Cafayate to Ticara to Salta

 

The departure from our hotel at Cafayate was a little fraught as there was some confusion over an unpaid bill for a room in which none of us had stayed. The confusion arose because the rooms were named after popular wines and we thought that the poor receptionist was trying to bill us for wine we hadn’t had. Once again google translate came to our aid and we were on the road.

 

The road becomes increasingly busy, the countryside more fertile and the police presence more noticeable. The two Lagondas are running smoothly  but Chris’ Rolls is struggling with what appears to be a fuel vaporisation issue.

 

After lunch the temperature of the Rolls unexpectedly spikes and Chris is forced to pull off the road. The short term solution is to remove the hood allowing more air to get at the engine engine. The long term solution will require further investigation.

 

We have found our AirBnB in Salta, a sweet cottage above the town. It has definitely been oversold, 1x bunk room and 2x twins none in which you could swing a cat! We are going to be very cosy here for three nights. The added complication is that David Ayre is joining and James isn’t leaving until the following day. There will be 7 to stay which will be a very tight squeeze. No washing machine either so the washing is stacking up in all directions.


The cottage comes with a recommendation for supper which we decide try. Not a success. My simple pasta was inedible whilst the recommened wine definitely did not hit the spot. The first bottle was corked and the second not really materially different. The wine drinkers perservered and undoubtedly lived to regret in in the morow!

The good news is that Chris appears to have found the problem on the Rolls which is that the magneto (that impossibly difficult device to explain and even more difficult to repair) is faulty.After about an hour of work to repair the magneto, David arrived to help set up all the timing. The reult is that the Rolls is puring like a kitten, Chis has got his smile back on and we depart immediatly for Ticara, giving us more time for the border crossing the next day.

We have our first border crossing the day after tomorrow and it is suggested that we push ahead early to a destination nearer the border leaving more time for the border crossing. Chris gets organising finding us an Air Bnb in the middle of town..phew!

By the time we set off the weather had become noticeably cooler but the drive up to Ticara was smooth and uneventful. More importantly the Rolls appears to be running smoothly and the AirBnb is fantastic. Fingers crossed for the  crossing in the morning and lots of love to James on his departure from the team but a big welcome to David.


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