Tilcara to Tupiza

 

We all loved Tilcara. We had an excellent Frat house, the showers were good, there was a washing machine and we covered the house in damp cloths prior to going to bed. We are appreciating the simple things in life like clean clothes, a good shower and a good night's sleep. There was a carnival caravan that moved like a snake through town last night, led by a dozen people in colourful costumes, then a band and afterwards townsfolk chanting and generally having a great time. Tilcara was full of western dreadlocks and undifferentiated shops selling woollen wear and hats. We had a good BBQ dinner complete with offal and a blood sausage....a delight for some!

 

 


Off we went early, up a very long valley with spectacular wavy multi-coloured rock formations. Up, up we went to 3000m and arrived at the La Quiaca border with Bolivia at 1115. You have never seen such chaos. The place is being rebuilt and all the affairs of immigration and customs are conducted from metal containers. There was a near riot in progress on the Bolivian side with a queue of people a hundred meters long trying to get into Argentina. The insurrection was orchestrated by a large Bolivian lady slow clapping the authorities and lots of others heartily cheering every time a person emerged from the metal cabin with a stamp in their passport. Despite the chaos we got through in an hour and a half, our first border crossing under our belt. My car, blue BPJ 145, started to cough and splutter in the high altitude and heat of the day. The diagnosis was fuel evaporation caused by high altitude and heat. We managed to get out of town to wait for the others in a garage, only to be moved on by a gun toting policeman. We used Google Translate to try and negotiate with the policeman but it became evident he couldn't read, so we threw in the towel and moved off. This place has a very different feel to Argentina, with lots of roadblocks, either Police or Customs, and requests for 'documents'!

The new tar road was excellent, and we sped off up a valley between high mountains and spectacular scenery to Tupiza town. Waze struggled to navigate us to our hotel and we had a crazy half an hour driving around this bustling town, avoiding Tuk Tuks and driving up 'one way' streets with the cars coughing and spluttering caused by fuel evaporation in the heat and high altitude. Anyone wanting to transit the Andes in an old car needs to have a plan to overcome this problem. Our hotel even has a pool and we are rewarded with a room each and hot water. Luxury indeed. NG worked on the car with David Ayre to try and overcome the fuel evaporation problem. Dinner was taken in an Elvis restaurant whose walls were adorned with everything Elvis you could imagine and huge pictures of Marlyn Monroe. The team headed to bed well fed, well watered and happy.

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