Bolivians - are they all corrupt ?

 

Well the 5 of us hot footed it from Copacabana via taxi to the hole that is La Paz for what was the fastest turnaround in history. We spent twice as long in traffic jams as we did in the travel agency and with seconds to spare we caught an overnight bus to Uyuni (designed for short people) in order to see the salt flats. Arriving the next morning looking pretty shabby we then head out on our day safari. Salt flats, incredible and the crazy thing is the mototaxi could have got us there. That night we say goodbye to Miranda and James who are heading south to Argentina. They are complete legends and it was great to have them join or convoy and now that we have no Miranda my Spanish is having to do ( lots of Bueno Bueno....) We then board another bus towards Potosi and then change to Sucre but as with all of Bolivia the whole thing is a con and when we arrive at 2am on our cattle truck bus it turns out the connecting bus does not arrive for 5 hours !!  Since the town is freezing cold and the bus station is pretty rough we opt of a "friendly" taxi driver. He offers us a ride to Sucre for 15 pounds but after 5 minutes it turns out that either the mouthful of Coca leaves he is chewing is affecting his brain/overall co-ordination or we are about to star in a real live version of Psycho. Ginny, Hugh and I finally arrive in Sucre at 4.30am to much relief and using my rough spanish we blag a room to crash in till ours is ready. If we had been under our own steam it would have been a hoot, but public transport is no good at all for someone my height !!!!!

Currently waiting for our real rooms to be ready and then a gentle days exploring Sucre. Then its fly to Santa Cruz tomorrow, overnight there then fly to Asuncion, change to Sao Paulo, change to Heathrow. Thats the most practical way to connect with my original flight plan back to the UK.

Landing back in LHR 1.30 pm on Monday, thanks to everyone for logging in and all your messages they have been very encouraging. We read today that  the paperwork has still not been finally finalised for the Peruvian border so we feel that pulling the plug when we did was the right thing to do.

Paddington and his Pram are now signing off for the final time. Maybe we´ll have another go from the other direction next year !

See you all soon

 

 

 

 

SMS Update

Well we've hung on as long as we can and we have just found out that the paperwork MIGHT arrive thursday which could mean friday, if not then monday and then the head honcho might still refuse and he sits 200km back up the road!! So we are pulling the plug, we have lost 6 days already and there is no way we can finish even if we do get the bikes across the border. The customs official and the police at the border will be proud guardians of three mototaxis in about an hour. We will then attempt to see some of Bolivia by other means. Sad way to end the mototaxi trip but we need to be realistic. The blogs will continue for the next few days! Alfie, Hugh, Ginny, James and Miranda have all been fantastic team mates, thanks guys. p.s writing this in the taxi on way to border to leave the keys and it is deathly silent in the car, to say we are all gutted and angry is an understatement!

SMS Update

Well to drown our sorrows after yesterdays debacle we decided to do a customer survey into which bar in Copacobana serves the finest Pisco Sours. We only got as far as bar number 4 before the wheels started to fall of all of us. Our hotel room overlooks lake titicaca, its a blue sky morning and Hugh has just been electrocuted by the shower which he is now attempting to switch of using a plastic tube of suncream. God knows what we are going to do today..mooch about and wait for a miracle. @

SMS Update

Still in the customs house in Peru, spent the morning doing more repairs waiting for clearance to leave Peru. 2pm nothing has happened so we leave the machines at the border & go to Copacabana in Bolivia to kill time. Now the scams start. First the police chase us from the border in a taxi claiming as we did not stay in Bolivia last night having crossed the border we were very naughty - bribe no. 1, then the taxi driver claims i broke the door handle on his taxi and claims £50, i tell him to **** off, next thing the police arrive at our hotel! And Sibree is forced to part with £16 to stop going to jail. I HATE BOLIVIA after 5 minutes! And WE are starting to lose our long standing faith with the Adventurists. We are now supping beers in the sun on lake Titicaca & blood pressure is returning to normal! We are missing Alfie loads as he has had to return home today for personal reasons, we would not have hit the border first without yor skills, you are a legend, safe trip.

SMS Update

hours driving, major repairs, and we arrive at the Bolivian border post. It turns out we can't take our mototaxi's out of the country! The other snag is we have been to passport control and have officially left Peru and entered Bolivia, but still stuck in Peru. The customs official is a beligerent soul and is causing all this trouble but he has taken pity on us, by supplying 6 mattresses and we are camping in his waiting room tonight. This is utter comedy and made more so by the fact that the same official is sitting in his office watching some very dodgy tv! We have got the run of the whole block including bathroom and kitchen! When the next guy comes along tomorrow to open up he is going to find 6 refugees asleep in the waiting room wanting breakfast in bed! We are clearly the first team to arrive, so anyone getting here tomorrow, back of the queue! We've done the legwork to get us out of here. Ps "we" reads Miranda and her spanish lingo, otherwise we'd be stuffed @

SMS Update

Ok, so after a very succesful day we reckon we can get to Bolivia by monday night, depending on the road and the gradient. Having awoken at 0430, we are ready to go by 5 and then the mishaps begin. 2 of the moto's won't start, some kit has been pinched out of ours despite paying for "secure parking", all the chains need adjusting! Oh and more broken spokes! Once we clear of 4100m it is pancake flat at 3600m but it is freezing cold and we all look like eskimos. Fast approaching Puno !

SMS Update

Now that was a good day! Only 200 hairpin bends to 4000m, and from Cuzco miles and miles of flat meandering TARMAC road, oh what a joy! But then Jake, the look no Andes steed got a puncture 300m from the hotel. Must explain both mototaxis are blue so are the Blues Brothers, Jake and Elmo! Off now for another chicken supper, Peruvians eat nothing else! Its sunday night.@

SMS Update

Finally made it to Ayanuco last night after a shattering day climbing over 2 mountain passes on dirt tracks. Our front wheel loses five spokes and is buckled beyond belief, finally a puncture on a blind hairpin with a vertical drop to the valley floor to finish off a fun filled day. Underway again in 20 mins. Find a garage to re align the front wheel and the owner is a dead ringer for Maradonna and tries to get Miranda to marry his son. Her fluent spanish is a god send as well as allowing us have a good chinwag with the locals via her . I am trying to re-learn my spanish with her help, todays word is Watermelon....which i have already forgotten! Right now crawling uphill, 60km to Cuzco, 1045,lovely day apart from being tone deaf from the noise our screaming 125cc engine makes! Adios

SMS Update

Friday morning and out into the wilds of Peru. We climb upto 4100m and Elmo, our machine is having an asthma attack at this altitude. I know its boring but the scenery is unbelievable, more vertical drops and hairpin bends than u can shake a stick at. Breakages to date, exhaust bracket, drive chain came off, Ginnys crash with a taxi, Hugh's crash with a mountain, Alfie crashing into a ditch, James trying to make his machine fly off a cliff, a buckled front wheel, numerous bolts have fallen and the resale value of our motmtaxi on day 2 is nil. The locals are utterly bemused as we crawl thru their villages at 20km, yes speed is still an issue. In the village of Chincheros tonight and its Fiesta time ! Ariba Ariba !!

SMS Update

A 4.30 start and we take the wrong rd out of town!!!! This results in us climbing a muddy hill track so steep that our machines can't manage it! Then it chucks it down with rain and the 6 drowned rats including our new convoy pals, james and miranda from team "one man and his dog" finally give up and try a new route. At 8pm we arrive at our destination, only 300km for the day! The engines hate altitude and are useless until we drop down to 2500m. Everyone in bits and in bed by 10.30 .