Author: roychinnor

When I left the shipping agents this morning they were frantically phoning every auto-insurance agent they could find to try and get me insurance to drive in Argentina. This is not a legal requirement in every country I have visited but until now when I have had to take out cover then there has normally been companies at the border area. However, here it is not so easy. There have been two main reasons for refusal, the first being that the car is too old (don’t tell Bridget she would be upset), and the second being that she is not registered in Argentina. However the agents finally found a company that would cover it and by good fortune the cover is also valid in Chile, so I shouldn’t need to do this again in a weeks time. To those residents of Buenos Aires that have started to believe that Bridget the Midget is nothing more than a figment of my imagination...

It has been an interesting sort of day. First of all there was a guard changing ceremony at the memorial to the fallen during the 1982 dispute over the Falkland Islands. I then strolled back to the Paseo de los Granaderos memorial statue in Plaza San Martin. I was sitting on a bench minding my own business when a movement off to my right caught my attention. There was a young man that had dropped to one knee in-front of a young lady. He reached up and took her hand and it was immediately obvious that he was proposing and the response was equally obvious. I left them to it for a few minutes and then when they were calming down I walked over and asked if they spoke English. It transpired they are an American couple and my observations were correct. I congratulated them, wished them luck for their future and then asked them to do it all over again....

Well we’re back. I arrived in Argentina early on the 16th May and was raring to go. However I had clearly forgotten the arrival in Australia and the problems of bureaucracy. I couldn’t contact the shipping agent as they don’t work on Saturdays, so I had to wait until Monday morning to find out if Bridget had arrived. The President of the MG Car Club of Argentina took me to lunch on Sunday along with two fellow members, Pablo Fernitz and John Ortiz. They were able to give me the low-down on driving conditions, traffic police behaviour and the best route, not only through Argentina but also Chile and Peru. Once again I received a warning about heavy goods vehicles, but as with Australia, the truck drivers are professional which is a major plus. First thing Monday morning I called the shipping agent again and they requested me to go to their offices with my passport and the cars papers. The car is...

Hello to you all. Countdown to the next leg of this journey is now underway. The plan, such as it is, is to follow the Pan American Highway from just outside of Buenos Aires across Argentina, over the Andes into Chile. Then turning north I will drive much of the length of Chile and entering Peru still travelling north. A short detour from the highway to take in Machu Picchu famed for the Inca settlement and then rejoining the highway to drive into Equador where we will hitch another sea trip around the Darien Gap to Panama. From there it’s just a matter of travelling north to Canada. Should be a piece of cake. The break whilst Bridget has been travelling from Freemantle to Buenos Aires has given me some time for reflection on the first two legs of the journey and I have concluded that those that accused me of being ‘crazy’ are probably right. I shall check into the...