Day 10 San Rafael to Mendoza, Argentina

After a pretty tough and tiring day yesterday, today has been a pleasure. A 9.30 am start and first stop was the San Rafael race circuit where we did a quick sprint. This would have gone quite well had we not had to stop to decide which way to go through some cones then we forgot to stop on a red line just before the finish which incurred a 10 second penalty. Nevertheless we were only a few seconds off the fastest time.
Then it was onwards across the Valle de Uco to the Salentein Estate Winery where we were given a guided tour of their vineyards and production facilities. Salentein is one of the most important wine producers and is owned by a 79 year old Dutchman who made his money importing Mercedes, Porsche and Audi cars into Holland, his family now produce 10,000,000 bottles of wine every year. All the buildings were state of the art and there was a contemporary art gallery housing a private collection, all highly impressive. After the tour we were invited for something to eat a few miles away on the other side of the estate. They had laid on a fantastic spread with a wine tasting and canapés on the terrace, then a 3 course gala lunch outside in the sunshine. The food, wine and location were exceptional and we would highly recommend Salentein Malbec to all our readers!
After a short argument over who should drive we set off the 100 kms to our hotel in Mendoza. The Mendoza region is very opulent by comparison to some of the poorer areas we have been through and produces around 2/3 of the entire Argentine wine production. The landscape is similar to parts of France. The city itself is quite cosmopolitan and has a good atmosphere. We are staying in the Park Hyett Hotel which is very flash, our room is huge and the bathroom has two entrances!!

Day 9 Zapala to San Raphael, Argentina

Early start this morning as we tackled one of the longest days on the event, 754 kms.  For most of the day we followed part of the famous Ruta 40 which runs for 5000 kilometres, it's one of the longest in the world and runs largely parallel to the Andes.  Some parts were smooth straight tarmac, but we had one 100 km section which was loose gravel with generous amounts of potholes and corrugations it felt awful as the car tried to shake itself to pieces, our teeth will never be the same again.  It was very windy most of the day, The Mighty One doesn't take well to sidewinds, it's about as aerodynamic as a breeze block and as noisy as hell, it becomes quite difficult to handle at times.  It is difficult to appreciate how big the distances are in Argentina, it's  a huge country, you can see for probably a hundred miles in each direction as the air is so clean.  The terrain has been beautiful again today, snowcapped mountains and a volcano thrown in for good luck.  There are goats, horses and sheep running semi wild out on the pararies, occasionally we see grouchos, horsemen riding around tending the animals.  
The cafes and restaurants are mostly family run affairs, this afternoon we ordered two cups of coffee; the son took the order, his sister heated the milk, mother made the coffee, Granny poured it into a cup and father took the money all of which took about 20 minutes, and it was so hot we didn't have time to drink it!
Mechanical woes have started to take their toll now, so far we have have lost 3 cars, The old La France, a Jag and one of the Volvos dropped out today. Jon and Cris have lost a couple of gears in the MGB and will have to whip the gearbox out tomorrow.
Peter has mastered the intricacies of the various forms of navigation we have to do and we are making less mistakes than the early days, we are now lying 8th overall with the big Merc a few seconds behind
Sent from my iPad

Day 8 Llau Llau to Zapala

Today started off in pouring rain, the temperature had plummetted towards zero as we headed off around the shores of Lago Nahuel Huapi, that well known Lake. Our first stop was at the Hotel Correnso at the far end of the lake where they had laid on a fantastic spread of coffee, tea, croissants and pastries for ourdelight, less than an hour after we had just finished a magnificent breakfast but Peter tucked in regardless. The next stretch of the route was "The Seven Lakes Drive", it would have been quite a treat if not for the driving rain.
The competetive stuff started just before lunch, yes all we do is eat, there were several really good regularity sections which went quite well, in fact we came 6th overall which is good for us. The last one was a particularly tricky sequence of hairpin bends not disimilar to the famous Stelvio Pass in Italy. Our arch competitors and good friends Jon and Chris in an MGB V8, (albeit a much more modern and powerful car)won the day which was totally depressing.
We are quite close to the Chilean border now and at one stage we reached an altitude of 1600 metres which felt really high until we realised that next week we will be three times the altitude!
Tonights resting place is Zapala, a desolate and dusty provincial town in the middle of nowhere,but it has an impressive snowboard shop(?) and our hotel, by far the biggest building in town, has a massive casino with hundreds of fruit machines, it is very comfortable and would probably be the best hotel in Darlington. Argentina continues to surpise us.

Day 7 Llau Llau Hotel, Bariloche. Patagonia

As luck would have it we appear to arrived in heaven and we have a day off! We are staying in a truly wonderful place called The Llau Llau Hotel and Resort set in a National Park in the Argentine Lake District. It is set between the Mareno and Nahuel Huapi lakes and whichever direction you look in the view is stunning. This place should certainly be on your bucket list. Last night we enjoyed a couple of killer G&T's on the sun terrace before the obligatory rally meal which to be honest are getting a bit tiresome, so today we thought we would go into town with our mates Jon and Chris to experience the local atmosphere and enjoy a late gala lunch. However, once every 10 years in Argentina there is a national census and all the shops, bars and restaurants were closed, luckily it only took half an hour to get there in a taxi.
Our friends Richard and Nicola who we also met on the Peking to Paris had some problems in their Mk 2 Jag a couple of days ago, a broken differential. Regrettably it couldn't be fixed so they have hired a 4x4 but at least they are back in the rally, sort of.
This morning was a good opportunity to give the car a good fettle, nothing adverse to report but a problem with the rear brakes was resolved with a quick phone call to Brian for advice. I forgot it was still the middle of the night in California where he is on holiday so that went down well. Anyway the car is clean and shiny again after being caked in dust inside and out.
We look forward to getting some comments from our readers, we know plenty of people are following our blog from the stats (how clever is that?) but not much feedback...
Most of the photos you see here are taken by Peter with his fancy new camera and it's monstrous lens, this one with the hotel in the centre of the shot was taken from the road on the way in, good eh? Will try some more video footage soon, did you see the whale clip on day 4?

Day 6, Esquel to San Carlos de Bariloche

We survived our night in Esquel, not the finest place in Argentina, and the day got off to a brisk start with a visit to Esquel Circuit, a small local race track which has, I imagine, seen better days. There we had a "handling and manoeuvrability test on a variety of roads and surfaces" which was over in about 5 minutes and we roared off to another world in the shape of Alerces National Park, see attached photo, a stunningly beautiful and peaceful area, until we turned up anyway. It is famous for magnificent Patagonian Cypress trees, some of which are around 3000 years old.
The morning coffee break was in a lovely restaurant with a stunning view of the mountains, we could have been in the Swiss Alps, the lemon cheesecake was especially memorable and the local school children came out to cheer us on which was fun. Most of the roads today have been unmade and very dusty, two of the cars, a Mustang and a Rover, had a coming together as the visibility gets quite difficult at times, thankfully no one was hurt and both cars were able to continue.
This was the best day of the rally so far, great roads up and down mountain passes and alongside lakes, challenging driving in awesome surroundings. Things could be improved if they tarmaced the roads so we could see some of it though!
Tonight we stay at the famous Llao Llao Hotel, more of which tomorrow...

Day 5 Puerto Madryn to Esquel, Patagonia

Another long day today, around 700 kms but the roads were smooth and The Mighty One is flying at the moment. First stop was at the newly refurbished Autodromo de Valle y Mar where we did a lap consistency test which is anorak for driving round slowly. The circuit has recently been upgraded to FIA standards but as far as I could see it was just a scruffy version of Pembrey, that's Welsh as well.
After that we did a regularity section on dirt roads where they deliberately mixed up the GPS waypoints to try and catch us out but we are way too sharp for that. We did however miss the bloke by a tree who we were supposed to drive around the other side of (??) which was irritating beyond belief. The competitive element of this rally is more like a treasure hunt than a proper rally.
Moving on, we stopped at a Welsh tea house for one of our halts where we could have tea with a variety of cakes and scones. I mentioned the Welsh influence before and just to clarify, Patagonia was originally settled by around 4000 people of Welsh descent between 1886 and 1911, they were probably stitched up by the Argentines as the attractions were somewhat oversold. Along the coastal area it is very barren and flat and they only get about 150mm annual rainfall.
Moving inland, as we did today, the landscape improves immeasurably as we made a steady climb westwards into the foothills of the Andes under a cloudless sky. A series of gentle valleys gave way to some impressive cliffs and rock formations and then a mountain area which is stunningly beautiful, like a scene out of Cold Mountain, sadly without Nicole Kidman. The area was home to dinosaurs in prehistoric times, famously a titanosaur sauropod called Argentinosaurus which weighed 60-80 tons, more than all the cars on our rally! I imagine I am losing you now so I will sign off, but just a quick mention about the hotel we are staying in, it's terrible. The bath tub is 3 feet square and wouldn't look out of place in a farmyard and the toilet flushes all over the floor! Esquel is a one horse town with tumbleweed blowing down the street, for every 10 people who arrive only 9 leave the next morning...
PS Managed to get the photos working, thanks to Kate at Brompton Lakes!

Day 4 rest day, Puerto Madryn

We are staying in a big new hotel overlooking the Golfo Nuevo, a huge bay about 60 kms diameter which is a nature reserve and home to all sorts of wildlife including whales, dolphins, seals and penguins. Puerto Madryn itself was founded by Welsh settlers in the late 1800's, many of the street names and places around have welsh names which is bait weird.. It is now a beach resort and popular for watersports, especially diving.
This morning was a beautiful sunny spring morning with almost no wind and we went on a whale watching tour which was quite interesting. We went out in a large RIB and soon found ourselves alongside a Right Whale, about 16 metres long and weighing in at around 40 tons. That's about the size of a large bus, it's calf was alongside and was about the size of a long wheelbase Sprinter van. It isn't possible to imagine the scale of these mammals unless you get close up but these things, I promise you, are huge. Later, another whale which was white came over to check us out, almost close enough to touch.
We had also planned to see some penguins but the trip was too long, a shame as my daughter Charlotte fancied one as a pet for home.
This afternoon we serviced the car, nothing much to do thank goodness, all seems well in that department. Out to a fish restaurant tonight, penguin and chips maybe?

Day 3 Bahia Blanca to Puerto Madryn

When we checked the results last night we were disappointed to see we have dropped even further down the order, this is mainly because we made a bit of a monkeys breakfast of the navigation and have accumulated something like 22 minutes of penalties, despite my wise observations and sensible suggestions. The combination of maps, road-book and GPS is quite tricky and one really has to concentrate not to make make mistakes, perhaps there lies the problem. Hey ho, there's a long way to go yet and we are starting to get the hang of the technical stuff, however we have concluded that just going flat out is more fun.

Today has been a longish, fairly boring day, 747 kms, mainly on long flat straight tarmac roads across barren and bleak scrubland. The further south we go the less populated and more remote it gets. More and more frequently the road goes into dusty tracks which are quite wide and smooth. We are expecting the terrain to become more challenging soon as we start to head west towards Chile.  We are a long way south now, down on the Atlantic coast in Patagonia, tomorrow is a rest day with the possibility to go on a trip to see whales and penguins! Stay tuned.

Day 2 Balcarce to Bahia Blanca

Last night we were all invited for dinner at the Fangio Museum in Balcarce, an amazing evening in fantastic surroundings. The museum is a beautiful piece of modern architecture and home to a fantastic collection of cars, many connected to the great man himself but also including several Formula 1 cars from through the ages.
Today we have driven about 520 kms through some rather flat but wonderful countryside, very lush and well kept. The roads are generally very good, straight as an arrow mostly but all the verges are well maintained and no rubbish anywhere. We have been heading south since Buenos Aires and we can feel it getting colder, it is spring time and quite fresh.
Car going well and the crew in good spirits.
Apologies for not including photos on the posts at the moment, technical problems.

Day 1 Buenos Aires to Balcarce

We left Buenos Aires this morning to noisy send off, the locals seemed happy to see us leave. The traffic was predictably bad leaving the city but once we got going the roads were fine.
As we were leaving the city we got a phone call from the hotel to say we had left our passports and money in the room safe. Oops! Luckily one of the organizers was still there and he kindly brought them on for us. Best to get all the cock ups out of the way early on.
The landscape has been very flat today, miles and miles of fields as far as the eye can see, mostly with cattle grazing. Its easy to see why Argeninian beef is so prolific as they have so many cattle and so much space.
We had been worried about the navigation side of things as it is quite complicated for two St Peters thickies, however we seem to be getting the hang of things. We did our first regularity stage and finished within 5 seconds over 26 kms which was pure luck as we forgot to set the trip at the start. I famously once said you would have to shoot me before I did regularity but it turned out to be good fun.
We were lucky enough to do a few laps of the Fangio Circuit at Balcarce this afternoon which was good. From staying in probably the best hotel in Agentina for the last few days we are now in one of the worst, Peter is busy killing insects as I type away on my iPad.
Tonight we go for dinner at the Fangio Museum just over the road, should be interesting for a load of old car buffs.

Buenos Aires

We arrived in Buenos Aires on Monday and have enjoyed a couple of days acclimatising, looking around the city and getting into the swing of things in Argentina. The city is an amazingly colourful and vibrant place with some really slick neighbourhoods and some equally downtrodden areas. Our hotel is fantastic, designed by Philippe Starck, 5 star with all the bells and whistles. It's in the Porto Modero area which has been extensively redeveloped and looks very much like the smart end of Liverpool.
Things got off to a bit of an inauspicious start when we went to pick "The Mighty One" up from the docks, all the cars were lined up in a shed and ours was the only one which wouldn't start. We managed to blag a tow 10 miles back to the hotel from the organiser Bart Rietbergen, which didn't go down well, especially as our tow rope turned out to be about 4 feet long! Anyway, Marvo the mechanic, aka me, ably assisted by Pedro, no 2 mechanic, fixed it.
A great night out was had last night sampling the best of Argentinian beef steak which the waiter insisted on cutting with a spoon to show how tender it was. We finished off the evening with the compulsory Tango show in a lovely old French style society cafe.
Tonight we headed off to the Dutch Embassy for a rally briefing and then a cocktail party, where we spent most of the evening talking to some spooks from the American Embassy.
The rally starts early tomorrow morning from a park near the hotel where Juan Manuel Fangio's
statue is, just in case you don't know, he was a five time world champion racing driver and
an icon here in Argentina.

We're off!

We fly out to Buenos Aires on Sunday 17th October 2010 and with luck our motor car will be waiting for us there.  If not this is going to be a very short blog. The rally starts on Thursday 21st which gives us some time to acclimatise in BA before we set off.  Stay tuned for further adventures... 
Parp parp!
Roy and Peter