Bailing Wire and Garden Hose

Today was not meant to be a tough day; just a blast across the desert to
intercept the Dakar competitors. But it did not turn out that way.

First, my bike ran out of gas within about two hours of leaving in the
Argentine back country. The gauge said full but the tank said empty and the
tank was right. Note to self, never trust those gauges. That was a first.

Then Wim decided it would be possible to tow me closer to civilization and
hooked up a couple of loops of bailing wire that he had “borrowed” from a
local unattended farm building. We eventually went about 15 km this way and
found our support folks. Dario “borrowed” a chunk of garden hose to syphon
gas from another bike and we were off again. Except I owe Dario a couple of
cases of beer for the amount of gas he swallowed. Lots of creativity from
everyone.

A few miles further we were pulled over at one of dozens of police
“control” points and had a zero communication episode with the officer. My
feeble Spanish does not have the vocabulary for “I pulled you over because
you overtook someone on a double yellow line (I didn’t actually) which is a
serious offense but my colleague and I would be happy to overlook the
infraction in exchange for a small contribution to the Provincial Police
Widows and Orphans Fund”. Shortly thereafter our Argentine fixers, Dario
and Nacho, showed up and common sense prevailed but not before 20 pesos
changed hands; for administration costs. He was also told that the funny
camera on my helmet had recorded the conversation, which was true.

And this was all before lunch.

The rest of the day was an ugly, 110 degree, blast to Chilecito. We are now
all camped out in a private home because there are no hotels here at all.
Tomorrow off with the Dakar competitors to Fiambala and thence to Chile
over the Paseo de San Francisco at 5000 meters altitude.