February 5, 2012

Sherwin Williams: The One Stop Shop for Cooking Fuel

We were only 60 miles from Argentina by the time we reached Pucon. Since our stay in Pucon was something of a washout, thanks to three straight days of raining sideways and gusts of wind that made a stone house groan, we figured we might as well cross the Andes (much easier in the South due to less extensive peaks) and head for a rain shadow region with a similar climate and scenery to a Montana summer. Upon arriving to San Martin de Los Andes, we devoured giant cheeseburgers and shouldered our packs, heading for the wooded hills. The land outside of town is part of the southern section of Lanin National Park, though it certainly isn't wild. Wandering through a scattered hillside neighborhood, we searched for an outlet, or at least a non-vertical slope where we could quietly pitch our tent and make a small dinner.

We spent the majority of the afternoon wandering about town in search of white gas, a super efficient, lightweight, clean-burning fuel for cooking. The search, done with our packs, proved to be a goose chase as we were directed from one store to another spread within a 1 mile radius. One man even directed us to the Sherwin Williams paint store. Finally we went to the nearest gas station, hoping to buy a low-octane fuel, but the attendants refused because the high pressure pumps would make a mess of the fuel in a 1/2 liter bottle. Instead they gave us diesel. Yummy....

Have you ever cooked with diesel? The smoke coats everything with black scum (just check out the blackened exhaust pipes of diesel vehicles) that spreads a greasy slime across everything it touches. The whisperlite was either jetting a 4-8 inch flame, or the fire went out. The red pepper risotto proved to be quite tasty, despite nearly burning it on several occasions thanks to our lack of heat control, but we decided to ramp up our fuel search again after a bit of blog scanning to see what other campers have resorted to using when Bean's or Dick's isn't around.

We did find white gas (Adventure Store, San Martin) though it cost 10 USD for about 1/4 liter. We bought one bottle as a precaution, but returned to the paint store after having read about other campers who have used a solvent called naphtha. Apparently the original local who directed us to Sherwin Williams for cooking fuel knew what he was talking about--even the guy at the paint store understood how we planned to use it. We will do a test run tonight, but 1/2 liter for 5 USD isn't bad!










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