Micaela Camarasa
01/17/2021 15:00
Clarín.com
Zonal
Updated 01/17/2021 3:00 PM
Florencia Villalba and Juan Manuel Videla are a thirty-something couple from
Lomas de Zamora
who on March 1, 2020 decided to leave everything behind to embark on a journey of more than 20 thousand kilometers on top of a Sprinter truck with a final destination in Alaska.
However, the adventure was affected by the
coronavirus
pandemic
that stopped them for 225 days in Calamuchita Reservoir, Córdoba.
Now, after having traveled about 6,000 kilometers from the department they stopped renting at Nicora 274, they are still less than 2,000 from Buenos Aires.
And further from Alaska than when they left.
But the goal is the same.
"We had the idea of spending a few days in
Embalse
and we were parked for seven and a half months at the door of the house of some friends who allowed us to stay," says Florencia.
In the lake of Embalse de Calamuchita
To start the trip they had taken their savings including a lot that they put together especially to "get to
Alaska
."
But when they finished they had to look for work.
“Juan got a job at a construction site and I'm a kinesiology assistant (she's also a swimming teacher and lifeguard) so I was able to start treating patients at home, that was spectacular,” he says.
Then came winter, the harshest in many years in Embalse.
Luckily they managed to stay at Las Casitas de Norma, a cabin complex, in exchange for work.
The first mural that Juan Manuel painted, in a smithy in Embalse.
"Then we went to Villa del Dique because they had also hired us to do three murals in a brewery, and in this way he ended up doing 10 murals in Villa del Dique and from there we headed towards the Altas Cumbres", explains Florencia adding.
Before leaving, they had some damage to the truck that forced them to
deviate to Córdoba
capital: There, a follower of their YouTube channel (Rodandohacialalibertad) had gotten them a radiator.
“Having the channel allowed us to meet a lot of people along the way, who were helping us and encouraging us to continue.
There are people who stop us on the street and leave us money for diesel ”, says Florencia.
The farewell to Lomas de Zamora, on March 1, 2020.
They say that their inspiration
comes from the Zapp family
, a couple who left 20 years ago with the idea of reaching Alaska in six months and had to cross so many obstacles that during the trip they had four children.
“We read your book and it mobilized us so much that we realized that we could do it too.
Nobody has to finance you, you don't have to be the son of a rich man or a millionaire.
You can go out to travel and finance yourself on the trip ”, says Florencia.
“In principle, to get the money, we
sold everything and brought savings
, but the idea is not really a vacation trip, but living traveling, so we must finance ourselves with our own work.
That's why we brought all the possible tools, ”explains Florencia.
Your "little house" inside.
When the decision was final they bought the Mercedes Sprinter model 97 truck that
had 13 seats and modified it.
Now it has a sofa bed, closets for clothes, a chemical bathroom, a hot water tank for hot water from the shower, a kitchen with a sink to wash dishes, two burners, a refrigerator, chairs and a table.
“We also have a 'beer garden' on the roof, which is a deck that Juan made.
Let's say that our little house is equipped to live, ”says the proud couple.
The motto of the couple: "Rolling towards freedom".
After passing through Córdoba, San Luis, Mendoza and Neuquén, they are in Junín de los Andes about to leave for San Martín de los Andes to finally reach Ushuaia.
Now the goal is to unite Ushuaia and Alaska.
"Over the years it takes us, because we know that it will take us years to do it, the longer we take the more the objective will be fulfilled because it means that we are not skipping any place but that we are getting to know everyone we want to know, and once we reach the Alaska goal, the next goal will be to cross the pond, to leave the continent. We want to travel until we are so old that we cannot even move. The world is immense and there is one place more beautiful than the other " Florence concludes.
JT
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