Friday 8 March 2013

Salta to Cafayate

A great evening was spent dining in the hotels restaurant.
On arrival at last night overnight stop Le Sheridan, Rally Orgs informed us that the evening supper was a short hike away from the hotel as only burgers were apparently served at our hotel.
Couldn't believe that for a moment!!
Only burgers in a Sheridan??

Some crew arrived quite late and were shattered and the last thing they wanted to do after such a long day was to go and hike around the town looking for the venue and besides some crew happen to be quite partial to an Argentinian burger so chose to stay at the hotel to dine. Other crews managed to find local restaurants to munch in..

We had a quick word with the barman whilst he was preparing the evening tray of 'sours' and he soon pointed us upstairs in the direction of the Sheridan's restaurant.
I can assure you there wasn't any burgers on their menu so not quite sure where Orgs got their information from..

Plenty of choice there and plenty of it and no complaints from any of the 10 diners.. Butternut squash soup is highly recommended, also local wines weren't to be snubbed...

Needless to say we had a late start today!!

I think a trip around the race track had been arranged this morn. but we didn't think a Nissan Terrano was very apt to tear around a race track in so a leisurely breakfast was enjoyed (well actually it was a pretty poor breakfast, if the truth be known lol - squashed in a back room of the hotel - strange as the views over the city are quite dramatic from the hotel)
Am convinced we took brekkers in the staff room lol

The Goodwins took a culture trip and strolled around the town and local markets in search of some stamps.
The streets were alive with local samba dancers, all grooving uncoordinated through the town lol
discovered a 'bring and buy' and a cake stall in the church grounds.

We set off around 11am with Chauffeur Ayre at the wheel and i am back in navigators seat. Direct route today and only 189 km. Twood have been a breeze for the Itala :((

David has an afternoon of 'fettling' ahead. He is going to help Mr Hyde with his BMW. Parts have arrived for him as well as for other poorly vehicles so they are keen to attach them before their expiry dates lol

He is getting bored of it all this now, i know but we have to hang on at least until our scheduled 'day off' in Mendoza.

Jorg Lemberg has flown home - i think enough was enough for him...

He said he may look into join Philip Young's South American Rally later this year. November i think, when the weather will probably be kinder lol

When we told Jorg about this H&H Rally as well as others, last year he was so exited about it and soon followed us in 'signing up'. He like us expected something quite different!!

He is quite passionate about South America and soon spread the word..
This leg of the journey he said was the most scenic of all so its a great shame that he misses out on it..

The latest on the Power of Attorney fiasco is a meeting has been arranged at the Bolivian Consulate where all the paperwork to release the cars from Bolivia can finally be done. It is dragging on a bit now.. We are assured that this will finalise and speed up the process.

A pleasant day today. Very hot again, roads very quiet and plenty of bumps along the tobacco plantations and vineyards to keep us and our passengers awake!!

We were merrily winding our way on rally route when we came across the monster Mercedes of Andreas Pohl pulled in at the start of the test with its steering lock kaputt. We thought we were going to see some action and a quick getaway at he start. Andreas said he that he hadn't experienced any problems with it until now and they had taken it around the race track earlier. What they needed now was a local car thief!!

While they waited lol Jack Amies, (specialist engineer, recently flown in by Martin Egli in the beautiful M45) has got 'stuck in' and managed to squeeze himself upside down under the cockpit to try and work on the broken steering lock..
David aided and abetted for half an hour or we left them soldering some bits together to get the steering wheel functioning again.

Just we left, the support trailer arrived looking for a broken Model A - apparently they had a distress call from the Model A crew but they had searched up and down the Highway but not a Model A in sight!!

More dramatic scenery followed and a washed away road or two but still no sign of the little Model A...

Don't u just love driving up to your hotel and finding hand written notes to tell you that this is NOT your hotel.


































































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