The Carrera recce team reports
We have just jumped into a cab to bring us to our South American travel partners Global Encounters and start the usual conversation with the driver. The drivers says in broken English, you are Dutch right? Yes we are. Can we speak German than? Of course, why? My grand father was German and I still manage the languish. Welcome in BA.
At the meeting with the Automobile club of Argentina and its president mr Carlos Garcia Remohi, we explained the importance of the event. That is good news the president said and than he told that the authorisation charge for Le Dakar was only 20.000 dollar. But we are in a different league sir, with only a tenth of the number of cars. Ok mr Rietbergen we will issue the authorisation now and let you know the charge later. Time will tell whether this was good or bad news. In restaurant La Cabrera Norte we had Jan Peters first real Argentinian dinner. The meat portions can only be described as, as big as the authorisation fee, a lot juicier though. Even if you share.
Seventeen firma’s, signatures, and the Toyota is mine now. Because of the huge rental prices and the problems rental companies try to sell you, like it cannot be insured in Peru, or you may not cross borders and the fact that we are coming back in spring for the last recce buying a car looks to be the best option. But having it registered in your name and to mae sure that all three of us can drive the cqar is another interesting experience. First we see a lawyer, than a notary, who has to be convinced that I perfectly understand what I am signing and than we go to the Argentinean bureaucracy head quarters. That is what it look to me. Line up for booth number one show papers, sign, get carbon paper, fill in forms, go to booth 2, sign more carbon papers, make copies, fingerprint, back to booth one, copies papers, wait…….and we have paid, so we expect the papers of the car. Well now India an its ununderstandable rules spring to mind. Come and see us in two days sir, than everything will be ready.
The customs.
Through the Automobile club we are advised to work with Waiver, as our shipping partner. They happen to be the same company advised through our Global Pieter Smit people and we had already lined up a meeting. It appears to be the same company that handles the Dakar rally, which arrives here in December. Once thing is for sure, without a Carnet de Passage we are in for lots of trouble, possible delays and bribery. We are convinced to have found the best people for the job. The save ware house facilities are only a few kilometres away from the hotel. So now we have spare day in Buenos Aires and we decide to make he best out of it. In our partner program we have included a day on an estancia.
Eva Boeckl turns out to be the owner of the El Humbo ranch 100 kilometre out of the centre of BA. Here the partners will have a real gaucho experience. Horse riding, dinner under the 100 year old oak trees and a gaucho show to finish this day which brings you back in the golden colonial days. We close the day with another look a the Tango show that is planned for both the rallyist and the partner program.
Mark arrives in BA as well and now we can set of for the final recce of part two of the route. Mendoza here we come. On paper the route between Mendoza and Villa Union looks long 600 kilometres. But in reality there are long stretches of very good tarmac roads were even the slowest cat can cruise for hours at top speed. The views and the scenery are immensely breathtaking. Last night we slept in the luxury of the Hyatt Hotel in Mendoza. Now we are somewhere out in the boonys . But that is part of the job. We ask for he best restaurant in town, well the choice is limited. We try the stakes, after we had some cheese and meat as starters, between the four of us we have two bottles of the best wine and the grand total comes to 165 pesos. At today’s rate that is € 24,-- . Finally we found something below budget.
The route between Villa Union and Calafayte is mind boggling. The red rocks, the cactuses give us the feeling that we are in the real gaucho country. The lunch today will be the proof of the pudding, because Paco is in charge………………..and Paco has something in store for us. Argentina is political unstable. There are demonstrations of all kinds against the government and we do happen to find one. The road is blocked by trees and rocks for an unknown time. Jack Coleman, our translator, starts a discussion about the fact that we are organising an event for more understanding between the people of the world. So we take a foto with the protestors for the European media and than they are happy, offer us some food as compensation for the discomfort and open the blockade for us to continue.
On the side of the road are the kilometre poles. We are following route 40. This is the Panamericana highway coming from the most southern part of Argentina, going to Alaska. The poles read 4400 kilometre now and we are not even in Salta, the place from where we will start to climb and cross the Andes. We marked these distances for our film crews.
A fairytale hotel in Cafayate between the vineyards is the cherry on the pudding for to days route. One cannot explain the wonders of nature, they need to be seen The same goes for the route between Cafayate and Salta. We stop for pictures time after time. We are one with nature and the number of cars we meet on a day can be counted on one hand.
In Salta we have planned a rest day. As we arrive in the hotel we have our meetings and than we are in for some dinner. After the order has been taken a funny smell comes out of the kitchen. In fact it is on fire. The waiter wants us to leave the building, and Jack says he really likes his steak well done. The waiter does smile but is not happy. The climb over the Andes in impossible to describe. One has to be there breathe, feel, see and experience it. We have choosen to take a route that is not taken by the buses an trucks. Total emptiness a few cars on the first hundred K are all we see. And than we gradually climb to over 3000 mters to arrive in the very last village of Argentina. Also the very last fuel station. So we fill up to make it to the next possible fuel station, 350 kilometres from here. We than climb to 4500 meters a bit down and than up to 4750 mtrs, for the time being the highest point of our route. The width from east to west is over 300 kilometer and we are between 3000 and 4000 meter for over 200 K. There is a price to be paid to experience this. From the 500 K we drive there is some 300 K gravel. For us a reason to climb the Andes again but now via another possible less spectacular road. The route we are going to take during the event, that is going to be answered in the road book.
At the border, we are told it gets extremely cold in Winter. We are at 4000 meters plus of course. As a result of these weather conditions every year some truck drivers freeze to death, whilst they wait for the snow to disappear from the road. Fortunately we drive it in the hot summer. San Pedro de Atacama is our overnight halt. Jan Peter has found a real jewel so time to rethink the place of our rest day. In fact we are so pleased with the hotel that the decision to have the rest day in San Pedro rather than Salta is made quickly. The road to Arica is long, if we look at the kilometres that is. Any car can cruise at 100 kmph or plus very easy. There is no traffic at all, the asphalt is smooth and the roads are dead straight. We can see that we are on the driest place on earth. Left and right of this routa panamericana it is dry, no life, no trees no animals, just a terrible lot of nothing.
08-12-2009
