THEN
NOWWhen we told you you were in for some excitement, we weren´t kidding. Make sure you have your Timmy Ho´s lid on tight, because we´re in for a wild ride.
December 28th, 2008
The Hattons (Donald, Natalie, Alexandra and Chelsea) are due to arrive at 2pm. Kevin and Lisa make a wonderful welcome sign and cab out to meet them. This is no ordinary cab ride my friends. This is a 50 min ride out of the city at break neck speeds, as per usual south american driving. But we arrive safe, giddy and excited and b-line for the arrivals gate. We wait there for 2 hours when we figure something must be wrong. Lisa finds a payphone and calls the hotel they are staying at. Sure enough, they arrived to the hotel 20 min prior. Apparantly there are TWO exit gates for international arrivals. Of course there would 2 gates, we´re in South America and things are backwards. We take another expensive and deathly cab back into town and greet the family.
For the first day we caught up on 5 months of missed gossip and the girls constantly ragged on Kevin for his yeti beard. For the next few days we all hung out by the pool, went shopping, took a city tour, drank lots of wine, but mainly helped Don with Dakar preparations. For all of you who don´t know about the Dakar, it´s the most grueling motorcycle-car-truck rally in the world and Don Hatton is the only Canadian competitor. The race consists of 15 days and 10,000km of Argentinian and Chilean terrain.
So here´s a fun fact. Buenos Aires notoriously sucks for New Years. All the citizens leave town for 2 days and go either north, south, east or west. Anywhere but the city. Who woulda thunk it? The city of 13 million people was like a ghost town. So New Years consisted of the most elaborate and wonderful buffet at the Sheraton Hotel which gave us an opportunity to dress up for the first time in 5 months. Kevin looked smashing in his new python shoes and Lisa looked ravishing in her sparkly dress and new purple satin shoes. But back to the buffet. It managed to check a few things of our mental list of things to try. Eg: Caviar, Rabbit, and Ceviche. Mmm mmm.
We retired to Miro (the camerman) and Gary (the mechanic)´s room for some wine and shots. Speaking of shots, Miro is from Slovakia and brought some of his father´s famous Borovicka(Slovakian Moonshine). For the countdown, we ran up to the 25th floor to watch the fire works from the huge bay windows. It was spectacular. For the city being dead it was crazy to see so many explosions all across the horizon. Leroy was there, dress to the nines, and stole Kevin´s midnight kiss. Lucky Bastard.
After the countdown had ended, everyone staying at the Sheraton went to bed because they had a long day of Dakar prep first thing. So Kevin and Lisa decided to break into the Sheraton 2009 Dance Party. We walked in like we owned the place but in the end the party was dying down so we naturally went and got more wine and partied just the two of us.
Jan 1, 2009
Hungover, we crawl out of bed at noon to meet Team Destination Dakar for the Dakar scruteneering process. This is where they go over all the participants vehicles to make sure they meet regulations. It was a long drawn out process but we got to have a close up look at all the vehicles involved. And with our fancy team shirts, we were able to by pass all security and get into areas forbidden for the public.
Jan 2, 2009
It´s the ceremonial start for the Dakar so the whole day is dedicated to last minute details. The team rushes over to the starting gates decked out in matching shirts and Canadian flags and scream as loudly as possible when Don Hatton #116 reaches the podium. Kevin lifts Lisa up onto his shoulders as she wave the flag as proudly as possible to make sure Don sees them in the midst of 500,000 spectators.
Jan 3, 2009, 5am
It´s the actualy start of the Dakar so we groggily make our way once again to the starting gates and watch as Don and the rest of the field start their adventure of a lifetime. That evening, the 2 of us get to enjoy the company of the Hatton women for a 15 hour bus ride to Mendoza .... Wine Country.
MENDOZA
We´ve already been here but only for a day. So this time, our plan is to live it up. Unfortunatley, something happened and we had to leave Mendoza unexpectedly. I suppose Mendoza is just not in the cards for us. We did however enjoy short lived time there. We were able to experience a Wine Tour as well as an Olive Oil Planation tour and live like locals dining at sidewalk cafes under a canopy of trees. On our 3rd day we were on our way to go horseback riding when Nat got the heart stopping phone call that Don had crashed badly and was being flown to the city of Neuquen for medical attention. The doctors had informed us that Don had broken his C4 vertebrae and needed surgery immediatley. And being that the rally is french, and the doctors are spanish the information we recieved was from both languages muddled together into an incomprehensionable and emotion-less english. ¨No worry¨ they said. ¨He be fine. He might be paralyzed, but alive. Its no problem¨ As a group we decide to make the 900km journey to meet Don in Neuquen a.s.a.p. The girls frantically pack up their stuff while Kevin rushes off to Budget Rent a Car. We finally get the car at 5pm and load it up with 5 passengers, 3 giant suitcases, 2 giant backpacks and about 8 day bags/purses. We were able to jam all this and tie the trunk down with a pair of shoelaces. Not bad for a piece of crap Ford Focus. About 4 hours into our drive we enter the worst lightning storm any of us have ever witnessed. The whole sky is illuminated with sheet lighting and there are often forks of lighting going every which way. At one point, the lighting formed a ball with about 5 forks jutting out of it. It´s really hard to describe but it looked like a monster and the forks were reaching out to consume our car. Suddenly we heard a crackling all across the windshield ... the car had been hit. We´re all freaking out so Kevin hauls ass to get us out of the eye of the storm and 3 hours later, we finally see our last flash of lightning. When we notice the car is just about on empty we decide to pull into the first town we´ve seen in 200km. The only gas station in town reminds us of a scene out of Deliverance. Keep in mind there are 4 cute white girls, a trunk overflowing with luggage and only 1 scraggly cripple to protect them. Kevin was afraid that hooligans were gonna mug us for the luggage and take advantage of the girls. The girls, on the other hand, were more afraid of the fist sized beetles flying into their hair. To top the whole experience off, the station will only allow it´s customers $40 pesos worth of gas, which is equivilant to 15 litres. So for those of you who dont drive, that´s less than half a tank and the next town is 3 hours away. However, with good fortune we made it to the next station using only the fumes in our tank. To our suprise this is one of the Dakar rally´s gas check points and, at the early hour of 330am, the station is packed with spectators. We arrive to the city of Neuquen at 5am and crash at a hotel for a few hours before we are allowed to see Don in the Hospital. We get there and it turns out that the only damage Don has suffered is a cracked sternum, cracked ribs, bruised lung, ripped ligaments and a little bit of internal bleeding. There are no visible scrapes or bruises on his body, expect for a cut knee, which occured the day before. He´s in rough shape but it´s nothing compared to the fear of paralyzation that was instilled in everybody just a day before. Don was released after just 3 days but must promise to continue daily medical examinations in whatever city he is in.
After a few days in butt fu*k no where we tried to return the rental car. But of course, despite what the Budget clerk in Mendoza said, there is no Budget in Neuquen. We now have the choice of taking it 13 hrs back to Mendoza or 6 hrs south to Bariloche. Bariloche is the chocolate capital of Argentina so ....
Bariloche, here we come!
December 28th, 2008
The Hattons (Donald, Natalie, Alexandra and Chelsea) are due to arrive at 2pm. Kevin and Lisa make a wonderful welcome sign and cab out to meet them. This is no ordinary cab ride my friends. This is a 50 min ride out of the city at break neck speeds, as per usual south american driving. But we arrive safe, giddy and excited and b-line for the arrivals gate. We wait there for 2 hours when we figure something must be wrong. Lisa finds a payphone and calls the hotel they are staying at. Sure enough, they arrived to the hotel 20 min prior. Apparantly there are TWO exit gates for international arrivals. Of course there would 2 gates, we´re in South America and things are backwards. We take another expensive and deathly cab back into town and greet the family.
For the first day we caught up on 5 months of missed gossip and the girls constantly ragged on Kevin for his yeti beard. For the next few days we all hung out by the pool, went shopping, took a city tour, drank lots of wine, but mainly helped Don with Dakar preparations. For all of you who don´t know about the Dakar, it´s the most grueling motorcycle-car-truck rally in the world and Don Hatton is the only Canadian competitor. The race consists of 15 days and 10,000km of Argentinian and Chilean terrain.
So here´s a fun fact. Buenos Aires notoriously sucks for New Years. All the citizens leave town for 2 days and go either north, south, east or west. Anywhere but the city. Who woulda thunk it? The city of 13 million people was like a ghost town. So New Years consisted of the most elaborate and wonderful buffet at the Sheraton Hotel which gave us an opportunity to dress up for the first time in 5 months. Kevin looked smashing in his new python shoes and Lisa looked ravishing in her sparkly dress and new purple satin shoes. But back to the buffet. It managed to check a few things of our mental list of things to try. Eg: Caviar, Rabbit, and Ceviche. Mmm mmm.
We retired to Miro (the camerman) and Gary (the mechanic)´s room for some wine and shots. Speaking of shots, Miro is from Slovakia and brought some of his father´s famous Borovicka(Slovakian Moonshine). For the countdown, we ran up to the 25th floor to watch the fire works from the huge bay windows. It was spectacular. For the city being dead it was crazy to see so many explosions all across the horizon. Leroy was there, dress to the nines, and stole Kevin´s midnight kiss. Lucky Bastard.
After the countdown had ended, everyone staying at the Sheraton went to bed because they had a long day of Dakar prep first thing. So Kevin and Lisa decided to break into the Sheraton 2009 Dance Party. We walked in like we owned the place but in the end the party was dying down so we naturally went and got more wine and partied just the two of us.
Jan 1, 2009
Hungover, we crawl out of bed at noon to meet Team Destination Dakar for the Dakar scruteneering process. This is where they go over all the participants vehicles to make sure they meet regulations. It was a long drawn out process but we got to have a close up look at all the vehicles involved. And with our fancy team shirts, we were able to by pass all security and get into areas forbidden for the public.
Jan 2, 2009
It´s the ceremonial start for the Dakar so the whole day is dedicated to last minute details. The team rushes over to the starting gates decked out in matching shirts and Canadian flags and scream as loudly as possible when Don Hatton #116 reaches the podium. Kevin lifts Lisa up onto his shoulders as she wave the flag as proudly as possible to make sure Don sees them in the midst of 500,000 spectators.
Jan 3, 2009, 5am
It´s the actualy start of the Dakar so we groggily make our way once again to the starting gates and watch as Don and the rest of the field start their adventure of a lifetime. That evening, the 2 of us get to enjoy the company of the Hatton women for a 15 hour bus ride to Mendoza .... Wine Country.
MENDOZA
We´ve already been here but only for a day. So this time, our plan is to live it up. Unfortunatley, something happened and we had to leave Mendoza unexpectedly. I suppose Mendoza is just not in the cards for us. We did however enjoy short lived time there. We were able to experience a Wine Tour as well as an Olive Oil Planation tour and live like locals dining at sidewalk cafes under a canopy of trees. On our 3rd day we were on our way to go horseback riding when Nat got the heart stopping phone call that Don had crashed badly and was being flown to the city of Neuquen for medical attention. The doctors had informed us that Don had broken his C4 vertebrae and needed surgery immediatley. And being that the rally is french, and the doctors are spanish the information we recieved was from both languages muddled together into an incomprehensionable and emotion-less english. ¨No worry¨ they said. ¨He be fine. He might be paralyzed, but alive. Its no problem¨ As a group we decide to make the 900km journey to meet Don in Neuquen a.s.a.p. The girls frantically pack up their stuff while Kevin rushes off to Budget Rent a Car. We finally get the car at 5pm and load it up with 5 passengers, 3 giant suitcases, 2 giant backpacks and about 8 day bags/purses. We were able to jam all this and tie the trunk down with a pair of shoelaces. Not bad for a piece of crap Ford Focus. About 4 hours into our drive we enter the worst lightning storm any of us have ever witnessed. The whole sky is illuminated with sheet lighting and there are often forks of lighting going every which way. At one point, the lighting formed a ball with about 5 forks jutting out of it. It´s really hard to describe but it looked like a monster and the forks were reaching out to consume our car. Suddenly we heard a crackling all across the windshield ... the car had been hit. We´re all freaking out so Kevin hauls ass to get us out of the eye of the storm and 3 hours later, we finally see our last flash of lightning. When we notice the car is just about on empty we decide to pull into the first town we´ve seen in 200km. The only gas station in town reminds us of a scene out of Deliverance. Keep in mind there are 4 cute white girls, a trunk overflowing with luggage and only 1 scraggly cripple to protect them. Kevin was afraid that hooligans were gonna mug us for the luggage and take advantage of the girls. The girls, on the other hand, were more afraid of the fist sized beetles flying into their hair. To top the whole experience off, the station will only allow it´s customers $40 pesos worth of gas, which is equivilant to 15 litres. So for those of you who dont drive, that´s less than half a tank and the next town is 3 hours away. However, with good fortune we made it to the next station using only the fumes in our tank. To our suprise this is one of the Dakar rally´s gas check points and, at the early hour of 330am, the station is packed with spectators. We arrive to the city of Neuquen at 5am and crash at a hotel for a few hours before we are allowed to see Don in the Hospital. We get there and it turns out that the only damage Don has suffered is a cracked sternum, cracked ribs, bruised lung, ripped ligaments and a little bit of internal bleeding. There are no visible scrapes or bruises on his body, expect for a cut knee, which occured the day before. He´s in rough shape but it´s nothing compared to the fear of paralyzation that was instilled in everybody just a day before. Don was released after just 3 days but must promise to continue daily medical examinations in whatever city he is in.
After a few days in butt fu*k no where we tried to return the rental car. But of course, despite what the Budget clerk in Mendoza said, there is no Budget in Neuquen. We now have the choice of taking it 13 hrs back to Mendoza or 6 hrs south to Bariloche. Bariloche is the chocolate capital of Argentina so ....
Bariloche, here we come!
1 comment:
Sorry Kev, I like the Beardless Son that left 4 MONTHS ago tomorrow (13th)but, don't worry I have taken a new course since you have been away....Barber shop trimming,
sounds like the adventure is just that...I am so glad to see you didn't leave leroy behind. What a fantastic time you both have had and cannot wait to see you.It will take months for you to tell us all about it, and of course there will be some "what goes on in South America stays in South America" ha ha.... Count down until your home 15 days in Van & 17 days with US!!I can't wait... Love Mom xx
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