het einde van de rally en een nieuw avontuur

Asuncion was een beetje een anti climax, na een geweldige tocht. Een grote stad waar niet veel te beleven viel. We wilden op bezoek gaan bij Operation Smile, maar omdat we uiteindelijk 2 weken later aan kwamen, had Operation Smile haar ´operatie ronde´ in het ziekenhuis net afgerond. Operation Smile werkt in veel verschillende landen en heeft  een paar keer per jaar een operatie periode in een ziekenhuis. Er wordt dan een hele afdeling omgetoverd, waar de chirurgen van Operation Smile te werk kunnen gaan. Maar goed die afdeling was er dus niet meer en de organisatoren van het evenement waren ook weer terug naar Engeland.Oh ja en de president van Paraguay die ons op zou komen wachten liet het ook afweten... al met al beetje jammer. Maar goed uitgerust en bedacht wat te doen met ons leven na de rally. En natuurlijk elkaar gek maken welke volgende rally we gaan rijden.. want 1 ding is zeker.. dit is heel verslavend!!!

En omdat alles zo crappy georganiseerd was, hebben we een gratis nieuwe rally gekregen van ´the adventurists´.... woehooeeee

Irene is inmiddels thuis en ik ben terug gegaan naar Bolivia (wat een busreis van 24 uur  terug door de Chaco betekenden),  inmiddels is alles weer veranderd, ben ik in Chili en praat ik al een week alleen maar Spaans met m´n spaanse reis matti David (wat betekent dat ik minstens de helft minder zeg anders raak ik te gefrustreerd) en zijn er grooote plannen voor een nieuw avontuur.. :) maar daar over later meer... Hasta leugo.. besos Ilon

 

WE'VE MADE IT!!!!

This morning we got back on the road for the home straight to Asuncion.

Passed the border with no problem and made it to the centre of town...

Just so we didn't get too complacent, the back chain came off and knackered itself turning left at a busy junction, but we had the spare we'd got in Jujuy so that was fine. Made it to Los Alpes Hotel, but they were full. Got a place at another hotel nearby.

We just been out and had an amazing Mexican meal. Stuffed and happy.

We taken 32 days to travel a total of 5770 km (4400 dring the mototaxi and 1370 in  the lorry from Cobija to La Paz). Mototaxi has been amazing: until this afternoon we had had only two punctures and one broken chain during the whole trip. So now it's two punctures and two broken chains... I have the utmost respect for Lifan now. We have asked so much from our trusty mototaxi and she never let us down. Completely reliable, tough as old boots, with a huge heart. Thank you Lifan!

It hasn't really sunk in that it's all over. Tomorrow we'll find out where to leave mototaxi. That will be very sad. It's been a tough, but very rewarding journey and it's been great to do it together. We were worried it would put a lot of strain on our young marriage, but actually it's definitely made us stronger!

We still have a few days until our flight back to Lima so tomorrow we're off to the Iguazu waterfalls and to see as much of Paraguay as we can in a few days.

Thank you very much to everyone who sponsored us so generously. We're so happy to have completed the challenge so as to justify your generosity.

Lots of love,

M & M 

Out the other side...

The next day was cloudless and gradually became very hot, although I don't think it got anywhere near 50ºC like we'd heard it could. We stopped for about 20 mis every 50km or so to let the tyres and engine cool down.

At the end of the day, about 75km befroe Formosa, the clouds began to build up dark and heavy and suddenly we were in another thunderstorm: lightening, heavy rain and very stong gusts of wind. Michi guided us through and we decided not to push on all the way to the border, but to spend the night in Formosa instead...

 

Out into the dreaded Chaco...

We were pretty lazy the next morning and ignored the alarm clock and didn't get on the road until about 8.30.

The conditions were actually perfect: the sky was completely covered in a thick layer of grey cloud. It stayed dry and cool. By 2pm we had reached the town of Ingeniero Juarez were we did a final oil change.

The Chaco was not as scary as we'd expected. It's completely flat and is basically and impenetrable mass of vegetation. Similar to the rainforest, but the trees are not so tall and I guess that the flora and fauna is completely different. It just goes on and on. Not the place you want to break down.

The were a lot of one particular type of tree. The young ones had a kind of spiny bark and as they got older their trunks swelled up in the middle.  

We reached Las Lomitas before dark and found the Lomitas Hotel. From the outside this establishment seemed OK and the room only cost 65 pesos, but when we got back after some dinner we found that our room was infested with huge hyperactive cockroaches. We managed to get some spray off the girl at reception and then spent about 45 minutes chasing them around, under the bed, behind the wardrobe, into the bathroom, etc, etc... Disgusting! We hung the mossie net and prompty fell fast asleep...