Report  17 August
Report by Greetje

We are leaving a wonderful Purmamarca into the direction of Chile.

Purmamarca

The road leads us over a salt lake, so unreal, the surface looks like ice.

saltlake 1

saltlake 2 

It is so beautiful it has to be put on film.

reporter 

After the salt lake the road continues through a volcanic area with lots of curves.

road 

At the border of Chile we are allowed to go into the country except for all the fruit and vegetables we carry with us.
So, a quick bite in an apple and a tomato the rest has to be delivered.
The functionary is a bag of health richer.
At the customs we meet a group of motor riders who are so impressed by the initiative of Dirk and Trudy that they spontaneously offer a flag of Chile.

Chili 

Next, we are driving into a desert area with a great diversity of mountains, rocks and sand dunes. The altitude now is 14400 Ft. We are ( at the end of this day ) close to the Bolivian border.
Suddenly  Trudy smells something, the brakes?
Yes, the brakes for sure!

controle brakes 

In San Pedro we stay that night with a family who helped us so kind and sweet.
They have been in Volendam, the pictures in costume where on the cupboard.

Report 16 August
Report by Greetje

For the first time we drive in the Land Rover through Argentina.

new driver

The landscape is breathtaking and near a dry riverbed the key’s are handed over
to the new driver.

river 

keychange 

Starting in Salta we drive higher up into the mountains to have lunch on an altitude
of  10.000 ft. close to big cactus trees.

cactus 

At the border of Argentina/Bolivia we are allowed to get out of  Argentina, but the Landrover is not allowed to go into Bolivia. The customs want to know about the other car who is still in Sucre. Since the Landrover left Bolivia on it’s own we’re not allowed to go in again.
We decide to go to Bolivia by the way of  Argentina and Chile..
Into the direction of Purmamarca we drive through a wonderful sunset and after a long ride of 400 miles we find a nice hostel and later we have dinner in a restaurant were three musicians end this exciting day.

Report 15 August
Report by Greetje

After a long journey we arrive in Salta, where Trudy and Dirk welcome us.

arrivel 

In our hotel we bring a toast on a good journey

Salta

Report 10, 11, 12 and 13th August
Report by Karin and Simon

Sunday 10th  August
We leave for Potosi. We are not in a hurry and take it easy. We see a lot of special things along the road such as a valley full of cactus plants, a special traffic sign and beautiful views. We spend the night in the Potosi SOS Village. 

Bridge

Cactus

Traffic sign

Mountain view

Landscape

Farmhouse 

Monday 11th August
We continue our way to Uyuniu. Again we drive through impressive mountains and over a plain on 12.000 feet altitude and we again see a lot of Lama’s and Guanaco’s , a sort of dear which are rarely seen.

boy in street

car in village

village 1

village 2

women with child

guanaco

guanaco 2 

At Uyuni is a world famous cemetery for steam trains, very special to see. The Dakar motor race passed this place this year as well. The cemetery is adjacent to a huge salt lake; we stay in a hotel totally built with salt blocks, a unique hotel to spend the night.

Dakar 2014

train cemetery 1

train cemetery 2

train cemetery 3 

Tuesday 12th August
The road we have to take is a dirt road; we can hardly make more than 10 miles per hour.
We don’t reach our next stop so we have to camp at an altitude of again 12.000 feet. It is freezing cold but the sky is filled with stars and we can see the Milky Way as clear as Chrystal since there is no moon.

dirt road

dunes

mountains 1

on the road

camping place 1

camping place 2 

Wednesday 13th August
Impressions of the day trip.

mountains 1

mountains 2

mountains 3

truck in riverbed 

This is the last report of Karin and Simon, we have to go back home, the new team will arrive at Salta coming Friday.

Report 7, 8 and 9 august
Report by Karin and Simon

7th August
Around 3 PM the Model T Ford was going to be collected, the truck finally arrived at 5 PM.
It is a standard truck and not specially made for transporting cars. The truck driver thought we would lift the car on the truck with a crane, which was obviously not our idea since there is no crane! We decide to find a good spot where we can drive the car on the truck and find one opposite the road. With some effort and causing a traffic jam we manage to get the Model T on the truck. We lash and secure the Model T to the truck and off it goes. Saturday it will arrive in Sucre.

waiting for the truck

transport

action

loading 1

loading 2

on the truck

good trip 

After we say good bye to the staff of he SOSVillage we take off for Sucre. Around 10.30 PM we arrive at Oruro where we find a place to sleep in the SOS Village.

Friday 8th august
After we said good bye to the very kind director of the SOS Village we continue our trip. We have a wonderful ride; we see a salt lake, the always present lama’s and many nice mountain views. The altitude is getting higher and higher and we finally reach an altitude of 13.000 foot!

SOS Oruro

salt lake

view

lama

altitude 

Gasoline is sometimes hard to get and as foreigners we have to pay extra tax, sometimes we have to fill up by using our spare fuel from the jerry can.

spare fuel 

Simon is so impressed by the nature around him that he drives too fast and is fined by a policeman with a laser detector, after some negotiations he manages to reduce the penalty from 200 to 100 Bolivianos without receiving an invoice ;)!
In Sucre we receive a warm welcome in the SOS Village and after a nice Pizza we go to bed.

Saturday 9th august
D-Day for the Model T Ford. It was supposed to arrive between 9 and 11 AM but finally a truck with the Model T arrives at 4 PM. Much to our surprise the Model T is loaded on a different truck, it has been re-loaded in La Paz and the transport has been outsourced to another trucking company. The driver did not get the keys of the Model T and some damage was done to the cover. The off loading is easy and the Model T is unharmed.
We find a nice place for the Model T in the garage of the SOS Village where it can stay for a while.

arrival

unloading 1

unloading 2

save place 

The team of the SOS Village organized a party for the kids who made drawings of a Model T or other classic cars. The 2 best drawings win a price. Dirk and Trudy form the jury and select two price winners. All kids also have to sit in and on the Model T Ford to bring the traditional greeting to all the SOS children in the world. After all this the children are free to play till late in the evening and have a lot of fun.

drawings 1

the stand

children

children greating

winners

Report 3, 4, 5 and 6th August
Report by Karin and Simon

Sunday 3 August
Dirk and Simon inspect the Model T Ford and discover that the lining of the middle crankshaft bearing which they repaired earlier has completely gone after 165 miles. The Model T Ford cannot be used an more.

broken 1

broken 2 

Monday 4th August
After a joined breakfast with the staff of the SOSVillage in La Paz, Dirk gives a presentation about his trip. Than Dirk and Marco visit a number of garages to see if one of them can fix the crankshaft bearing. Their search is without result. Simon and Karin meanwhile visit La Paz.
We also learned that in Bolivia it is not allowed to tow a car, so the Model T Ford has to be trucked to Sucre. To-morrow we will see how this can be arranged.

Tuesday 5th August
Dirk is invited to visit the head office of SOS Villages in La Paz and to give a presentation about his trip. After a warm welcome by the staff we have a tour through the office and meet the staff. They also prepared a presentation for us and we learned a lot about their work in Bolivia. Fortunately the staff is very willing to help us to arrange the transport of the Model T Ford, and they will also forward the tyres and new bearing which are underway from the USA. Unfortunately to-morrow is a National Holiday in Bolivia so we will have to wait till Thursday. 

the team

meeting

poster 

Dirk and Simon try to repair the bearing and replace the lining with a piece of leather which is first drained in oil. The trick works and the Model T Ford can be driven for small distances.

leather lining bearing cap 

Wednesday 6th augustus
National Holiday, a day of rest for all of us.

Report 1 August
Report by Karin and Simon.

Around half past seven the taxi driver comes to pick us up and takes us to his house where the cars are stalled. The family is very happy with the extra earnings for the storage of the cars.

garage

We depart from Julia and continue our way over the Peruvian plateau. During our ride we have nice views over Lake Titicaca; we stop at a beautiful spot and see flamingo birds standing in the water. Around 12 noon we reach the Bolivian border.

lake

flamingo’s

Just when Dirk and Trudy want to clear the cars with the customs officer he takes a lunch break. When he returns they have to do a lot of paperwork but finally we are free to enter Bolivia.

border

We continue our trip over a road which lies on an even higher altitude.

altitude

On our way to La Paz we have to cross Lake Titicaca with a ferry, it is a wooden boat where we have to drive our cars on. We safely reach the other side and we were lucky since an hour later the ferry would have been closed and we would have to find a hotel for the night.

ferry

After the ferry crossing we continue our way to the SOS Village and we have to drive through the city of La Paz in the dark, a taxi driver hits the Model T Ford on the side, the damage is little. The taxi driver blames us for the accident but we have another opinion. We take the T Ford of the triangle and we find another taxi driver to guide us through the city to the SOS Village. All the way to the SOS Village we are followed by the taxi driver which caused the accident, he wants money! After an hour we finally reach our goal and are warmly welcomed by the Director, Claudia, of the SOS Village. She also settles the dispute with the taxi driver.