La Paz!!!

Made it to La Paz, but for circumstances out of our control, had to leave the mototaxi behind in Peru. We are still pressing on to try to reach the finish land overland, which is going to involve travelling pretty much non-stop for the next 3 days.

Having reached Cuzco, we had an big team discussion/debate/argument over alpaca steaks as to whether we had any chance of finishing the race. Coming to no conclusion at all that evening we decided not to visit Macchu Picchu and press on towards Puno for the Bolivia border. More than a little annoyingly, following a long cold day´s driving to Puno, we found out that the documents to get the motos accross the border were incorrect and there would be a further delay to our progress of an unspecified number of days while it was sorted.

Over another alpaca dinner we had to make the tough choice to leave our trusty vehicle behind (as did at least 20 other teams) and try to find some other way of reaching the finish line in the 5 days still available. We took a bus to La Paz, managed to get here in time to watch the Bolivar v The Strongest match at the olympic stadium. On another long journey in a couple of hours to Uyuni, then another to the Argentina border, from where its the small matter of finding some form of transport accross the Chaco to Asuncion.

Importantly - We managed to find a Subway in La Paz this morning, so Stew´s cravings should have been satisfied for a few days.

Scary Stuff

In Abancay, headed to Cuzco today. Have had 4 days on the road, didn´t get going until Thursday lunchtime in the end, a full 4 days behind schedule. Since then have really entered into the Halloween spirit by scaring the living c**p out of ourselves on a daily basis. The mototaxi really isn´t designed for any sort of driving where you want to be comfortable that where you point the wheel is the direction you will move in, so not ideal for crossing the Andes on ridiculously narrow dirt and gravel roads.

 Day 1 gave us an early warning of the dangers ahead as the team following managed to send their mototaxi flying 100 foot down into a ravine. Fortunately, both jumped/fell out as it left the road and weren´t seriously injured. A further lengthy delay for a broken chain with one of the other teams in our convoy,and a (with hindsight incredibly stupid) decision to not stop when it was starting to get dark left us driving long into the night on roads with incredibly narrow mountain roads. Probably the most scared any of us have ever been as Matt with an heroic driving display over 5 hours negotiated us off the mountain and to the relative comfort of a night´s rest on a wooden floor.

We made it to Ayacucho Day 2 with relatively little incident, but were so exhausted by the time we got there, I´m sure I was hallucinating at one point. A long night´s sleep was disturbed for another 5.30 am start as we headed off on more mountain roads towards Andahuylus, but didn´t quite make it that far, stopping in a small town along the way beginning with a C. (chichawara or something similar, maybe). This was partly due to another major crash as the Mototaxi we were following ploughed into a wall. Having witnessed two major crashes we are driving extremely carefully now - more haste less speed is the rather boring team motto.

Yesterday we set off at the crack of dawn, full of hope to reach Cuzco by nightfall. This looked even more likely as we saw the nearest town Abancay a couple of miles away in the valley below. Unfortunately what followed was the longest descent of a mountain you would think possible as we were forced to tackle 50km of perilous downhill to get to the town (credit to our chief navigator Stew for driving all the way). By the time we got there, dreams of reaching Cuzco were long gone.

So the plan is now Cuzco today, hopefully get to see Macchu Picchu before heading South towards Lake Titicaca and the Bolivian border. Chances of making Asuncion in time for our flights look extremely remote , so we may well have to leave our vehicle somewhere at some point and jump on a bus.

 

Leaving Today (maybe)

Just a quick one, looks like we may be possibly leaving today, due to various problems still with vehicles, insurance and other documents which may or may not get sorted. If we do get away it will be mid afternoon which means by the time it gets dark we will be right in the middle of nowhere, somewehre in the Andes, probably at about 4000m altitude. Could be a long cold night.

 Also, it wont be a surprise to those that know me well that I´ve lost my phone, my jacket and our phrasebook (all at different times). Mine was the only working phone, so this leaves us without any reliable means of communication with the outside world or the locals while we´re on the road, so if you want to get in touch, email or facebook are the best bets.

 

 

We are the Law

About 40 hours until launch (now provisionally scheduled for 10.30am Wednesday) and we are almost fully prepared for the off. Have spent the last couple of days in Huancayo, trying to learn how to drive our vehicle and rapidly realising how completely unfit for purpose it is. The turning circle is about the width of a football pitch, so ideal for those narrow twisty mountain roads, it does go uphill, very very slowly and the brakes kind of work. All in all, this is not going to be easy.

Much more importantly after days of hunting, we have now got probably the best crash helmets money can buy. We somehow ended up at the police uniform supplier and managed to persuade them to sell us official Peruvian police helmets. We had to promise to cover up the police badge, which is obviously not a promise we will be keeping, so expect to hear that we´ve been arrested for impersonating a Peruvian police officer in the near future.

With that now sorted we are more or less set - so just a couple more days of eating guinea pig and drinking pisco sours and the fun really starts. As it gets closer, the price on us not to finish is looking very generous, but apparently the President of Paraguay is very excited about our arrival so a chance to meet the top man is an extra incentive to get to the finish line.

 More updates coming soon (probably)