Gus, the Big, Orange Truck-Bus

 November 12, 2011

Gus!

“Not your everyday journey” is the way the overland travel company Dragoman brands itself, and on Thursday morning I began to learn why. It started at 8:00 with our backpacks going into the back locker of a big, orange 25-seater truck, “Gus.” It’s a bit of a game of Tetris getting everything to fit just so in the closet-like space, but as the ritual is performed most every morning, the experienced overlanders of the group performed the job without too much trouble. Dragoman is definitely budget travel, and the idea behind the overland trip is to see new places economically, largely saving money by camping instead of staying in hotels and cooking instead of eating in restaurants. And it’s a fine tuned machine. The 21 passengers on the trip have been divided into cooking groups as well as been given different assignments to help care for the truck—sweeping, cleaning out the fridge and coolers, getting tents down from the roof of the truck, getting washing water ready at different stops, and so on. The truck has a pretty neat setup.

View from the front of the bus.
(Don't know why I managed to get so much ceiling.)

Information board on Gus. 

Anything on an angle can be taken off and read. 

Things straight up stay on the board. 

The teacher in me is so pleased with the organization!

Leading the group is the tour leader, Claire, and the driver/mechanic, Jimmy. (While Jimmy is the official driver, both leaders take turns driving Gus.) They are doing a great job, though they’re leading the tour “blind”--neither of them has done this tour before, or for that matter, been to Patagonia. In fact, neither of them speaks fluent Spanish. The extent of Jimmy’s is “No hablar espanol,” though Claire can get on alright with directions and the basics. I’ll admit that I was surprised and a little nervous when I learned these things, but to their credit, they are handling everything well. They have trip notes from previous tour leaders that vary greatly in accuracy. All part of the adventure!

Enjoying our sandwiches at the winery.

Tour guide Claire teaching us how to
"scoop" water to wash our hands.

Setting up "the kitchen sink" at the winery.

Food storage. 
Note the diagram on the inside of the door. 

More lunch setup.

After loading the truck we began our drive to Salto de Laja. Around noon we stopped at a winery for lunch, and I witnessed the first of many transformations of the truck into cafeteria. It’s quite impressive really. Tables for prepping and serving food are stored in a compartment in the side of the truck. Non-perishables, pots, pans, dishes and “the kitchen sink” are stored very neatly in a compartment next to it. Stools are kept on the opposite side of the truck. While some people are setting up tables and chairs others are preparing bowls for washing hands and dishes and others are beginning to cut vegetables and put out cold cuts for sandwiches.  Lunch was ready in 15 minutes, and we ate in the sunshine overlooking grape vines. Cleanup was equally as quick, and everyone in the group seems to be good about pitching in and making sure jobs get done. As dish towels are breading grounds for bacteria, Dragoman doesn’t use them. Rather, travelers employ a technique called “flapping” for dish drying. The technique is as the name implies—we dry dishes by holding them in our hands and waving our arms up and down like birds. As could be imagined, we get a lot of interesting looks from passersby seeing five or six grown men and women flapping their arms in the air outside a big orange truck.

Observe the flappers in the background

Flapping!

A few of us enjoyed resting and reading in the sunshine while the rest of the group toured the winery, and then we were on the road again. We arrived at the waterfall in Salto de Laja around 6:00 that evening. The fall is beautiful and we spent some time walking around it before finding a camping site and setting up camp. (We’re just at the beginning of summer season, so camps are open but there are few people around. If camping is like this through the rest of the trip, we’re in pretty good shape. How I love clean, flushing toilets!)

The Falls in Salto de Laja

 

Helen, Johnny/Paul, and me.
Note the faint rainbow in the background.

I should be quite good at assembling a tent before this trip is over. Like everything else, Dragoman has a system for this process, and Claire gave us a little lesson in pitching tents on our arrival and then sent us off to try our luck. Helen and I were quick studies and had our tent up and staked in record time (more or less….). We then hung around and got ready for the evening while the cook group made a delicious spaghetti bolognaise and garlic bread dinner. We ate, flapped, and then spent some time chatting before heading to bed.

Helen, me, and our tent.

Getting ready for dinner.

Jimmy getting the tents off the truck.

This is going to be a great trip!