BUSTED!

 

BUSTED!

Hola, peeps!  Sorry for the long time since we last posted... it´s been an eventful couple of weeks in Dientes de Navarino and then Sierra Valdivieso, and now in El Calafate.  Apologies also if the writing in this next post isn´t up to the standard you´ve come to expect from us... I´m just recovering from a 36-hour fever/flu.  On the road to recovery, but still a bit out of it.

So, when we last left you, we were in Ushuaia, el fin del mundo (according to the argentinians), preparing to head across the Beagle Channel, back into Chile to the tiny town of Puerto Williams on Isla Navarino (which, for the record, is clearly south of Ushuaia), for a 5-day trek into Dientes de Navarino (the teeth of Navarino, named for the shape of the jagged mountain peaks). 

One of our favorite things to do before a multi-day trek is to head to the grocery store and plan out our food for the 5 days -- breakfast, lunch, dinner and one or two snacks per day for the two of us -- trying to keep our food weighing as little as possible, while still providing enough nourishment and exciting twists to the meals, and a few little índulgences, like hot chocolate or some sweets.  Every ounce counts, so it´s a delicate balancing act every time.  This time we were particularly excited for the addition of some dried fruit we´d picked up in Puerto Natales before we left -- dried mango, pineapple, strawberries, apple and apricots.  So, the night before we left, we stocked up at the supermarket in Ushuaia, decided what was coming with us across the channel and what was staying behind, and packed our bags.

 

Trust us, she´s sea-worthy.

The next morning, we had an exciting trip across the Beagle Channel.  Ushuaia is a major Argentinian port -- for giant cargo tanker vessels, for huge cruise ships, for large motorized catamarans that offer day trips to various islands, and for all the smaller cruise ships heading off with passengers to Antarctica.  Our boat wasn´t exactly like these... It was a small inflatable zodiac boat, which sat 6 passengers and the captain.  Definitely out of place in that harbor of giant ships.  The ride over was a bit rough, as the waves were often much larger than our little blow-up raft with a motor... but we made it safely across just fine. 

Upon arrival, we had to re-enter Chile.  The Tierra del Fuego peninsula is shared between Argentina and Chile, and was the cause of some serious conflict between the two countries back in the late 70´s.  While we were well aware that we would be re-entering Chile, we had somehow forgotten how seriously Chilean customs takes the importation of fruits, vegetables, meat, cheese... pretty much any food-related product.  And that pretty much all of our 5-days worth of food, purchased in Argentina, was not allowed to enter Chile.  Not only had we carefully selected and apportioned all these items, and spent a fair bit of money stocking up, but we also knew not to expect too much in the way of supplies available in tiny Puerto Williams (and with the whole gluten thing, potentially even more of a challenge to re-supply with limited choices). 

The sweet Chilean customs lady asked to look in all of our bags for any contraband... and Amy and Dave cast a concerned glance at each other... Of course, right on top of my bag was a giant 5-day supply of trail mix, which Amy had mixed the night before (and was excited about the perfect peanut-raisin-m&m ratio she´d achieved).  Customs lady took one look at that and told us it wasn´t allowed.  Our biggest concern was whether we could save the m&m´s... which are like gold on a 5-day hike.  On top of Amy´s bag was a giant hunk of cheese (which we´d been counting on for at least 2-3 days of lunch and a tasty addition to some dinners) and two apples (fresh fruit might be even more valuable than m&m´s on the trails!). 

We really couldn´t be too upset, though... because that was only the tip of the iceberg.  If customs lady had made even a cursory search of our bags, she would have found more cheese, 3 bags of dried fruit, 5 sticks of pepperoni/salami, some fresh peppers and onion, 4 days of rice, peanut butter/jelly... Basically, if it wasn´t allowed through Chilean customs, it was in our bags... so we were a bit relieved at that. 



Seemed like a good idea at the time.

As for the contraband that was flagged (5 days of trail mix, 3 days of chees, and 2 apples), we were told that we could eat as much as we wanted during the 1-hour minivan ride from Puerto Navarino (where the boat docked) to Puerto Williams.  For some reason, we decided that it was necessary to try to eat as much of this as possible.  So let´s set the stage properly - we´ve just come off of a boat ride across choppy seas in a tiny blow-up raft, so our stomachs are already a bit questionable... and now we´re hopping into a hot,cramped minivan for a 1 hour ride on bumpy, twisty, hilly dirt roads... our stomachs are otherwise empty... and we decide to gorge on apples, 2 pounds of cheese, and 5 days of trail mix.  Needless to say, this was a bad idea.  Not a minivan ride we care to repeat anytime soon. 

 

The Mug Shot

With the help of some of our fellow boat passengers, we managed to finish the cheese and the apples, eat far too much trail mix, and thanks to Amy, separate each m&m from the trail mix.  Also, one of the other passengers smuggled in about 1-days worth of trail mix for us.  By the time we arrived in Puerto Williams, feeling about as disgusting as possible, all that remained was a bag of peanuts and raisins. 

Dave received an official citation as an attempted smuggler of contraband agricultural products, and we couldn´t even say the word ´cheese´without feeling sick to our stomachs for at least 5 days.