Valentine's day

No happy romantic ending in Buenos Aires for the Ultimate Overland team today.

We start with considerable optimism, a full and hearty breakfast at "Surrey Hills" and the hope that the cars would be released by mid-day. Just the final 30 minutes customs clearance and then the transport out of the port terminal, none of which is beyond the wit  of man! As soon as the cars are released we are off to Mendoza, a 1050km drive, one day or two if we leave late today. Everyone fired up and ready for action. Poop, poop!!! As Mr Toad would say.

Deathly silence from all at Maersk and from Carlos's team which is never a good sign. But at 12:59 we receive confirmation from Carlos that customs clearance will be done this afternoon. Morale soars once again. Carlos will confirm in 30 minutes…….

At 14:27 we receive news that "the Situation is still uncertain. There are still a couple of situations yet. It is not easy to explain now. Still waiting for." Why? What are you waiting for? REALLY????? Melvyn at CARS UK confirms that they are having to sort out the 'demurrage', not a word I have ever heard before. In short it means that Maersk fail to deliver our cars where and when they were contracted to do so, the containers have to be stored in Buenos Aires in a Maersk terminal and Maersk then ask us to pay rent for them residing there longer than scheduled. This is literally like a burglar nicking your stuff and then charging you rent to store it until they give it back!!!! You seriously cannot make this stuff up. We still have no idea what the second 'situation' is but I look forward to explaining it in due course. 

Tonight we are back on. Tomorrow is a fresh day, fresh hope.  A full and indecipherable WhatsApp arrived this evening, as ever resulting in more questions than answers. At 19:29 Nigel asked Carlos what time the T4 Customs slot is booked for. At 21:43 the reply comes in "Hi Nigel, At 09:00am" excellent news and morale soars once again. That lasted until 21:43, "Sorry Nigel, it actually is from 09:00am until 13:00pm rgds", the difference between leaving tomorrow or Thursday. Nigel went nuclear and started dispatching small thermonuclear emails across the entire Maersk chain of command. Hopefully we will get an early realise from T4. Somethings don't seem to change!

The added confusion for the day is the break out of pink eye in the frat house. Very infectious and everyone keeping clear of Sophie who rather courageously went off to buy antibiotic eye drops. You can buy virtually anything over the counter here. Unfortunately she appears to have a mild allergic reaction to the drops and had to treat herself with alternative s. This didn't prevent Chris coming out for another large steak dinner! Hey ho, our brave co-driver seems to be on the mend by the time we return so fingers crossed for the morrow.