Advertisement
Published: March 17th 2010
Andacolla
Rosco returns to Andacolla with his promised photoBlog from Scott....
Well here we all are sitting in a lovely hotel in Cafayate having a rest day but I will take you back to the excitement before we even had the motos.
We all took the ride down to San Antonio to pick up the bikes which were now 1 day late due to usual shipping paperwork and other things like tsunami and earthquakes. Oñly to find out the good news, that Rosco had seen the container, but now there was a huge dent in the doors which if we had opened it on the spot would now be our problem to fix. After trying to find somebody to take responsibility we thought, what better time to have a earthquake while we are all standing on the port riaht next to the water.
Within 5 minutes the port had closed at 2 in the afternoon and everybody was racing to the hills. Solid concrete fences were waving in the breeze like paper in the wind. We all finally came to the conclusion to get the hell out of there because nothing was going to happen with the bikes for the rest of the day and now there was
Tongoy
Rosco came all this way back to Tongoy to get a SUNSET photo a 5 metre tsunami warning so off we went to stand on the hill to watch our motos be washed away.
We watched, but nothing happened and returned back to the hotel 120km away in Vina Del Mar. Everybody up the coast was on the hills and we found out that it was a 7.7 earthquake centered by Santiago.
The next day was going to be big in more ways than one.
We returned to get the motos with an accessor with Rosco and Gerardo, with everything here not done in a hurry and you must have patience or things will take even longer.
Our bikes were all ok except Vince's, which with all the checking, had the right bike with the wrong Vin number which we foung out that VTNZ (or Henry) had stuffed up the paper work. Vince was deverstated and ready to go back to NZ.
But we have a specisl weapon over here called Enzo who is the shipping agent and after we think telling the imagration guy who is a bit bent that Vince was also a lover boy the paper work was fixed and he could have his bike and say that the
Amongst the locals
Vince, mixing with locals on the way To Cafayate paper work is different because it is a brand new bike and has not the official document from NZ.
We head off on our motos back to the holel arriving at about 5pm on a mission to get to Tongoy the same day as we would stuff all the hotels bookings up for the whole trip if we didn´t.
The team headed off with no hiccups until at about 1am in the morning Rosco's moto shit itself and everything switched off in the dark on a main highway. After checking all fuses nobody could figure the problem so on the back of the truck it went and everybody went on to Tongoy arriveing at 3am. with Rosco riding 'Bitch' on the back with Vince.
The next day which seemed like the same day and was going to be massive as we had a boarder crossing, 368km and a high mountain range which was 4700m.
We all left about 9am on the road getting to the boarder in good time with no problems and ready for the first high altitude only to find out that because Rosco was not on his moto he had forgotten to put his jacket
Tarantula Spider
Spotted by Rosco on the way to Minus Capalitas and helmet in the truck, Dah!.
Now the plan came together that he would ride back on Gerodos moto to Tongoy and catch us up doing 700kms in one day which we were doing in 2 days.
The mountain crossing was outstanding with snow in parts, goats being mustered on horse back and some tricky parts on the road. At 4700m everybody stopped to take a photo standing in front of the 4700 sign whick was a big mistake.
Marcus went to take a photo and dropped his bike and proceeded to just sit on the side of it with no energy to pick it up. I myself was finding it extremely hard to lift my arm up and pick my nose! The truck caught up with Gerado telling all of us to stop pissing around and get down off the mountain.
At the same time he was telling us this, Anne and Jane jumped out of the truck and fed the rocky ground their lunch. We all got down to a better altitude with Jane still struggling and we are still not sure weather it was from car sickness of altitude.
I started to get a huge headake as
Scott
Up in the clouds we got lower so drank a hole bottle of water which seemed to help. We arrived at San Jose de Jackel at about 8.30pm.
The next day we could finally cruze a bit as we only had 275km to do and mostly tarseal. This was lucky as the last 2 days had completely drained the lot of us and we were fxxxxx. There were a lot of straights and it worked out that Kit and I would lead off to the hotel as we thought we new were we were going, and we did, arriveing at the hotel at about 2pm.
Everybody else arrived about 15 minutes later all happy to see a town in the daylight. Everybody went about washing clothes and checking motos and stripping Roscos bike down to see what the electrical problem could be.
We found that the main fuse for everything on the bike had blown and replaced it to get the bike started again only for it to blow again. In the mean time Rosco had done the 700km to catch up to us and arrived about 6pm happy that the problem was isolated.
Now it was time to find a moto machanic on
Vince
Up there too Sunday at about 8pm and over here that is not a problem. We saw the machinic up the road on the way to dinner and he would wait for us to have dinner and come back with us. That is exactly what happened and whithin 30mins he had fixed it the way they fix all motos over here and stuck a larger fuse in.
The next day went well with everybody back on their motos heading for Chillecito which was 303km away but with some tricking riding. You would be going at a good speed only to find the road change in seconds from tarseal to 2nd gear stuff. We arrived at the hotel with 37 degrees and Marcus got off his bike only to find he had a bit of heat stroke. After getting him in a cold shower with his clothes on and having 40 winks he was back to normal.
The next day was 290km to Cafayate which was 3100m at one stage with some tricky roads. Halfway up the hill Rosco was stopped, running all over the road with his camera to find a turanchula walking across the road. We all got to hold
Marcus
Above the clouds it (not) taking lots of photos.
As we were on time, we went to the Minas Capalitas Hotel for coffee on the way I got into a bit of trouble on a steep incline and 2nd gear was not the right gear and started sliding back down the hill. When I finally stopped still, being upright, put my moto into 1st and gave it shit, making it to the hotel safely.
When arriving I found out that Kit had also had a similar problem.
After a well earned coffee, we returned to our original route.
We made it through the first part which was all gravel to find that Rosco's moto had shit itself again about 1km back.
Marcus and Vince went back to help lift the bike onto the truck for the rest of the journey. In the mean time I was having a moment of my own and going down hill fast with the night before getting the usual South American stomach problem. I just got extremely tiered very fast and starting feeling like pukeing in my helmet. We only had a little way to the fuel stop and in that time I made the discussion
Kit
Kit riding the Minus Capalitus Hi Way. to let Rosco ride my bike and I would go in the truck. Within 3 mins I was asleep and did not awake until arriving at the hotel. I proceeded to go to bed for another 2 hours before getting up and having a plate fo fries only for dinner.
This day is rest day for us in the very touristy town but not for Rosco and Gerardo who have now gone up to Salta in the truck with Rosco's moto on the back, to a machanic and leaving the moto there and coming back to us at the hotel in the one day.
Salta will be our next stop so hopefully the moto will be fixed by the time we get there.
My stomach is coming right by the hour now and am starting to feel much better however the team are all having a go at South American stomach at present except Rosco and Gerardo of course.
love to all
Scott.
Update from Rosco
Gerardo and I arrived back to Cafayate at 2.30pm, after dropping my moto to a repair shop up in Salta. We will go back there tomorrow and hope fully everything will be
fixed, fingers crossed.
Cheers, Rosco
Advertisement
Tot: 0.225s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 25; qc: 88; dbt: 0.1383s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Grant
non-member comment
Missing you!
What an awesome thing to be doing, so jealous! Take care on the rest of your journeys!