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!.
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