The city of Gualeguaychú, on the border of Argentina and Uruguay, is one of the last stops before reaching the Obelisk on Sunday, the famous monument in the heart of Buenos Aires from where Candelaria and Herman Zapp departed on January 25, 2000. They return with four teenage children, born in different parts of the planet.
“The feelings are very mixed. We are finishing a dream or rather fulfilling a dream. The beautiful thing is to live it. What will come next? Thousands of changes, thousands of options ”, Herman tells AFP that, at 53 years old, he already dreams of going around the world, this time on a sailboat.
Candelaria was 29 years old when they started the journey. Now, at 51, she says that “everything was more beautiful than imagined. What we discovered was the people.”
“The people are wonderful, humanity is incredible,” insists the woman who visited 102 countries, despite the fact that once “a conflict or a war forced us to divert our path.”
THE CAR “OPENS DOORS”
They had been married for six years and had “good jobs.” They had finished building their house on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, the one that will finally be the family home. They wanted children but first they wanted to travel. Thus began a backpacking adventure to Alaska.
Someone offered them the 1928 car, a Graham-Paige, which had bad engine and paint. “It didn’t even start,” recalls Candelaria.
“The car does not have the best seats, nor the best cushioning, nor does it have air conditioning. It is a car that forces you to be alert. It doesn’t seem comfortable but it was wonderful, it was a ‘door opener’, it was useful for the cities, for the mud, for the sand”, enthuses Herman.
In the 22 years they only used eight sets of tires and made two engine starts.
“If I had had a 4 × 4 zero kilometers now it would no longer exist, this one is more beautiful now than when it came out,” Herman enthuses as he unfolds the tent that the car has on its roof and where the four children sleep when it’s their turn. to camp.
Already on the road and with the first two children – Pampa, born in the United States, 19 years old, and Tehue born in Argentina, 16 – they enlarged the car. It was cut in half and 16 inches and a seat were added.
Thus it was prepared for the arrival of Paloma, born 14 years ago in Canada, and Wallaby, in Australia 12 years ago.
Now Timon, the dog, and Hakuna, the cat, have been adopted during a recent stay in Brazil, where they were stranded in 2020 due to the covid pandemic.
A tarpaulin falls from the roof, giving them privacy inside the vehicle, where the parents sleep. They carry the trunk as a kitchen and in the engine they can cook eggs and sausages or heat water. Clothes and supplies are stored under the seats. As if it were a snail, the old car served for many years as a family home.
“It is a small house but with a huge garden, with beaches, mountains, lakes. If you don’t like the landscape, you can change it,” jokes Herman. On the body it reads: “A family traveling around the world”.
In general, the Zapps stayed in houses. They estimate that 2,000 households received them. “Humanity is incredible,” Candelaria enthuses about the solidarity received. “Many helped us just by being part of a dream.”
But not everything was roses. During the trip Herman contracted malaria, they crossed Asia when there was bird flu, Africa with Ebola, Central America with dengue.
“We came out of a covid, we entered a huge war, if we wait for the right moment, there will always be a reason not to fulfill dreams,” says Herman.
ARGENTINES LIKE MESSI AND THE POPE
Through the streets of Gualeguaychú, horns greet the passing of the Graham-Paige. Fans of vintage cars come in awe to take a photo. Some buy a copy of the book “Catch a Dream”, in which the Zapps recount their experiences. With 100,000 copies sold so far, it is their main source of income, they say.
Other “door-openers” around the world were the star Lionel Messi and Pope Francis, for being Argentines, like them. They have even gone to visit them to thank them and bring them their book.
It all started as a six-month trip, with no cell phones or GPS, and just $4,000 saved. It took four years and a son to get to Alaska, they returned by ship to Argentina and toured the country. Africa, Oceania, Asia and Europe followed.
They touched Mount Everest, tasted balut (fertilized duck egg) in Asia, danced with the Himba in Namibia, entered Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt, sailed many seas.
For the children, it was a direct experience that they completed the distance school and the mother’s classes. In Argentina, face-to-face school awaits them.
“What I want most is to make many friends,” says Paloma.
