Day 42 Monday 5th November: Finally Chris competes in a Classic Car Endurance rally.

Chris writes:

We have all had a full and varied day.

I awoke at 05.00 anticipating the 07.30 delivery of our specialist endurance vehicle that was being delivered from Cochambamba in Bolivia to our hotel in Lima, Peru, which is a quaint hotel in the best region of the city, Miroflores.

 

Yes, you read that right, a one way delivery of 1165 miles, which is nearly 300 miles more than the distance between Lands End to John O’ Groats in the U.K.  Does any other car hire company do that ?

Doug was preparing to go and swim with Sea Lions some distance from the coast where he is assured that the only spiders are spider crabs which he is not afraid of.

John, Mike and I had pre booked a city tour and we had to get across town by 09.45 so it was simple, receive the car, have breakfast, drop off some much-needed washing at the local  laundry and head of for our day’s activities ready for our gala dinner at ‘Maido’ the 7th ranked restaurant in the world this evening.

Well, 07.30 came and went so did 08.00 and 08.30 with no sign of our car arriving. Doug sailed off to kiss Seal Lions and film them with the team GoPro.

Eventually we  contacted Juan Carlos (the delivery driver) by phone and he was “I a few minutes away be there very soon Mr Fawlty” (he is a Spanish speaker).

09.00 came and went as did 09.15 and no sign of either Juan Carlos or our car!

Using our now legendary flexibility and ability to work around problems, Mike and John set off with our dirty clothes to the laundry and then across town to the tour bus as I volunteered to hang on for the car.

At 09.35 Juan Carlos arrived, on foot, no car!

Apparently an eagle-eyed local Peruvian Policeman took exception to a Bolivian registered SUV being in the wealthy Miraflores area of Lima and directed him to a public car park some way away not believing that any Europeans would want to hire a Bolivian car in Peru and have it delivered to their hotel.

I proceeded to go through vast amounts of documents with JC which were all in Spanish but gave me some reassurance that the vehicle was legal, insured and had certificates of roadworthiness.

This is quite important as we have 2700 miles to cover in 16 days, passing through Peru, Bolivia, Chile and into Argentina where a car change is scheduled.

Our altitude will rise from Sea level to 16,000 feet and we spend several days at heights in excess of 11,000 feet.

Then despite my lack of Spanish  I spotted one document which showed the year of manufacture, 1993!

My heart dropped and I insisted I went to see the vehicle immediately. Surely there was an error as we had ordered a class 2 vehicle under three years old as we had no intention of competing in a classic car rally as a part of our trip.

Unfortunately there was no error we had been delivered a 1993 Nissan Patrol ( brother Philip say nothing ).

To cut to the chase, after many calls to the specialist company and with the lack of any alternatives to get us across unforgiving roads in these countries we have had to accept the situation as is and make the most of it.

   

The specialist company got it wrong and are now trying to source and prepare a class 2 car to meet us in a weeks time in La Paz. So now as we begin “the real thing” as we have called the next 16 days, we have the added challenge of doing this difficult stage in a “Classsic Car”

Mike and John had an interesting morning bus tour and related stories of goose stepping Presidential Guards, being held up yet again while a relatively peaceful demonstration took place which seems a daily occurrence in Latino countries.

They also saw an  interesting sight of which photographs can’t be published as the editor will not allow. Answers on a post card to……

       

Their overall view of the city is that apart from one square the rest of the town is nothing to write home about but Mike still managed 500 photos of this mediocre city.

Doug’s morning was relatively more successful having joined a small party for a trip to the sea lions located on an island some three miles from the coast. Suitably equipped with a wetsuit (amazed they found one to fit his frame in a land of small people) and having donned a life jacket, and being thrown into the Pacific he then spent 20 minutes being investigated, caressed and rubbed up by Sea Lions who amazingly never progressed past the nibbling at his toes stage with no attempt to bite him or anyone else in the water.

  

The only downside to Doug’s Sea Lion experience is that apparently being up so close to so many of them you realise that they do not use Colgate toothpaste in the morning or any mouthwash and have not been potty trained. They basically stink and perform No 2’s everywhere.

We all met up for lunch at a restaurant high above the beach and discussed our various mornings over the traditional Pisco Sours.

      

How are we feeling? Well, there is naturally some disappointment and annoyance at the vehicle situation but we are on a challenge drive and actually feel this will add to and not detract from, our forthcoming experiences. We shall revisit that in a couple of weeks time.

Our laundry is back and still warm and tonight we intend to enjoy Maido and tomorrow, Day 43, we start our Classic Car America’s Challenge Drive.

Yippee I say!