fact the Spanish left beautiful traces of their occupation…

Santiago is a very beautiful city, here are a few photographs (by the amateurs we are)

… La Moneda, presidential palace and seat of government……..

One of the last buildings, presently under demolition, built under the Pinochet régime. Ah yes, that really resembles a military régime… it’s square !

Après cette visite,un petit repas s´impose……..chez Donde Augusto

After this visit, a small meal is a must…. at Donde Augusto’s

No but really, Ulla, how do they do it in order to eat a whole spider crab ?

In any case, I know, that these spider crabs are fished in the cold water of the Tierra del Fuego, as if they couldn’t wait to be over there… This is just so foolish !

• Do you see, it’s not fair that dogs not be admitted in restaurants.

• XL, I hope I’ll be reincarnated as a human in my next life, not you ?

Carne ?? that means meat in Spanish, you want to become meat ? To be eaten up ? Ho !!

You know, XL, that there’s a cemetery in which women go each week, to claim the bodies of their husbands, or that of their children, missing during Pinochet’s Chilean dictatorship, as these men were opposed to his régime !

A large wall of names and empty tombs to welcome, bodies, as soon as they’re found, during the excavation searches.

What an affair, Ulla, it’s dreadful….

Oh yes, what an affair, XL, democracy is better from what humans say, in any case, for the time being, they haven’t found better.

Come on, let’s leave this place, it’s so sad…

OK, tomorrow they must bring the pick-up to Dodge for the 50,000 mile (80,000 km) major revision ; no one could tell we’d crossed so many kilometres, it’s unbelievable !

In any case, Ulla, I hope this car will be able to end our trip, as well as the « Jayco 5th Wheel » house : Will they break the record North Pole to South Pole ??

Let’s stay optimistic, XL, as we have always been since the start….

OK, presently, we’re back on the road and our companions want to go visit Chilean vineyards.

What a disappointment… it’s 11 o’clock and the visit is only at 4 p.m. in English on top of it… unless we wait amidst the vines where we can’t park… tastings are not possible here

Wake up, Ulla, finally we’re back in a lush, forest-filled landscape… what bliss.

What a good idea our masters had to stop over at Osorno, in this little public wood to change the brake pads, look over the bearings, and also a small electric problem between the car and the house.

Thank you, the Andean mountain range, not for the sight for sore eyes but for the equipment that suffered from the bad roads… !

Look, Ulla, these thieves are tracking our dry food.

Yes, I’m going to get them away from our plates, XL, but the first of the mis a Bandurria Austral and the second is a Chimango Caracara, if you read a bit more, you’d know this…

Ulla, we’re reaching the Octay Lake : On several occasions, I heard say that one mustn’t miss this lake’s visit. Indeed, it’s very beautiful.

Oh, you know, XL, we took a few photographs, yes, but… I prefer the Northern Canada and Alaska lakes… to all the other lakes… moreover, they’re accessible. Here, it’s not possible to park or get near them… everything is closed off by the owners who are generally of German origin…

So, we’re leaving for Quellon…

Did you see, XL, the Chileans are really pleasant people, as much with foreigners as with dogs ; they’re the first to speak to us and ask us hundreds of questions about our trip then congratulate us about such an initiative.

Yes, I also saw they particularly like French people.

You see, XL, we are lucky to have a French passport, you’re Canadian, that’s the difference… !

But Ulla, I’m a Quebecer, before being a Canadian, that’s all my difference, you uneducated dog !

OK, XL, we’re going to take a boat to disembark on the Island of Chiloe and I asked the other dogs, during winter which here occurs during the months of July and August, if the climate is colder and colder as I noticed that our companions are putting on their jumpers. The temperature is decreasing a little more each day …

Well, you see, they don’t speak the same language as we do, they speak Chill-Lion.

….stop shaking, XL, you’re going to end up making the boat move with your 2 kilos… here’s Chiloe…

XL, here’s the boat Naviera Austral ; it’s an enormous ferry, did you see it ?

Ulla, no, don’t tell me we’re going up on that enormous boat… to go where this time ?

Yes, XL, it’s obligatory to go to Chaiten then to go southward to the Atlantic Ocean to head for the Tierra del Fuego…

But… wait, Ulla, if I look at it well… everyone’s going into it by backing up, what a business.. !

Yes, they’re going to load up these 6 trucks with their trailer and on top of that all these cars, bikes, motorbikes… in the ship’s belly… just imagine !

Well, I’m going to pray to the God of Dogs….

You see, XL, this truck is a trout and salmon fish tank… they’re not panicking at all… !

Ulla, I’m not the only one : Look at our Gallic, he’s not exactly excited about all this… and moreover he’s obliged to untie the trailer.

Yes, he’s going to get the trailer inside (by backing it up there) then come and get the house, to back it up inside too, what  a business… !

Ulla, look at that truck… he’s fitting in by such a small… small margin of space…  and our house can fall in the water…

Yes, it isn’t simple as the dock is sloped and one must take a go at it several times around.. forward…. Backward… if not, it’s off to a big bath without any possible return… !

Are you explaining all this to me on purpose so I faint, is that it ? You’re so mean !

You see, Ulla, everyone admires but I, no… I’m shutting my eyes.

Do you see, XL, it’s not a few kilometres from the arrival line that we must let things go… !

Yes, Ulla, I say… Bravo, my Gallic, you’re the best… even the birds are congratulating you…

You know, Ulla, we were wrong to stay in the car during the whole five hour trip ; I would’ve liked to see the salmon breeding…

Sshhttt, here we are in Chaiten, near the volcano that blew fire and spread a huge quantity of ashes during May 2008, here the 400 incorruptible Chileans (before, they were 4,000 inhabitants) are coming to help us disembark using their car lights, as here, there is neither electricity nor water…

Ulla, but we are in the middle of summer, and it’s snowing : Why ?

You’re right, that resembles snow and yet it’s not snow… it’s the volcano’s ashes…

And we, stupidly, we’re here.. quickly.. let’s go… ! Please, slip two words to our masters, during breakfast… I want to leave this place…

But, what’s happening ? There is a metro in Chaîten ?

No, it’s an earthquake… my dear XL, our plates were shaking… !

Wow,… we’re lucky… the police is telling us to go… nothing is really safe here yet, with the volcano still fuming… plus the earthquakes… thank you gentlemen….

Ulla, hurry up… we must go before the next earthquake which can put us into the ravine… with the standard lamp…

Good luck to all the inhabitants, to the army and to the police… you deserve to find your village again !

Well, that tops the cake ! There is no signpost… no more inhabitants.. we’re following our compass heading South-East….

No, that wasn’t the right direction, there were two… in the meanwhile, we’ve had another flat… !

The carabineros honk their horns to tell us that the road ends in 1 km following the crumbling due to the volcano and that we must turn around… but for us it’s impossible as we need to untie the trailer and back up over 500 metres… really a major problem seeing the length of our equipment we need a flat area… he’s guiding us but the ashes are covering a creek and badaboum, the Dodge is stuck in the mud, it’s a catastrophe… !

Meanwhile, you, Ulla, are splitting your seams laughing, in front of tourists on top of that… what a  lunatic you are… !

After one hour, our protectors come back with an army truck, to disengage the Dodge as our winch is not sufficient, but after 4 hours of sweat and adrenalin, we are finally in the good direction for our confounded trail.

Thank you, Chilean Police Force, you’re the top of the top.

And when you’re asked the cost of the assistance given to you, the answer is : It is our duty to help and to rescue all persons ! Bravo, as in Europe or in the USA, you would have called a tow-truck or a farmer with his tractor, and we would have paid… a lot on top of that !

Bravo to them and not to us XL, we should have been conscious of the danger and for the first time our recklessness did us a bad turn !

Let’s stay on our toes so that this doesn’t happen again and I, Ulla, I promise to stop making fun of people this way.

OK, Ulla, you can go to sleep with both your eyes closed, no worries… let’s be back in our mountains, except, if you wish to admire the landscape, the glaciers, the snow-covered mountains of course…

Please, Ulla, don’t sleep… look at this beautiful landscape… even our companions who are usually such chatterboxes… to comment what they see… they’re silent for once… it’s magnificent, the planet can be so beautiful without pollution, nor garbage, nor garbage bins.

XL, I understand why the popular French singer, Florent Pagny, built his holiday house in Patagonia… Mister Pagny, you made the right choice.

We will leave this magnificent, a little too organised Chile regretfully… to the taste of our companions… as the administration here is too rigid but in their defence, Pinochet, approximately 20 years ago was in power… although the people here was not yet organized as they are in the United States or in Europe…. Burdened by administrative restrictions… we had been told that Argentine was a bit more liberal. It will up to you and us to judge, we’re arriving there…

For the rest of the trip...