written by Wilbert BonnéWe all are on our way home. Some sit at the airport, others sit already in the office, a few
are still in Ushuaia, André is going further south to Antarctica, and some can’t get enough
and sit on the bicycle again…
When Rob and I were in Ushuaia we didn’t say goodbye to all the people, because we were
preparing our return journey or we were not around at the time that you left Hotel
Ushuaia. Our apologize for that and from this place we would like to say goodbye and
thanks all people for their participation and the time we spent together.
We think we had a great time and as said in the photo album : “we would like to meet you
once again” Somewhere, somehow. You’ll never know.
The Patrol Susana and I left with the Patrol Hotel Ushuaia on Tuesday morning in the direction of
Punta Arenas. Of course we stopped in Tolhuin at the famous bakery for a coffee and a
torta. There is still no picture of Maradona! We drove against the fierce wind and the
speed dropped 20 kilometers when we had full headwind. We realized once more how
lucky we were with cycling south, in stead of cycling from Ushuaia to Quito. The border
crossing in San Sebastian worked out fine and we had a short chat with the French Belgian
cyclist which we met at the campsite in Coyhaique. We took another ferry across the Strait
of Magellan and at 10.30 in the evening we were back in the same hostal in Punta Arenas.
The return journey went smooth, “the sale of the Patrol” the next day was another story.
The “interested” person of last week was not so much interested any more. We spent the
whole day in Patrol to drive from one place to another. We dropped our initial price, but no
one was really interested. Too old, financial crisis, too much rust, etcetera… We left our
telephone number at a few places and went to the redaction of “La Pinguinos” ( the local
newspaper ) to place an advertisement for 1.320 Peso ( less than 2 euro ).
The first person was still a bit interested but had first to contact the customs and notary to
make everything possible. Trouble, trouble… His face didn’t look happy and our hearts
sank into our boots. We had to come back on Thursday morning to visit the customs and
the notary.
When we arrived he had a solid inspection at our lovely Patrol, but found more and more
shortcomings. The engine was running fine, but what about… the rust, the ignition, the
rear-view mirror, the click when you turn the wheel, et cetera… A real mechanic had to
come before he wanted to buy the car. The price dropped once more…
At our planned time of 12.15 there was of course nobody present. Almost two hours later
the mechanico showed up and gave a negative advise about buying the Patrol.
We didn’t have any other options yet and were desperate in “selling” the car so that we
could leave the country with a blanc conscience and don’t leave track of a “disappeared”
Patrol. The price dropped once more…
We had to come later at 7 PM because he still needed to contact someone in Zona France (
a free area which is the only place in Chile were you can sell foreign cars ). It should be
the first time that the man wanted to buy a foreign car and a lot of paperwork was
waiting…. The time was running out, because Susana is leaving to Peru in two days and
my Spanish is not enough ( which Spanish !!! ) to sell a car that nobody really wants, in a
country that is not interested in importing old, worn-out cars.
We left back to the hostal. Suddenly the telephone of the hostal was ringing. Someone
was interested in the Patrol!!! He said that he would come in a couple of minutes; and as
said he turned up. For the Dutch : He had a moustache like Ted de Braak and act like
Swiebertje. We walked to the Patrol, he had a quick look and within a couple of minutes
we agreed on the price!!! No difficult questions or deep inspection. We walked a few blocks
further to the notary; the queue was too long, so we continued to the customs which was
already closed ( for normal people ). We could enter the customs via a back door after a
short talk and it looked if the man knew all people in Punta Arenas. He knew exactly what
the officer had to do and within no-time we had our desired paper : “Authorizado salir del
pais sin vehiculo”. We went back to the notary but the queue was still too long. He passed
the whole queue and start talking to the office clerk; we could come back within an hour
to arrange everything. We went to the exchange office for the payment and to his house
to bring back his own car. After a beer we walked back to the notary for an official
document for the sale of the “beloved Patrol”. The notary office was closing but the clerk
did his job well and the buyer dictated exactly what the clerk had to type. A signature, a
stamp and a fingerprint. Everything done. I took exactly 2 hours between we met the
buyer and that we had all necessary paperwork and 1000 US in the pocket…
Time to leave….
Friday to Buenos Aires… by bus… 3000 km
Susana one day later by plane to Peru
The Chevy Rob and Edson left Ushuaia on Tuesday at 13.00 PM. Three days driving, driving, driving…
At Thursday evening : location Bariloche. Mileage 2200 km. It took us a full month !!!
Tomorrow driving, driving, driving…
Let’s call it : “Driving home for Christmas…”
