Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 8:56 PM
Subject: Inca update
| First thanks to those of you who have sent messages, they are helping to keep us going! We have now reached Sucre, the former capital of Bolivia. |
| The reception was fantastic! We did a fast regularity over gravel roads and then into the town with the police closing all the side streets so we just raced through the suburbs and arrived in the main square, every one in the town seemed to be there clapping and cheering us. |
| The Bolivian people are very warm and friendly, we got a similar reception when we arrived in Potosi, the world's highest town at 3000 metres. |
| The highlights have been crossing the border from Argentina into Bolivia, a 200 mile tough gravel road to get to Potosi. |
| Before that the run across Argentina was gruelling. |
| The temperatures up in the mid 30's the car runs OK as long as you don't stop. We have to stop for fuel obviously and the temp gauge immediately goes up into the red! Its been right off the scale a couple of times! |
| I keep topping it up with antifreeze so I think its almost a 100% mix now. |
| The car problems are less now. |
| The gearbox trouble was a blocked breather but I had it into two garages before this was realised, at one time it was pushing out a litre of oil every 200 miles! |
| Judy here, |
| The dirt road route through Bolivia was the last trail of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and their unmarked graves lie in one of the villages . If anything, I should think the road is in worse condition now than it was then and there were a lot of cars that found it hard going and 4 that found the going was the back of a breakdown truck. |
| Ted knows how Colin Macrae must feel now with all the crowds clapping and cheering and crowding round as we came in to Sucre at full pelt the wrong way down a one way street. My claim to fame is being interviewed by Bolivian radio - in English fortunately! Whereas I can now expertly order the right type of mineral water - explaining problems with oil leaking from a gearbox is quite beyond me. The garage proprietor sent for his daughter who could speak English and who then kindly drove us to our hotel ( in Corrientes, Argentina). |
| After day one, we decided not to compete in the medal sections . We find out today that we are in the majority now because the off road sections are too tough for most of the classics. Our main goal is to get round! |
Ted & Judy
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