Capital Department

Our first days back in Argentina were eventful to say the least. We arrived in Buenos Aires early on July 4th after an 11 hour overnight flight. We debated as to whether we’d stay overnight in BA and get a fresh start the next morning or head to Santa Fe where we left the camper. We were both anxious to get back to the camper so we took a taxi to Aeroparque Jorge Newbery where we could get a flight out later that day.

It was evening when we arrived in Santa Fe so we stayed the night in an airbnb and got up early the next morning to pick up the camper from Raul, the mechanic who had been working on it while we were away. It felt good to be back in Argentina. After a whirlwind month of coast to coast travel in the States, getting back to the camper felt like coming home.

The day had started off nicely - an unseasonably warm 30℃. We spent the late morning cleaning, unpacking, chatting with Raul about our upcoming trip to Salta, and discussing the repairs he had made to the vehicle while we were away. We were eager to get on the road again and had planned to head north the next day.

Later we took the van for a quick test drive, picked up the laundry we dropped off before we left and headed to our preferred street camping area to finish unpacking and take a quick afternoon nap. Although Malaika’s flight benefits got us business class seating on the flight back to Argentina, making it the most comfortable overnight flight I’ve ever had, we were still pretty tired from all of the travel .

After waking up, we realized it was getting dark and we had no electricity. The batteries had drained during our time away so we decided to return to Raul's shop where we could plug in and recharge. We had dinner plans with Raul and Claudia at 8 pm (a little early by Argentinian standards, but bearable for us), so we headed out together leaving the camper to charge.
We had a great dinner at Verbena, one of the city's best veggie friendly restaurants. We sat outside on the beautiful back patio/garden for a fun filled evening. We even ran into Mauro and his family who we had planned to see later in the week.

We got back to the garage around 11:20 pm. After saying goodnight to Raul and Claudia, we unlocked the camper, expecting to turn in after the long day, but that’s when things got crazy. The camper was filled with smoke!!

We went inside to investigate and saw it was coming from the battery compartment. Sam unplugged the charger while I opened the windows. We cleared a path to the electrical area under a bench which seemed to be the smoke's origin.

Escaping the fumes momentarily we step outside to catch our breath and think through a plan of action. That’s when I saw a huge spark and flames!!! Sam grabbed the fire extinguisher and ran in while I rang the bell for Raul’s help.

Over the next couple hours we alternated between rushing into the smoky camper to suppress the growing fire and stumbling back out for air, as the fire continued to reignite. By about 1:30 we had it reasonably under control, but the batteries were still smoldering.

Raul helped to detach the problematic batteries from the exterior. By about 2:30am the main threat was removed and we decided to called it a night. I had made some calls to find a hotel room once the fire was out and Raul drove us over around 3am. We were exhausted, but so thankful. We were both okay and the camper was largely fine too as we were able to keep the fire confined to the battery compartment.

Even in the most challenging situations you can usually find a little bit of humor which was the case for us. As we were checking in we were happy to find that the desk attendant spoke some English which he seemed eager to practice. He asked where we were from and we answered St. Louis. “Oh yes St Louis.” he says. “They have good music there right?”

Usually this brings to mind great jazz or blues artists, but after the night we had the first thing that came to mind for Sam was Nelly.

“Yes, like Nelly. Do you know Nelly? It’s Gettin’ Hot in Here??

Blank look from the attendant.

Sam sings, “It’s gettin’ hot in hurr.”

Still no recognition on the attendant's face.

I thought he would leave it at that point, but he pulls up the song on his phone. And sings along with hands up for emphasis.

I wish I had a camera going at that moment. It was hilarious. When I think about that night this is the image that comes to mind, Sam with hands raised singing “So hot in hurr” to a sleepy small town hotel desk attendant in the middle of the night in Argentina. This was just the comic relief needed after the long night we had..

We’ll be staying in airbnb or hotels for the next couple of weeks (we have an upcoming trip to Senegal and Ghana at the end of the month). The camper is still drivable, but we will need to rewire the electrical system which will require new batteries and other components from home.

The adventure continues.Read more