Road of Death Takes it's Toll

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Well we did all survive the Road of Death, well sort of, as we were returning from Coroico back to La Paz, Allan hit a big hole and snapped the front assembly on his car, which dropped the front left down to about 60mm off the road? We pulled off the busy road as it was getting dark after such a big day.

What can we do now??? Well it took Cory about ten minutes to locate a welder about 100metres up the road, so we greased the front drive shaft as it was rubbing on the suspension arm and he drove up to the welder fellow to re weld the broken component. Cory stayed with him and I led the rest of us back to the hotel, with a little help from Karen (my GPS).

We have had an extremely exciting time since my last posting from Salta in Argentina.

We met up with Linton and Heather from the UK at San Pedro de Atacama and the next day we made the 38 km up hill drag to the Bolivian immigration where the real adventure began.

We met up with our Guide and Cook that would be with us for the next three days. We made our way through the rough tracks to our lunch stop and a swim in the natural hot mineral pool.

We made it to our accommodation in Laguna Colorada just before dark.

The next day was a real challenge for all of us and the cars, as the huge sand dunes loomed in front of us and we made feeble attempts to reach the top with the lungs of our 602 cc engines screaming for more air. As each of us succumbed, the chase truck attached the tow rope and dragged us to the top, ready for the next challenge.

As they have had extreme weather over the past few months, the 'Road' was just rock and washouts, so we had to pick our way through as best we could. Lucky for us we had no damage to the cars, apart from me suffering a flat tyre, a ripped side wall on a sharp rock.

During this section, Allan hit a big rock, that started the removal process of the pop riveted under pan, so it was decided to remove it completely.

We finally made it to Vila Allota in time for dinner, a shower and lay down before breakfast.

The following day we made it to Uyuni via the train cemetery. The next day we spent on the Salar, but without the Brits, as they had succumbed to the dreaded Bolivian drenching, so rested all day at the hotel.

We did an oil change while in Uyuni and put in fresh Spectro oil, greased all the king pins and knife edges again, while Allan replaced the riveted under panel, and I changed the flat tyre, that took a Land Cruiser to break the bead. Thanks to Braulio for letting us use his work shop.

We are now in La Paz and head to Puno in Peru tomorrow, as Cory and Allan have just returned with the-repaired 2CV. Linton and Heather are booked on a bus to Puno, but there are many protesting road closures taking place, so we hope that we can all get out of the city in the morning.

So untill our next blog,

Cheers, Rosco

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