Day: 5
Trajectory: Los Menucos – Los Antiguos

Distance covered:   286 km (approx. 20 on foot)

If yesterday was an unlucky one, today was one of the most incredible luck. But let’s take things in order. Very few pictures today – we really were not very concentrated on photography.

We spent a reasonably comfortable night sleeping in the car, although with the bottom of the metal box we were sleeping in in contact with the ground it was a bit cold. Just how cold it was I realised when I got up at about 3 am to answer a call of nature, but at least the slushy mud had turned to hard ice which was rather more pleasant to negotiate on foot than the slushy mud of a few hours earlier.

We prioritised: first get ourselves to safety; second rescue the jeep; third get any necessary repairs done.

We started walking at about 5.30 am, when the light was sufficient. The surface was mixed – ice, rock and (as it thawed) mud, but not too bad. As a safety decision we made a solemn decision to keep to the road (no short cuts) and just walked. And walked. We weren’t exactly sure how long it would take to get to ‘civilisation’ (whatever that might mean) and neither of us was in great shape for a long trek but the survival instinct took over. We aimed to cover 4 km each hour and pretty much managed it most of the time, resting occasionally and still munching on the bread from the previous day.

We carried water, chocolate, tinned meat and dry biscuits and enough clothes to stay warm and dry. We had to leave sleeping gear in the jeep as we would in any case not have survived a night in the open and we were confident of reaching the border post before nightfall. The only uncertainty was the weather but it looked good. And we had to get out of there.

Continuing our journey on foot .. at approx. 2,300 metres in the Cordillera

We started walking where we had had to turn back the previous afternoon in the Jeep. We didn’t realise it at the time but we were going to complete the R41, by hook and by crook, by car and by foot – undoubtedly the only people to do so for a while. It didn’t take too long to get into a rhythm and at no time were we ever seriously cold although layers of clothes came off and back on again as hot sun and cold wind alternated. We saw that there was a lot more snow on the road, and that no vehicle was going to get through. It was in fact a privileged experience to walk in such a remote spot – one that not so many people do, though we were perhaps not in the best frame of mind to appreciate it.

The map above shows: 1. Los Antiguos; 2. approximately where we broke down; 3. the frontier post we were heading for; 4. where we met our guardian angels. The red arrows show the drive back to Los Antiguos.

In time we got tired, and in more time we got tireder but finally we could see the frontier post in the distance. It was still a few kilometres away but gave us the hope we needed and the security that we would be ok. A few minutes later a miracle occurred – a car was approaching us, attempting to do the same journey we had failed to do by car but in the obvious direction. We stopped the car and explained the situation and that they would be unable to get to Los Antiguos on the R41.

They (Augusto and Graciela) offered us a lift in their car all the way to Los Antiguos the long way round, one which we were thinking would take us several days to sort and with the enormous advantage that the Jeep could be rescued from Los Antiguos. They gave us a picnic lunch, drove us right up to a comfortable hotel and by about five in the afternoon we were safe, dry, warm and with only the car to worry about. The luck that we had with this couple was incalculable, and we rewarded them by sleeping (and snoring) in the back of their Renault Duster. As small recompense I offered them dinner in Los Antiguos that evening – a symbolic gesture that went no way at all towards the gratitude we owed them.

A memory of where the Jeep had been ….

On arrival in Los Antiguos and from unknown hidden depths Tiso summoned immense inner strength and tackled the problem of the Jeep left high up in the Cordillera. We found out there was a volunteer mountain rescue force, the Grupo Halcón, and two volunteers agreed to go up the 76 kms back to menuco immediately to rescue the car, Tiso accompanying them. They collected firewood on the way and once there built a fire to combat the cold and were able to get the car out and back down to the hotel by about 11 pm that night. Tiso took a final photograph of the spot where I had envisioned the Jeep might be staying quite a while. I in the meantime had the onerous task of inviting our rescuers to dinner in the hotel; delicious Patagonian lamb.

The outshot of all this was that we lost two days of our original itinerary, which we were later to modify. We shared a life experience which we will keep for a long time. The Jeep turned out to be unharmed if a little dirty, and we would be able to continue our journey the next day. We slept well. And if Augusto and Graciela ever read this blog, out heartfelt thanks go to you still.