Mendoza

In the morning we filled and dumped and paid for the camping. We met a Korean family with a child who was traveling north. They had run into a family we had been following on social media a week before called Malimish. They didn't speak much English nor Spanish but they were managing along. 

We headed toward the town centre to drop off laundry and visit the mercado central. Mendoza surprised me. On our drive in, it had broken roads and poor homes on the outskirts but downtown had parks and cafe culture. We found parking and a walked to the mercado.

A man was saying, "Cambio" and I asked how much and he said 1180 per dollar and I agreed and he led us to a barber shop across the street and we went upstairs and exchanged $500 worth of money. It was a bit sketchy but I brought the family with me so I felt safe.

The mercado was not very busy and not very big compared to other ones we had visited.

We bought some sausages and candied kumquats and cherries and dulce de leche. We went to the Carrefour and bought more staples.

We then went to look for an oil change garage. In all the countries north of Chile the oil change places were everywhere but in the more developed countries they seemed more hidden. The first place did not have a door large enough. On the way to the next place I dropped Christine and the kids at a nice park close by and went to get an oil change. There was no wait and I was able to get 5w20 synthetic for $100.

I went the went to try to get my front end alignment at three places but no one could do it today or the van was too big. I went back to pick up everyone and we went to look for gelato. 

The gelato was amazing. 

There was another park close by and the kids played and Christine met a Canadian expat with a child who had been on the road for three years. There were a few English speaking kids at the park and soon it filled up by 6pm.

I tried finding a alignment place online but was told my van was too long. We headed to look for a bakery but it was closed for siesta still. The laundry place was closed for the day so we went to get some dinner close by at a parrillada. We were the first clients even though it was 630pm. The food was great but we ordered way too much and had leftovers for a couple meals.

The waiter said the locals didn't start coming in for dinner until 9pm to 11pm and the restaurant didn't close until 1am. 

We drove a couple blocks to the train station where there was a dirt lot with a few overlanders parked. The vans and RV had Brazilian plates and there were a group of people sitting in their chairs in a circle having drinks. We parked at the next dirt patch over and opened up the RV to air out the heat. It was still 91F even though the sun was going down.

The kids played badminton but then they started playing with chalk and giving themselves chalk tattoos. Then Dd made piles of rocks and made shadow figures. We sat outside for three hours until it had cooled down enough in the van and outside before going in. Tomorrow we will try to get an alignment and pick up laundry.