Ron and the 3 girls

Weekend away to the Seven lakes 27-28 Jan

Our road trip to the Seven Lakes was due to begin at 11am on Saturday morning, however due to corruption by the headmaster we only left Roxy`s at ?6am. This resulted in much difficulty in getting Gayle out of bed, and Nicky not giving Gayle the option to stay at home, packed her bag while Maarten entertained her with shaving noises on his cell phone.

We eventually got in the car at 1:45pm and headed off along Ruta de Los Siete Lagos (Seven Lakes Route). According to the Travellers Guru (a newspaper owned and written by the headmaster) this is "perhaps the most beautiful 100km stretch in the lake district", unfortunately we spent the first 50km in a comatose state before stopping for the hangover cure lunch at a cafe on the side of the road where Nicky couldn´t understand the menu so randomly pointed at an item on the menu, and Maarten ordered a salad!!

The silent journey continued until we resigned ourselves to a power nap at lake 5 (or maybe it was 6). Refreshed and revitalised we perked up and enthusiasm levels were raised, with the boys even randomly practising their cereal box game techniques (with no box present) much to the utter disbelief of fellow tourists sitting in their cars trying to enjoy the scenery.

After a short stop in San Martin, to organise campsite and food for our asado (aka braai) we awed the boys by volunteering to pitch the tents while they did the blue job of starting the fire. It was only at this point that we accepted the truth in Maarten´s statement: "My tent is only big enough for one".

We woke up on Sunday and "compared to yesterday we felt like god" (Maarten again!) and we spoke more in the first 15 minutes in the car than we did the entire day before!

On an isolated dirt road, Ron noticed a burning smell coming from his precious ford´s engine. Gayle´s quick thinking lead us to emptying all our drinking water into a very empty water tank. Nicky also pulled through with another pearler and using her bush skills, lead us to a fresh mountain stream where we topped up our water supplies. Back on the road again, the temperature gauge still would not go down and the girls once again saved the day by recommending Ron turned on the heater. The boys jaws dropped when this worked within 2 minutes and the temperature returned to normal.

Our temporary measures got us to a garage in civilastion where we were actually more concerned with filling our stomachs and quenching our thirst than checking the car. Surprise, surprise, when we got back into the car it would´n´t start. While waiting for the mechanic to attend to us, we entertained ourselves by throwing rocks into the river until Ron hit some poor innocent Argentinian family as well as learning Maarten´s own choreographed dance routine and the 20 questions/Who am I game.

Before the mechanic arrived, Gayle and Nicky´s spot diagnosis of the car was a likely overheated engine and a blown gasket, however the mechanic assumed an empty petrol tank or flat battery. So after filling the car with petrol and jump starting the car (which again, we had to show the useless Dutchmen not only how to attach the jumper leads but also to have both cars running!) Predictably, neither of these measures were successful in starting the car, leaving us with only one option - to hitch hike back to Bariloche.

Ambitiously, the four of us stood together on the road. The thought crossed our minds for Ron to hide in the bush and for Maarten to display only his long golden hair behind the backpacks. The boys, however, admitted to defeat and knew we´d be more successful on our own and walked back to the garage. Within 5 minutes of them leaving us, a car stopped for us. Not only had we pulled over a hot Sports instructor from Bariloche University, who specialises in Karate, but there was also room for all four of us.

On arrival in Bariloche, we went for a celebratory drink at Trentis, an awesome trendy bar on the lake shore.

Ron´s car made it back to Bariloche the next day on a tow truck. To this day it`s still in the garage, and we´re certain that if we could understand mechanic spanish lingo, he`d confirm our suspicions of a blown gasket.