Santiago Zoo

Day 826
91,467 km since the beginning of the journey
Santiago. Chile.

Santiago Zoo is absolutely worth a separate post. Somehow I had taken really a lot of pictures.
   

The Chilean National Zoo (Zoológico Nacional de Chile) is situated in the centre of town, on San Cristobal Hill and was opened in 1925. According to Wikipedia there are 158 different species of animals.

Technical, cardan, Part 3

Day 821,
91,274 km since the beginning of the journey
Pichilemu, Chile.

 So back in Pichilemu. And completely unscheduled.   

Los Cipreses National Reserve

The route: Pichilemu - Rancagua - Los Cipreses NR - Rancagua - San Fernando - Pichilemu. (545 km).

While leaving Pichilemu on May 15 in the morning I had no intention of returning here soon . My intention was to visit two places of interest nearby Rancagua. The first place was El Teniente copper mine, as it is still the world's largest underground copper mine, and just nearby the deserted (and now restored) Sewell Mining Town is one of UNESCO World Heritage attractions.

And the second place was Río Los Cipreses National Reserve, about twenty kilometres away.

Technical, cardan, Part 2

Day 815
90,690 km since the beginning of the journey
Pichilemu, Chile.

In the morning I drove to the familiar workshop, but it was closed. Then to the spare parts shop - hoping that they knew the mechanic and could help me to contact him. The connection was made but he was said not to be in town that day. The next quarter of an hour was spent on explaining why it was necessary to find the next good specialist and have the cardan to be welded again. Actually not complicated issue - the hole in the cardan should be closed, but you just try to say it in Spanish..

Finally I got the sales assistants so far that they found a similar detail from the shelf and now it was easier to explain to them that the hole in the centre must be closed.


The day was saved. The story continued in the next workshop, and explaining again from the beginning what should be done.

Pichilemu

Day 814,
90,687 km since the beginning of the journey,
Pichilemu, Chile.

Some more colourful pictures of the small town of Pichilemu - as for a change to oily parts of cardan.


City Park, further on the first Chilean casino, The Ross Casino, it was opened in 1906 and was busy until the year of 1932.

Technical, cardan, Part 1.

Day 814
90,687 km since the beginning of the journey,
Pichilemu, Chile.

For some time there has been no technical post here. Neither ordinary post with pictures and stories, but the last time the technical issues were described was 3 months ago (the problem with the front amort ) in the beginning of February. Such unscheduled technical, which means that something is broken or not functioning as it should.

Anyway, so now it is my fourth day in Pichilemu, a small town of nearly 13 000 inhabitants and the city is located by the Pacific Ocean and considered to be one of the main surfing areas. Only just now it is not the right season. I arrived here on May 7 in the evening and before sunset I found even a decent overnight place.

The first part of the day was spent in town and later I found a campsite with wifi by the ocean. And since the rest of the household was also satisfactory, ie, - hot water and electricity - then I stayed for another night intending to move on in the morning. In the morning, it was planned to fill the tank first and then move on.

And now the technical story begins. I am in town and drive uphill, the main road is just in front. Having given way to the passing cars on the main road I begin to drive and then suddenly - there comes a crash from behind the car and almost just in the middle of an intersection the car stops.

The first thought – something has happened with the clutch, but no, it must be something else. The first gear is on but adding more gas does not make the car move, instead – the car seems to start moving backwards. I put the hand break on, turn on the hazard warning lights and have a look under the car. The sight is not encouraging – the cardan has come loose from the gearbox. Next, it is necessary to get the car away from the intersection, which was not difficult , I just let the car trundle about five meters back.