Inspired by other Overlanders, but still in doubt

As so many times in life, we are also now doing the opposite of most others.  Many travelling Europeans are now returning from their various expeditions to park their more or less expensive and well-equipped vehicles (some of them litterally as cabins mounted on 4×4 trucks) at UY-Parking in Montevideo, while we are heading out. Many European overlanders spend the European winters in the southern part of South America and then return to Europe when spring and summer return (and fall and winter arrive in the south of the Americas). When we arrived UY-parking, we met several Europeans on their way home, and among then an elderly (meaning persons with more experience than youngsters as us 😊) German couple that has had this routine yearly for 6 years in a row. Driving and living in an old Renault camper van from 1992, I asked them how the campervan was holding up, to which they simply smiled and said that each year something “mechanically” happens. And to which they always find solutions. It really is an admirable relaxed attitude – shit happens even with new vehicles.  

We, however, are about to do the opposite of most and this feeling of going counter current was a little unnerving and we kept on second guessing our plan of heading north.  Also, the fact that the Uruguayan fall was approaching, and that we had several prolonged periods of heavy rain, made us feel uncertain (anyone who have slept in a tent for a long time knows what I am talking about).

After crossing the border to Brazil at Chuy, we camped close to the beach – there were only two other “out of season” campers…… one, a Brazilian hippie-couple, living there full-time…. Plus, a couple from Montevideo arriving late in the afternoon in their VW-camper.

And we were still doubting – should we continue North (meaning the 9000 km road trip through parts of Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia) or should we instead simply make a small camping roundtrip, return to Montevideo and ship the Toyota back to Europe? This was an option we for a while seriously considered – we even requested freight quotes, made cost-comparisons and looked at alternative routes… We even considered throwing in the towel and sell the Toyota “as is” in Montevideo (and the situation really must have been dire for me to even consider this as an option…)!