**Note that while I was typing this blog post, Mark texted me that he had hit a car! (advice from me: never text anyone that – just call). \u00a0He backed into a car while leaving the vet. \u00a0Very minor accident. The owners were yet to be located. \u00a0I called our\u00a0insurance\u00a0company and they had never had anyone file a claim from Chile before…<\/p>\n

***Update: our international insurance did not know how to deal with an international claim so we paid the guy $200 USD, took photos of the dent and they will reimburse us. \u00a0Maybe. \u00a0Hopefully. \u00a0Just glad it’s over. \u00a0And now the man is a friend on Facebook.<\/p>\n

The time has come for Team DeCorso to return home. \u00a0We started making the arrangements and we were forced to make early decisions that we could not know how they would work out. \u00a0For example, in February we found a one-way ticket on American Airlines from Lima to Fairbanks for $478 that routes through Dallas so we bought 6 (Michelle, Jack, Jennah, Max, Annabelle & Sylvia) not knowing how the shipping \/ dogs would work out. \u00a0So now, because of the excellent airfare and the security of knowing we had a way home, we must leave out of Lima.<\/p>\n

Departing South America can be divided into sections like this:<\/p>\n

\n
• Freighting the van<\/li>\n
• Selling the camper<\/li>\n
• Finding a place in Lima<\/li>\n
• Making arrangements for the Amazon<\/li>\n
• The dogs<\/li>\n
• Tickets for Mark & Ryan<\/li>\n
• Bolivia?<\/li>\n
• Dallas<\/li>\n
• Camper 2.0<\/li>\n
• Other stuff<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  We are taking advice and suggestions from anyone here so please feel free to help us brainstorm!!<\/p>\n

  Freighting the van – <\/span><\/strong>this is both harder and much easier than you would think. \u00a0The hardest part is getting information. \u00a0The rest (customs, stuffing, forms, etc) is not so hard. \u00a0We started with Peru and got quotes to Houston but the travel time was almost 30 days plus 7 days to offload – too long. \u00a0Next we tried Peru to LAX and got a shorter trip (20 days) and 1 day to offload but the cost was quite high, about $4850. \u00a0Then, inexplicably, we could no longer contact NYK in Peru. \u00a0The phones just rang, emails went unanswered. \u00a0In Santiago, we called NYK Chile to ask about Peru and they offered us a better deal ($3000 to\u00a0freight\u00a0to LAX) and, best of all, no 2200 mile drive through the desert which saved us at least $1500 in gas and such. \u00a0So we settled on shipping the van out of Valparaiso. \u00a0The\u00a0freighter\u00a0leaves the port on May 1 and arrives in LAX on May 21. \u00a0We need to have the van there at 3pm on Monday, April 29. \u00a0The stuff it in a container, load it on the NYKLodestar with a crane, it sails to LAX stopping in all kinds of places along the way, places the blue van has already been to (Antofagasta, Arica, Callao, Guayaquil…)<\/p>\n

  We bought tickets to Lima for all 8 of us & 2 dogs and we leave early Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

  Selling the camper\u00a0<\/strong>was never really an idea until we got here and people were so amazed at the camper that we had people make us offers several times a week since we arrived in Colombia. \u00a0We have a book of emails and phone numbers from very serious buyers all over the place. \u00a0People would flag us down, drive in front of us and stop, follow us for miles, leave notes on our window… \u00a0People were also amazed at the blue van which is the size of three Peruvian combis. \u00a0It was not uncommon for men to gather around the blue van looking at its locking hubs and being amazed that it was diesel – and how MANY people could really fit in it! \u00a0I was once on a combi that was smaller than my Aerostar minivan with 22 people and a baby. \u00a0The combi would have literally fit inside our van. \u00a0However, some serendipity led us to camp in a nice truckstop outside Santiago and a man named Patrico drove this way to work every morning and he stopped every morning and every evening to ask us to sell him the camper. \u00a0So we are. \u00a0We sell it to him and we stay in it until our plane leaves. \u00a0This is a little stressful as we have never done anything like this \u00a0before and we are taking a leap of faith that it all works out. \u00a0Once the van is gone, we can’t move the camper so we are selling it on Friday (tomorrow). \u00a0Tomorrow the camper goes to it’s forever home and we will all be a little sad to see it go.<\/p>\n

  Finding a place in Lima<\/strong> should be easy but it is not. \u00a0All of the places are very fancy and for some horrible reason WHITE. \u00a0White couches, white carpets, white area rugs, white curtains. \u00a0Team DeCorso can deal with a lot of things but white is our nemesis. \u00a0Also we had this idea we would rent a typical home, not a luxury vacation rental. \u00a0On top of this, the luxury apartments all have luxurious (read fragile) decor like blown glass vases and such. \u00a0This is still unsettled.<\/p>\n

  ***update – while the insurance claim was being investigated, I found a perfect place south of Lima on the beach and they will let the dogs stay there. \u00a0Most importantly, it has a WASHING MACHINE. \u00a0Not a dryer but it is the desert. \u00a0It’s not white and it’s not a penthouse in a super earthquake zone with no building codes! \u00a0Yippeee!<\/p>\n

  Making arrangements for the Amazon\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>is something we haven’t yet even started. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

  The dogs\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>are also a problem. \u00a0White carpeted, white furnitured luxury penthouses don’t want dogs. \u00a0We can board them but they will hate it. \u00a0They need dog stuff, dog papers to fly and Lucy needs a kennel. \u00a0We can’t board them for 21 days so we need to figure this part out. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

  ***Update – dogs are staying with us at our beach house!! \u00a0Yipppeeee!!!<\/p>\n

  Tickets for Mark & Ryan<\/span><\/strong> we still need to purchase from Lima to LAX. \u00a0The question now is – who takes the dogs? \u00a0Either they do and have to figure out what to do with them while they negotiate the van out of its container or I do and figure out what to do with them in Dallas. \u00a0Or I fly home with everyone. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

  Bolivia?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Just to make things exciting, Ryan and I (and maybe Jack) would like to zip over to Bolivia. \u00a0We already have tickets one way. \u00a0The way back would be a bus from La Paz to the border, cross to Peru, bus to Puno, overnight in Puno, combi to Juliaca and a plane from Juliaca to Lima. \u00a0We can’t finalize Bolivia until we make sure everyone else and the dogs have a place to go in Lima. \u00a0Our plane to Bolivia leaves 12 hours after we arrive in Lima so we have some time to help everyone get situated.<\/span><\/p>\n

  ***Update: now that we have the Peruvian beach house, Bolivia is a go! \u00a0More altiplano! More altitude sickness! \u00a0More cholita wrestling! \u00a0More PUNO! \u00a0More of Oscar’s vegan restaurant! \u00a0More hats!<\/p>\n

   <\/p>\n

  Dallas\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>is where Team DeCorso #1 wants to get off the plane and wait for Team DeCorso #2 to drive 1500 miles and pick us up. \u00a0Or we can take a plane. \u00a0Or a train. Or, as Ryan constantly suggests because he is on Team 2, a bus. \u00a0We could meet half way – Tuscon?\u00a0Phoenix?\u00a0Albuquerque? We can only do this if Team 2 has the dogs.<\/p>\n

  Camper 2.0<\/strong> is necessary as we just need one to do Alaskan things. \u00a0So on the way to fetch Team 2, Team 1 must be searching for an adequate camper -anyone know of any?? \u00a0Between LAX and Dallas or surrounding Texas?<\/p>\n

  Other small details<\/strong> include the van needs some transmission work because, turns out, hauling 10000 pounds over the Andes a few times is hard on the transmission. \u00a0And brake work because stopping 15,000 pounds on an Andean mountain road is hard on your brakes. \u00a0Which needs to happen before the joyous reunion\u00a0of Team 1 & Team 2.<\/p>\n

   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  **Note that while I was typing this blog post, Mark texted me that he had hit a car! (advice from me: never text anyone that – just call). \u00a0He backed into a car while leaving the vet. \u00a0Very minor accident. The owners were yet to be located. \u00a0I called our\u00a0insurance\u00a0company and they had never had… Continue reading Stressed – and NO ONE tell me it is desserts spelled backwards!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329,265,217,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alaska-to-patagonia","category-chile","category-peru","category-preparation","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2078"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2480,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078\/revisions\/2480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebluevan.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}