Finish, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

After 32 days on the road, 5 countries and 14,500 kilometres we are very pleased to be in Rio de Janeiro! This has been a fantastic rally, we have been to some incredible places and seen some marvellous things, a chance of a lifetime and a privelidge to be a part of. Many thanks should go to Bart Rietbergen and his team for putting together such a well organized event. The days have gone really quickly and there has not been much time to think about anything outside the rally. Some crews were not so lucky, there were quite a few hire cars tagging along by the end, only 25 cars out of the 30 which set off from Buenos Aires a month ago made it to Rio.
We had very few problems in the scheme of things, although The Mighty One was sounding pretty rattly by the end. Most of our ailments centred around worn suspension bushes and shock absorbers, a result of the terrible road conditions, but pretty easy to sort out when the car gets home. Special thanks should go to Brian Morris who prepared the car, that's 13 rallies without a DNF!
We took the car over to the port this morning, it went straight into a container and should be back in Amsterdam by Xmas. After lunch we went to see Jesus, aka Christ The Redeemer, the giant statue which overlooks Rio from the top of Corcovado Mountain, another one of the seven wonders of the world, and an incredible spectacle.
Our hotel on Copacabana beach is hosting a football world convention this week and there are lots of important football types here from all over the world, we have seen numerous famous faces around the place, they are preparing for the 2014 World Cup which is being held here. None of them seem to recognize us though.
The prizegiving last night was a great night out, it was on Sugarloaf Mountain, we went in a cable car to get there. Our final result was 7th overall and third in class, the Brits did pretty well, Sean Arnold won, with Jon and Chris second, Richard and Nicola won the 4x4 class (having set off in a Mk 2 Jaguar) much to the chagrin of the Dutch, but there you go.
Thanks for reading, that's all for now...

Day 32, Pouso Alto to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

After a bit of a wild night last night in the hotel, numerous caipirinhas were put away, much fun and laughter had by all. Feeling slightly jaded we had a fast and furious sprint around the hotel grounds which was pretty hot but two of the cars hit a wall with some front end damage, anyway we were second fastest to Jon and Chris. The Brits are starting to come good! Then it was a pleasant run through the mountains down to Rio, we arrived mid afternoon to a noisy reception and lots of champagne spraying. Will keep this short and report back properly tomorrow, going for a swim in the sea and then a vintage champagne party compliments of our Finish friends Martii and Pirkko, then gala dinner tonight...
Great to be here!

Days 30 and 31, Londrina-Campinas- Pouso Alto, Brazil

We left Londrina heading east, feeling a bit jaded due to food related technical issues and a general lack of sleep, but rally drivers are a tough breed so we soldiered on...
Brazil has turned out to be a lot more civilised than we expected, more organised and neat and tidy, in fact very European in it's appearance.  If it wasn't for the palm trees and the glorious wall to wall sunshine every day, you could imagine you are in England. There is no sign of a recession here, most of the people look well to do and business like.  It is getting hotter the further east we go, well over 30 degrees in the afternoon now, some like it hot.
Our afternoon time control yesterday was in a big garage forecourt and half the town came out to greet us, the local classic car club was there in force with a wide variety of unusual cars.  There was a TV crew doing a piece for the evening news slot, I was interviewed by a rather fetching young lady who was interested in our car, one of the most famous rally cars in the world, so I told her.  Must have been a slow news day and she looked a bit tired by it all. She did about four takes as a fly kept landing on her nose.
Our hotel tonight is a small but friendly spot own by a bloke called Carlos, they all seem to be called Carlos, he has a small collection of cars on display around the place with pride of place going to a Brazilian built Bardahl in the reception area which seems to be made of Corian worktop material.
I can hear roars of laughter coming from the bar, where they apparently serve wonderful Caparinho's. Must go.
Tomorrow Rio de Janeiro!  

Day 29, Foz do Icuacu to Londrina, Brazil

A short distance from Iguacu we visited a circuit which looked really good on paper but turned out to be a kart track when we got there, anyway we blasted round with Tyres squealing, looking quite spectacular in a Mr Bean sort of way and did quite well we thought, until it came to stopping astride of two cones at the end, our enthusiasm got the better of us, stopping with three brake isn't as easy as we imagined.
Moving on, we headed east on the main road and were quite surprised how neat and tidy everything is, quite a step up in terms of sophistication from Argentina, and two centuries ahead of Bolivia. It all looks very european, emerald green field and bright rust coloured soil. There were huge fields of soya growing, as far as the eye can see and for hundreds of miles. It is getting hotter by the day, getting on for 30 degrees and very sunny.
The highlight of the day was a visit to the Autodromo Ayrton Senna, the smartest circuit we have been to yet, but still a bit hick. We thought we performed brilliantly, the idea being to do four laps at exactly the same times, using a trip meter and a couple of stop watches. No doubt we will have cocked it up somehow but until we get the results we are revelling in the glory of getting it right. Short blog today as we are both completely goosed!

Day 28, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil

Today is our last rest day before the finish in Rio and we find ourselves staying in a spectacular hotel, right next to the Iguacu Falls which just have to be seen to be believed. 550,000 cubic feet of water per second cascading over a complex of 275 waterfalls, it really is a marvel of the world and a huge contrast to the arid conditions we have experienced recently. It is in a sort of horseshoe shape, four times wider and higher than Niagara Falls, in the middle of a jungle eco system with Argentina on one side and Brazil on the other. High Force looks like an ornamental garden water feature by comparison.
This morning we mucked in with the marsalls and organisers and hired a big RIB which took us at great speed up the river to get closer to the action. We didn't realise quite how close we would get, the skipper took us under one of the waterfalls, of course we were soaked to the skin, but it was great fun.
Then we had a few hours checking the car over, we had been given special dispensation to bring our cars into the National Park, normally you have to leave your car outside and get a bus in. Our car park was right next to the swimming pool and a bit of a zoo. There was a Toucan making occasional flying visits, some lizards wandering around and a right nasty looking thing a bit like a small alligator, quite harmless we were told, could have been an iguana?
After a walk along the side of the river to see the rest of the falls close up and a swim in the pool it was time once again for a get together on the terrace for a couple of sundowners and then a nice meal the hotel restaurant by the pool with various members of our gang, Jon and Chris, Sean and Benny.
The rest day, as usual, worked out more tiring than a rally day, trying to squeeze everything in but very memorable and a wonderful place to be in November. How is the weather back home by the way? Hah!

Day 27, Resistencia to Foz do Iguacu, Brazil

It was a bit of a mad scramble to get out of Resistencia, but we made it over the Parana River and onto the arrow straight RN 12. This area, close to the Paraguayan border, is quite upmarket, there were many rather swish looking private estates and ranches with big fancy gates, Texas style. The roads are well kept with very wide verges, as is the norm in Argentina, neatly mown grass down both sides. It is fairly easy to cover big distances when the roads are so good. After the lunch stop we had a regularity section on fairly rough tracks, then it was off towards the Brazilian border. It has been getting warmer over the past couple of days, and today was quite humid. We have now entered a forested area, most of the business around here seems to centre around logging, there are many timber yards and lorries loaded with timber. We made it to the border and got through without any problems, our hotel is in the National Park, next to the Falls, and it's a "proper hotel" according to Peter, a colonial style establishment and we are off to the bar now for a couple of gin and tonics, we feel we deserve it. Hah!

Day 26, Jujuy to Resistencia, Argentina

Today is the longest day in terms of distance, 871 kilometres.  Despite having a pretty crap day yesterday spirits were high this morning, good to be back in civilisation and good to be back at a sensible altitude, we hadn't been below 3500 metres in the last week.  We didn't suffer much from altitude sickness, but it is a bit debilitating at times and definitely more difficult to sleep.
The car, once we adjusted the carbs, is going like the wind, well, by Morris 1800 standards anyway.  We have had very little in the way of problems so far, we had to replace two shock absorbers, a wheel bearing and a track rod end, all the other issues have been minor mechanical repairs and maintenance. At lunch time today we were still missing three Mustangs, two Jags and a couple of Volvo's from yesterday.  The Mighty One continues to surprise and is going well, touch wood.
After an early regularity section the rest of the day is a fast blast across flat farmland, we even went on a dual carriageway this morning! Bliss.  As I type this we are travelling along the RN16, it's a glorious sunny day and everything has gone green again, this is rich farmland with numerous huge ranches and huge wide open spaces.  We passed a cattle ranch with several thousand cattle penned into one area, you could smell it several miles away.  Coming to a table near you soon I guess.  We have mobile phone signal again and decent fuel, Fangio XXI, powerful 95 octane stuff.The highlight of the morning was the girl making the coffee at the cafe stop, it was delicious and a welcome change from some of the more basic places in Bolivia.  
We have become institutionalised by rally life, the routines, the disciplines and the lack of time to think about anything else are all consuming.  It's difficult to imagine life without a time card, road book and a GPS.  There are so many highs and lows, sometimes you feel beaten by it all, then there are euphoric moments when things go really well.  The pace is difficult to get your head around, we have been to so many places, seen so many wonderful sights, stayed in more hotels than we can remember, made lots of new friends and had a lot of laughs.
Only five more rally days and 2700 kilometres to go...stay tuned for the further adventures of Wallace and Grommitt!.      

Day 25, Uyuni to Jujuy, Argentina

We awoke to the sound of a duck quacking, our 5am alarm call. We had some work to do on the car, battle scars from yesterday.  It was so cold we struggled to get the car doors open but sunrise over the salt flats is a beauty to behold.  After a spanner check, service and another replacement shock absorber we were ready for a hearty breakfast, but it was not to be, stale bread and jam with weak coffee and optional sticky buns.
We made it to the time control with minutes to spare and then headed off to the fuel station for some Super Plus (85 octane) but on the way there another ominous clunking noise reared it's head.  Having refuelled and fixed the clunk we set off half an hour late.  The "road" was even worse than yesterday and we picked our way through with great care and skill. We tried wherever possible to use alternative tracks through the sand as maximum speed on the road was 25  kph and we had 611 kms to do, work that one out. The going just got worse as the sandy bits ran out, this was painful stuff but we only got stuck in the sand once.  The only highlight was a random ostrich which ran in front of us, the only one we have seen.  
We missed the first time control but soldiered on to the top of the mountain pass, 4200 metres high, where the views were quite stunning.  We had passed several broken down cars, offering help and assistance of course, things were proving tough for the classics, this was 4x4 country and we started to share the Dutch contingents view that this stuff was just destroying the cars.  At the bottom of the mountain we passed a dead cow strung up from a tree with all it's insides missing, we just kept going.
Then it was a matter of following the river along the valley, but the washboard got worse, this phenomenon is the worst of all conditions, just small ridges about an inch high and 8 inches apart, they just shake the car until you think it can't possibly take anymore and blur the vision. The rock formations were incredible, like something out of Lord of the Rings, weird lifelike shapes and mythological forms, a sort of fantasy vista.  
Needless to say we missed lunch and survived on water and a packet of Polos and some Halls cough sweets donated by a generous
benefactor.
We eventually got to the first stretch of tarmac after 232 kms, it had taken us 9 hours so far, non stop apart from numerous pee breaks.  The silky smooth blacktop lasted 2 kms and then broke off for roadworks, this was the story all the way to the Argentinian border.  The crossing was quite straight forward, around 45 mins, there was one amusing moment when one of the contestants, a big fat red-faced Dutchman, threw a wobbly, he went berserk with the customs officials, I think it was because he had been much delayed on the way into Bolivia, anyhow his wife took control and sent him off to sit in the car on his own.  Needless to say it took much longer for them than anyone else.
It was a massive relief to be back in Argentina, our favourite country so far "the truth is we've always loved you" we sang as we set off for the long downhill stretch to Jujuy.
One of the Dutch crews, a husband and wife in a Mercedes 280 SEL hit a 14 year old girl on the way, she had crossed the road in the dark, whilst using her mobile phone.  They had been doing about 75 kph before they swerved and braked but unfortunately hit her, damaging the front wing and breaking a hole in the windscreen. The girl had a badly bruised arm and a broken leg, it was a miracle she wasn't killed. Very lucky/unlucky, depending on how you look at these things.
We got to the hotel at 10.30 pm, 11.30 Argentinian time, completely knackered, caked in muck and dust and starving hungry.  Peter and I
love rallying.    


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Day 24, La Paz to Colchani, Bolivia

I may have been a bit over enthusiastic about how wonderful Bolivia is in my last post, today we saw the real Bolivia.  We were up very early in order to leave La Paz before the traffic started, and because we had a lot of ground to cover.  At 5.30 am we heard a big commotion outside and opened the window to see about 200 Bolivian Army soldiers quick marching past the hotel, in bright red uniforms, singing at the top of their voices.
Unfortunately La Paz was in thick cloud when we left, so we never got to see it properly, apparently it is a wonderful place.  Once we cleared the city the sun came out and it was a fast 350km slog on good roads across a wide plain with mountains to each side.  
After we stopped for lunch everything went pear shaped, firstly we wanted to top up with fuel as we knew it would be at least 300kms before the next fuel station, however there was a queue of about 200 local people all with plastic containers wanting them filled. We would have been there till tea time.  Then the tarmac ran out a short while later and we were onto gravel roads of very questionable quality.  When I say questionable what I really mean is atrocious, no, worse than that.  We slogged on for 200 kms or so and it just got worse and worse. Ironically we had to keep leaving the road to get onto sandy tracks which sometimes run alongside and are marginally smoother.  And then there is the dust, everything just gets caked in it, inside and out.  
The driver, who shall remain nameless (me) made a minor error on one of these excursions and mistook a river bed for one of the sandy tracks, ending up stuck.  Bear in mind that we are miles from anywhere, off the main road and up to our axles.  As luck would have it we managed to flag down an elderly Belgian couple, both well into their seventies, in a Toyota 4x4 and they towed us out.  Never again will I say a bad word about the Belgians.  Or old people.
The roads didn't get any better and the "washboard" was becoming really wearing, the car was developing new rattles which were drowning out the sound of the rattles we had before.  
We eventually made it to the Salar de Uyuini, better known as the salt flats.  This is  a quite unbelievable place and yet another "In The World". These are the biggest and the highest salt flats I.T.W. and measure about 10,582 sq kms, aproximately.
We drove out about 10 kilometres and all we could see around us was salt, apparently 10 billion tons of it, and it was totally silent.  It is weird to see such a wide expanse of featureless flatness. We didn't stay to long as salt and Morris 1800's don't go well together.
Our hotel was up a long track, even more bumpy than before if that's possible and we arrived just after sunset. Guess what the hotel was made of...salt!  The whole place is made of salt, the reception desk, the floors, walls, furniture, the lot. How salty is that?
To add a bit of seasoning (geddit?) to the situation, some of the Dutch crews are bitching heavily to the organizers about the terrible roads this afternoon because their cars got wrecked and are demanding a solution. Pussies.  


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Day 23, Puno to La Paz, Bolivia

What a difference a day makes! We woke early to a glorious sunrise over Lake Titicata, with snow on the distant mountains. The first challenge of the day was getting out of Puna which is an ugly, chaotic place, or at least we thought the traffic was bad but nothing compared to La Paz, more of which later. Then we had a 120k blast to the first time section, 20 kms of gravel road up and down a mountain , with a bonus wonderful view of the lake from the top.
Then it was off to the border crossing into Bolivia which we were dreading, based on our 8 hour experience getting into Peru. Peter had met a reporter from The Daily Telegraph in the bar at our hotel last night, he had joined the rally for the last leg and he wanted to interview us and look at the car, we thought the border post would be a good time to do it. Fame at last, as we imagined a full colour article in the Saturday Motoring section! It turned out it was the Dutch Telegraph, ugh!
However the rally organizers had done a great job with the paperwork the night before and we sailed through the border in about 15 minutes and it was off to the beach at Copacabana (no relation) a holiday resort on the side of the lake. It was a fabulous domestic tourist resort, very pretty, perhaps a bit like Mallorca 75 years ago, not a Sunseeker in sight!
Then it was off to the Pucanari race circuit fo a handling and manoeuvrability test, up a spectacular mountain road with views down to Titicata on both sides, absolutely stunning. The only problem was that we had to cross the straights of Tiquina, about 800m across, to get there. Our transport was a fleet of ramshackle old wooden rafts which could take 2 cars at a time. We drove on using some wooden planks and the driver pushed us off before starting the motor. Then there ensued an edgy 10 minutes while he tried to start the outboard motor as we drifted gently off down wind. Anyhow he got it going and we chugged across to the other side. Another great experience.
On a less enjoyable note we then had to pick our way through the traffic into La Paz. As everybody knows La Paz is the worlds highest capital city, but at 3660m it was the lowest we had been for a couple of days. There are 2.3 million inhabitants and, I promise you, they were all out on the streets this evening. The place is mad, there are no discernible traffic rules, it's every man for himself. Nobody takes any notice of the traffic lights, taxis stop anywhere they please, pedestrians just walk across the road without a care. Never seen anything like it.
Ou hotel, predicably, is in a quieter and lower part of the city, a brand new round glass and stainless job, very comfortable indeed. The Stephenson / Robinson suite has two huge beds, an office, and a relaxation area. it is of course round. As I type away Peter is feeding the waypoints into the GPS with his feet up drinking an ice cold Huari beer and eating a packet of Pringles. Not so bad in Bolivia then.

PS Rather than bore you with all the terrible parts of this torturous journey, how we suffer for our readers, the six o'clock starts, the
hours spent fixing the car, the incredible mileages, the blood sweat and tears, the fights to use the loo first thing in the morning etc etc, we just save you the good bits...

Day 22, Cusco to Puno, Peru

Today was a bit uninteresting, we retraced our steps back from a few days ago, the weather was a bit dull and there were too many dead dogs on the road for our liking. There were two regularity sections today both of which went normally (badly) and another one was cancelled because they were blasting some rock to widen the road. The highlight of the day was probably the rice pudding at lunch, which was excellent.
Tonight we stay on the shores of Lake Titicaca, thankfully some way out of Puna which is a complete shambles. They have a really dumb law in Peru whereby you don't have to pay any property tax until the building is finished, so all the buildings are half finished which looks dreadful.
Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world, at 3811m (12,500 feet) above sea level, although it is receding due to lack of rainfall and smaller glaciers, it apparently dropped 81cm in 2009 alone.
Hopefully things will be more lively tomorrow as we enter Bolivia...

Day 21, Machu Picchu, Peru

Well, what a day!  We had another rest day today and the opportunity to visit Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas and one of the seven wonders of the world.  We were up at 5am for the 5 hour journey, first we had a bus ride, then we took a train, and that was just to get to the bottom of the mountain!   The final sector was a half hour bus ride up a dusty track, anyway, much quicker than walking the Inca Trail like some people I know!
We had an idea that that it was going to be pretty good but nothing prepared us for what came next.  Machu Picchu is an anchient city built on the saddle of a mountain flanked by sheer drops to the valley below. It wasn't sacked by the Spanish like most places in the area as they couldn't find it, it was simply abandoned by the people who lived there, for reasons which are still unclear, and left for nature to reclaim.  Whilst the local Peruvians knew about it, it was secret to the outside world until 1911 when an American archeologist called Hiram Bingham discovered it.
It is a simply staggering place to visit, not just because of it's remote location or the quality of the architecture, it is magical and beyond belief, absolutely awesome.
We explored a mountain path cut into the rock which used to be the main access route, jaw dropping and not for the faint hearted.  There were almost vertical drops to the valley and it finished, thankfully, at a wooden planked bridge which they used to use like a draw bridge to keep out unwanted visitors.
Go there!



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Day 19, Chivay to Cusco, Peru

Today was always going to be a long day but at the last minute they changed the route due to some problems with protests about something or other, anyway our intended route was blocked and we were obliged to take a longer but considerably smoother road which suited us fine as we are still nursing problems with the car.
We cracked off at 7.30 with a regularity up a steep and windy mountain road for 25 kms which went fairly smoothly, then set off on the long drive towards Cusco. We covered the equivalent of the length of England today, this might sound boring but it was anything but. The landscape was just astonishing, we have been up and down mountain passes, driven past a lake with flamingos feeding (at 4500 metres!), across wide plains, through lush green valleys, and through towns that reminded us of India. It is difficult to explain the scale of things here, everything seems to be the worlds highest, deepest longest or most beautiful.
Things are very Peruvian, that may sound silly as of course we are in Peru but to give you a flavour, the locals in the country areas are all in traditional dress, the women wear woolly stockings, skirts several layers thick and several cardigans, topped off with a pointy wide brimmed hat, despite it being a lovely warm sunny day. One hopes this look will not catch on in the UK! The women seem to do all the work especially shepherding duties, although the children take over when school finishes. We saw children walking home from school on their own, playing by the side of the road, one little girl who can't have been much more than seven or eight was herding half a dozen cattle up the road on her own, she had a stick with a bit of string on the end to shoo them along.
So our impression of South America is that it's a phenomenal place, we have driven 8000 kms and been to three countries so far, and seen a tiny fraction of the continent. If you want to go somewhere where you can find great food, culture, generally good roads, friendly people, lots of sunshine, free wi- fi and great mobile phone reception get yourself over here!
We have a couple of days off now, fixing the car and having a look around Cusco tomorrow, then off to Machu Pichu on Wednesday.

Day 18, Arequipa to Chivay, Coca Canyon, Peru

Arequipa turned out to be a lovely town, 2380 metres above sea level but it was very warm and sunny when we left. The clocks went back another 2 hours when we crossed the border into Peru and we are now 5 hours behind UK time. After breakfast we replaced a dodgy ball joint (on the car) and gave The Mighty One a good service. Later we wondered into town which was a pleasant experience, many of the buildings are colonial era Spanish style and the focal point is a big square which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001, it's where everyone seems to meet up on Sundays afternoon.
After a quick lunch - alpaca and chips (this should be on the Brompton Lakes Christmas dinner menu?) we set off for Chivay, a relatively short drive of 160 kms with no controls or timing as it's a transit day today. We reached the highest point of the rally, 4886 metres above sea level, predictably the views were stunning, and it was easier going down the other side than going up. Our bodies are better acclimatised to the altitude now and we didn't suffer any real side effects, just a bit tingly and a slight headache. The trick seems to be drink masses of water, the downside of this is we had to stop 3 times on the way up!
Chivay is an amazing place, no more than a large village really, and very rustic. It's at 3700 metres, so it's easy to get out of breath. It is in the Colca Canyon, twice as deep as the Grand Canyon at 4100m deep but the walls are not as vertical and it's wider so perhaps not quite as dramatic. The local people are very Inca and maintain their ancestral traditions and there are lots of stepped terraces which they cultivate. This place is VERY rustic! Colca is the official source of the Amazon, there is a small spring about 40 kms north of here but it would take 3 days to walk there and back, so maybe next time.
Apparently there are huge and magnificent Condors which can be seen at close range two villages down from here but it meant leaving at 5 am this morning, maybe tomorrow.

Day 17, Arica to Arequipa, Peru

Well, what an exciting day we had today. First job was to clear customs out of Chile, which we managed without problems.  Next we had to get into Peru, not so easy. We visited various desks getting important documents stamped several times which was OK but then we had to get our Carnets stamped.  This took 15 minutes...per car! Unluckily we were number 29 in the starting order so altogether we were there for 7 hours! They had 2 people on the case but one of the computers didn't work, a complete nightmare and very tiresome.
The 3 tests planned were cancelled and it was simply a matter of getting back onto the Panamerican Highway and slogging away for 545 kms.


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Day 16 San Pedro de Atacama to Arica, Chile

Day 16 San Pedro de Atacama to Arica, Chile

As yesterday was a rest day we had chance to catch up on many jobs which needed doing.  San Pedro was a peculiar little town, step back 200 years, tiny little windy streets and not a square metre of tarmac anywhere. The filling station was an experience in itself, almost impossible to find hidden away down a back lane.
 We went out for pizza in the evening with Jon and Chris, Richard and Nicola.  Back at the hotel our laundry hadn't turned up by 10pm so we liberated it, unclean.  This is starting to cause problems but Peter is pretty deft at washing his boxer shorts, I just have to find a way of persuading him to do mine too!
There were very few highlights crossing the Atacama Desert, first the biggest opencast copper mine in the world called "Chuqui" with vast spoil heaps the size of mountains (production 29 million tons p.a.)and then we visited a meteorite crater at Quillagua about 250m across.  This is officially the driest place on earth and looks the part.
We did a couple of regularity tests, one of which was a bit silly, very complicated and over terribly rough gravel surfaces, our front suspension bushes are on the way out and making horrible noises, we are unlikely to get to Rio without replacements.  However we have a cunning plan involving some nylon mudguards and a garden hose.  Watch this space.
Chile is turning out to be mildly disappointing, I assume there are better bits than we have been through today.  There is an oppressive police presence, they are everywhere, trying to catch us speeding and offering "help" by insisting on escorting us through the towns.  This is in sharp contrast to Argentina where the police were almost non existent.  We will be going back into Argentina later in the trip which is just fine because it's a wonderful country.
Tonight we are staying at the Hotel Panamerica which is on the beach, next to the Pacific Ocean and it's a fantastic sunny evening.  Guy Fawkes night, which Peter and I of course don't celebrate as we went to the same school as him, will be a bit different this year, and the cocktail party starts at 7.30pm. Tomorrow Peru.

Day 14, Salta to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

We set off from Salta early in the morning as we had 563 kms to cover, mostly on unmade roads. As one Mustang made it back into the rally another one had trouble this morning. The driver, an ageing playboy type from Lichtenstein and a complete knob, was revving his car up outside the hotel foyer as is his normal routine when he decided to show off to the small crowd of onlookers, dropped the clutch, smoked the tyres and went straight into a wall! What a plonker!
The first few hours were spent following the Tren de las Nubes, not as interesting as it sounds, it means Train of the Clouds, basically a railway connecting Salta with the Chilean border. 29 bridges, 21 tunnels, 13 viaducts etc etc, the third highest railway in the world. The road was diabolical, no more than a track, more suitable for donkeys or maybe a trials bike.
Our first test this morning was a regularity up a windy mountain road, starting at 4200 metres, we did quite well but along with all the other smaller engined cars we struggled for speed, and missed the time by a few seconds. At this altitude nothing seems to perform as well as it should.
The wildlife was pretty spectacular as we went through some extremely remote areas, we passed flamingo inhabited salt lakes, lots of alpacas and llamas (or were they vicuñas, difficult to tell apart) and have seen desert foxes roaming around. Some of the villages we passed through were about as remote as you can imagine, we thought at one point we had discovered the lost tribe of the where the **** are we Incas. In some of the hilly regions which seem to go on for ever, if you walked up one of the hills you could be pretty sure you would be the first person ever to go up there.
We reached an altitude of 4850 metres (higher than the summit of Mont Blanc) a couple of times and spent most of the day over 4000 m. It doesn't feel that high as the high plains are relatively flat, and we have so far not suffered any altitude sickness. Late in the afternoon we went through the border control to get into Chile, predictably a long paper chase getting our passports and carnets stamped, but it only took an hour which apparently was quite good. that was the Argentinian end, we then had to drive 140 kms to the Chilean border control to do the whole thing all over again. Whilst in no mans land we went down the longest hill you can imagine, losing over two kilometres in height with surreal views over the Atacama Desert in the evening sunshine. Halfway down we were stopped by the police on motorbikes, oh dear here comes our first speeding ticket we thought, but they just said "Buenos Tardes, are you Roy and Peter? Si, señor we replied, and then he welcomed us to Chile hoping we would enjoy our stay...
Tomorrow we have a day off, chance recharge all our batteries, do some personal grooming and service the car, get it cleaned up a bit and relax. I won't bore you with our hotel, but it is very acceptable, miles from anywhere in the middle of the Atacama Desert.
No blog tomorrow.

Day 13, Cafayate to Salta, Argentina

After all the amazing days we have experienced it seemed unlikely that today was going to be the best so far, as on paper it looked pretty standard, short but a lot packed in to it, not unlike me really. We set off from The Patios de Cafayate Hotel, the best so far, and the roads were great for about 5 kms then everything turned to dust again. We did a Fangio section pretty early on then carried on through the Valles Calchaquies, a group of valleys known for their incredible geological features, contrasting features that range from mountain desert to subtropical forests. After a coffee halt and a regularity section that caught a few people out, not us of course.
After lunch there was a long climb through an open area covered in cactii up to an altitude of 3368 metres, the highest we have been so far. The temperature dropped about 15 degrees and The Mighty One was wheezing a bit. The view from the top was astonishing, see the photo attached but you may have to open it up to see how far the road stretches down the other side, there must have been a hundred hairpin bends to the bottom, most of them fairly hairy.
The final fling of the day was at Salta Autodromo and then on to the hotel to do 2 1/2 hours of work on the car trying to identify some new rattles and squeaks, and giving her a good old spanner check for good luck. 7 o'clock start tomorrow, ugh!

Day 12, Villa Union to Cafayate, Argentina

We have been on the road for 12 days now, however it seems longer, the rally is turning into a blur of hotels and lunch halts, things are flying by so quickly it's difficult to take it all in. It also appears we are on a gastro tour, the food has been so good and plentiful. Usually on a rally like this when things are non stop action all day long you tend to lose weight but not this time, we are eating for England!
The local people have been very friendly towards us, every town and village we go through people are waving and cheering, the cars respond with a wide variety of air horns and klaxon noises.
This morning we had a mountain pass to tackle which was quite challenging, a very steep climb up a narrow and dusty red track and then down the other side, with very steep drops down to a river 200 metres below, often with no barriers or walls. Then we had a couple of test stages, one of the Mustangs fell off the road on the Fangio section and rolled down a bank landing on it's roof, thankfully the crew were both OK with minor cuts and bruises, amazingly the driver didn't have his seat belts on, not recommended on a competitive stage. The car, we are told, should be able to carry on although I expect it will look a bit battle weary.
The lunch halt was quite good fun, the usual slap up meal, today with spare ribs the size of T bone steaks. The restaurant, and just about every other business in town from what we could gather, was owned by Paco-no surname, just Paco. He kindly organized a troop of Gauchos on horseback to ride around and entertain us.
The notable change in scenery today was the abundance of cactii which have suddenly appeared, just a terrain change I guess, we keep expecting to bump into John Wayne round every corner. We have been on and off route 40 again most of the day, we have followed it for nearly 2500 kms now, but keep diverting off to see various attractions or to go up some dusty track to do silly things. We also saw a cloud this afternoon!
Once again we have landed sunny side up in the hotel stakes, we are staying at the Patios de Cafayate Hotel and Spa, a wonderful Parador style place set in a winery, as I write this Peter and I are in the room, which is the size of a squash court, there are two king size beds, chairs tables and a huge flat screen TV. Tough being a rally driver...

Day 11, Mendoza to Villa Union, Argentina

Mendoza turned out to be a really lively and affluent city, we went out in the evening and the whole place was lifting, bars and shops full of people at 10 o'clock so no sign of cutbacks here and everybody having fun.  Today started off with a long flat drive across a scrubland desert, very dry and dusty and quite hot, summer seems to be coming early this year.  We called in at the Autodromo Eduardo Copello, named after the "Turismo Carretera" champion driver who is very famous in Argentina but probably unknown everywhere else.  The circuit was in a narrow valley with very dramatic rocky hills rising steeply away on all sides, all very impressive.  Needless to say we made a bit of a hash of things as usual but lucked in with a reasonable result.  From there we took a bit of the Dakar Rally route before getting back onto the ubiquitous Route 40.  We wheezed up a long uphill stretch for about 75 kms rising from 1000 up to 2600 metres, the highest we have been so far, the views from the top were amazing, so many different colours of rock in huge geological swirls.  
After a much needed lunch stop we passed by a bright turquoise lake and then through the beautiful gorges of Cuesta del Viento and on to a regularity section, on tarmac for the first time.  The final blast to tonights halt was across a really strange area where the road was a roller coaster ride of short hills for about 60 kms, a bit of a lurching ride not for the faint hearted.
The rally is organized by a Dutchman called Bart Rietbergen and a fair proportion of the competitors are Dutch too, with a smattering of Belgians,  Germans, Brits and Irish.  After nearly two weeks we are getting to know everybody and the atmosphere is getting better and better.  Most of the meals are communal so it's easy to socialise and have a good time.  Thinking of you all back in Blighty, pip, pip!     
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