Very constructive day on the campervan shopping front. Saw FIVE motorhomes today!
1. Fiat Ducato
In really good nick, 1.9l diesel engine which means it'll be good on fuel (and diesel is cheaper than petrol here), Mario said its engine is in good shape, while the whole van has been really well looked after.
Decent living area that converts to a bed.
Big permanent bed above the driver's cabin.
Nice little bathroom/wet room with cassette toilet and shower.
Gas hob, hot and cold water and a 3-way fridge that runs on gas, mains or battery.
Mario offering his advice on the engine! He's been amazing! Paul took us all for a test drive in it. We really like it and got a good vibe from the vendor Salvatore (not like Carlos the joker we saw last week!)
Salvatore was also selling another motorhome. Ultimately it's too big for us, but we had a nose around anyway.
2. Peugeot Euromovil
Bigger than the Fiat with room for 6 people to sleep.
Lots of space for cooking meth, I mean, food.
Cute little bathroom with decorations!
After seeing Salvatore, we headed to a place south west of Santiago which had loads of motorhomes!
There were three in our price range.
3. Ford 'Fiesta'
This actually had Ford Fiesta written on it. American origin I think.
Surprisingly spacious inside.
Permanent bed - one of Paul's prerequisites.
And it even had a bath. But ultimately we discounted this one because it's got a 3.5l petrol engine, so will be costly to run, and it's also automatic which will be expensive to fix if there are problems.
4. Toyota thingamajig (no idea what)
Not been in one of these before. Surprisingly spacious:
This had also been well looked after, given that it was built in the 80s.
It had an oven as well as a gas hob, which was a plus.
But there were wobbly things that gave away its age. And it had a big petrol engine too, so that was this one out of the running.
Final van of the day:
5. Toyota Dolphin
Decent interior, plenty of space for cooking.
Clean, well kept bathroom.
Even a kitchen roll dispenser!
But it had a problem with water leaking in and it emits too many emissions to be allowed in to Santiago City (it's only got paperwork allowing it on Santiago's highways). So we wouldn't be able to drive it in the city proper and it would be impossible to sell in Santiago when we get back.
So, we really like the first one we saw, the Fiat. But, of course, it's over budget! Decisions, decisions.
Here are some food pictures to help us decide:
Mixed ceviche from Puerto Esmerelda, a really nice Peruvian restaurant about 5 minutes from our apartment.
Paul had 'something from the land and from the sea' (thank you Word Lens!) - a really tender cut of beef in a seafood sauce with sticky rice. Yummy!
