Last Night In Asuncion

Paraguay was just literally a flying visit...so we immersed ourself in typical Asuncion society, booked in to a 5* Hotel and went out for dinner at TGI Fridays!


And then proceeded on to the local irish bar where as good fortune would have it, we were able to meet up with a load of other teams that had to follow a similar itinerary to ourselves. As you can imagine, our last night together was very amusing and here are the photos that we are prepared to show...



 

A great time was had by all overall and we flew back to Blighty the next day without any real problems.

Now all we need to do is start thinking about our Rickshaw Run across India in April!...might leave that for a little while.

Before we complete our final blog, we would just like to thank all of you that sponsored us as well as those of you that sent messages of support along the way or simply just followed our progress on this website. This was an extraordinary experience and in total, over £1500 was raised for the Operation Smile...or put plainly, 10 children will now be able to have re-constructive surgery to repair facial birth defects such as cleft pallets. That is something we would all change we think. 

TTFN! 

Beyond Puno

Puno saw us leave behind our beloved/detested mototaxi and 3 buses, 10 hours later and a fleeting visit through Copocabana (Never met a showgirl called Lola sadly) meant that we ended up at the highest capital city in the world, La Paz, Bolivia.

 

This was only after our bus had been sent across Lake Titicaca on what can only be described as a raft...seriously;

 

All we could do in La Paz was spend our time trying to book flights which, would allow us to get to Asuncion in time for our connecting flights...and whilst Rowland was doing that, Scott kept Dennis entertained in our hotel room...

 

There really is not much to write at this point, other than we departed from La Paz airport and flew to Asuncion via Cochobamba and Santa Cruz. Many hours sat around...the consequences of the organisers poorly organised paperwork... 

ALL THE CLIPS AND BITS

Just thought we would pile all our little video clips into one place, edit it and bung a bit of music in the background - enjoy!$parse[embedvideo_481]

Juliaca - Puno

This trip was a pleasantly short, mainly straight and flat journey, but with some sadness at the end as it became the final resting place for our Mototaxi.

We realise that our Blogs have fallen out of chronological order and we apologise for any confusion, but it was a case of getting the balance right between keeping in order and updating loved ones at home so that they know we are still alive! 

Puno was a much nicer destination to visit than Juliaca, not least because it sits on the highest navigable lake in the world; Lake Titicaca - see below. 

 

Upon our arrival though, we were informed that yet more required paperwork was not ready by the Adventurists...again. 

It was at this point, that we realised Asuncion was no longer a realistic destination for us. We decided to join the numerous other teams that had also decided to call it a day at this point.


This was a very frustrating decision to have to make, but with the holiday constraints that we all had, there was no other option.

Puno was the end of the line for out little mototaxi and now the adventure turned into working out how we were going to make our way to Asuncion to get our flights home with only 3 days to achieve it - it was at this point we released the news on this blog that we were not going to complete the rally as we had wanted. 

Cuzco - Juliaca

Re-charged and re-vitalised from our time in Cuzco we set off for Juliaca, our penultimate stop before entering Bolivia which would bring us next to the highest navigable lake in the world: Lake Titicaca.

Unfortunately, there was no opportunity to charge up the camera for this journey so the pictures are few and far between, but I did manage to get a shot of myself with Dennis en route which I am sure you will be relieved to see 


All in all, this was a very easy, mainly flat and virtually straight route to Juliaca and the next photo illustrates this point;


Not much to say about Juliaca except do not bother going there. It is a dump. I appreciate that this is not a particularly eloquent summary of the place, but the food was awful and unless you are in the market for chicken-based dining or a new mobile phone, there really is not much here for you...

We got here, we ate, we slept, we left. That was it.

 

MACHU PICCHU BABY, YEAH!

We liked Cuzco, former capital of Peru during the reign of the Incas, partly because they could muster up a good brekkie;


This made me happy - see below;


Due to my wearing of the Dulux Trade polo shirt, Cuzco residents were insisting that a Dulux Decorator Centre be introduced as soon as possible...

TeamDulux buddied up with team "Scottish Taiwanese Lovers" later that morning and set off by train towards a small village at the foot of the hill where Machu Picchu was built;


This excursion alone would cost us the equivalent of a week´s accommodation in Peru - speak about ripping off tourists - but we clambered out of the minibus at the other end to reach the world famous Inca city, Machu Picchu;


Look! We look like we have climbed all the way??

Hilarious.

However, we did climbed the highest neighbouring peak called Wachu Picchu...which afforded us a truly spectacular view;


The legendary city is just behind Scott´s head. Next time you see the typical photo of Machu Picchu with the 2 peaks behind it, you can think of TeamDulux because we climbed the larger of the 2 peaks...it was hot...it was sweaty...but it was definitely worth it. Superb.

ANDES DAY 4 (Abancay - Cuzco)

Wahoo! Tyre fixed and we are setting off for Cuzco, one of Peru´s more international and civilised cities where we will be able to make plans to get to Macchu Picchu. Nice.

So we complete our first complimentary service at the local dealership...an impressive and professional outfit - see below;


Yes, those are guinea pigs.

No, we are not sure whether they will be eaten or not by the family.

There were also some geese, some budgies and a dog.

So with beast greased and ready to roll, we set off for Cuzco! Progressing nicely up the hill out of the town in the midday sunshine. Happy days.

Within an hour we have another flat. On the drive wheel again.

At this point, Scott and I REALLY, REALLY decided that we should have bought some appropriate puncture repair items...like a spanner that fits the wheel bolt for example...but then shouldn´t the included tool pack include such an item??

To cut a long story short, a very kind family drove me back into town to get the tyre repaired, buy a spare inner tube, an appropriate spanner and then return me back to the mototaxi to complete our repairs. Many thanks to them.

Now, we were really back on our way, making good progress and taking in even more impressive scenery;


The afternoon was a fairly simple journey with no problems to report. Obviously due to the delays from earlier in the day we did not get to Cuzco in daylight, but even by night, the City was a welcoming sight for us;


Tomorrow, we plan how we get to Macchu Picchu...

NEW ADVENTURE BEGINS!

Following our earlier disappointing announcement, we now embark upon a new adventure entitled;

"How The Chuffing Heck Do We Get Home??"

The premise is very simple...having decided that Asuncion is no longer a realistic destination, abandoning our mototaxi and ending up in Puno, we need to work out how we can get back to Asuncion in order to get our flights back to Blighty!

So far, we have spent 10 hours and 3 buses getting ourselves to La Paz - we are officially in Bolivia at the highest capital city in the world - and we are staying in a hotel with a computer that has no connection for my camera in order to upload photos...

We will attempt to find an internet cafe later today to complete this task, but for the moment, we hunt for flights to Asuncion or Sao Paulo in order to get our transatlantic flight home...

Still alive and well,

Rowland & Scott

PS Dennis is still with us and has decided that the overhead compartment of the bus was less comfortable than the plane.

Disappointing Announcement

Due to the 4 day delayed start, the absence of required paperwork throughout the last 2 weeks by the the Adventurists organisation and despite our 5am starts with driving into the night, it is with deep regret that we have had to abandon our Mototaxi in Puno and withdraw from the Mototaxi Junket.

We were able to cover a third of the distance, took in some incredible scenery, survive 3 flat tyres and leave the vehicle in a working condition.

We are extremely grateful for all the support from our family, friends, sponsors and affiliates throughout this adventure. Please keep visiting this website as we continue to update with photos and once we are back in Blighty, a selection of short videos will be added later next week.

Kindest regards

Rowland and Scott.