Anthony Byrne wrote:And now Colombia's out of the way. On to Ecuador! Ecuador is a lot like Colombia, even the flag is similar, only it's tiny by comparison, but nicer overall so far. We followed one of the Belgian teams for most of the way. We stayed right next to each other yesterday, albeit in separate hotels. It was the same story this time round. We chose a different hotel that little bit further down the road, just to make us feel like we had an advantage. Looked like someone else had the same idea.
Day 18 i believe our journey south continues albeit at a ever slowing pace. Traffic hindered our progress through Medellin and the roads slowing us down the rest of the way. are the other teams finding the same issues we find a hotel and somewhere to stay ready to continue our catchup
Associated Press wrote:BREAKING: Voeckler brothers wounded by gunfire in Medellin
Former F1 racing drivers Jeremy-Etienne and Frederic-Maxime Voeckler have been taken to hospital in serious condition, after sustaining gunshot wounds from the crossfire of a cartel shootout.
The racing brothers were competing in a road rally event from Deadhorse in Alaska to Ushuaia in Argentina, traversing the entire American continent landmass by road.
Their condition is said to be serious but not critical, meaning there will hopefully be a positive ending to proceedings.
Novitopoli wrote:Everytime someone orders at Pizza Hut, an Italian dies.
Novitopoli wrote:Juve's Triplete: Calciopoli, doping & Mafia connections.
Nuppiz wrote:I've so lost this game...
Thomas De Bock wrote:Prudhoe Bay - Ushuaia Challenge - day 18: Popayan to Tabacundo
We woke up to absolutely awful news today. The Voeckler brothers were in hospital in Medellin after getting caught in the crossfire of a mob shooting. Only eight of us were left, we reckoned. And we were still nowhere near the end. At least we'd leave the hell-hole of Colombia and head for less dangerous pastures. Like the stone-throwing Tierra del Fuego.
Today, we headed South (what a surprise) quite uneventfully, through the town of Pasto and finally reaching the border. Due to the notoriously tough checks at the borders, the organisers allowed us to stop the clocks at the border and turn them back on afterwards, which we did. Customs were strict, but after two hours and the loss of almost all our beer, we were in Ecuador.
We were on our way to Quito, but we wouldn't be able to reach it in time. After passing San Miguel de Ibarra (where we thought most teams would stop), we were able to continue for another 45 minutes, just past Tabacundo and stopping at a barely marked hotel a bit off the road, with about 15 minutes to spare. At least we were safe from the cartels...
kevinbotz wrote:Cantonese is a completely nonsensical f*cking alien language masquerading as some grossly bastardised form of Chinese
Gonzo wrote:Wasn't there some sort of communisim in the East part of Germany?
peteroli34 wrote:I cant help but feel that these races need to be shorter maybe around 2 weeks to save people losing intrest
Novitopoli wrote:Everytime someone orders at Pizza Hut, an Italian dies.
Novitopoli wrote:Juve's Triplete: Calciopoli, doping & Mafia connections.
Biscione wrote:
No, what bothers me is this - when the alternative routes dry up, and teams are stuck to taking the same route for much of the journey, the winner becomes a question of whoever logs on at the right time to suffer from the least traffic. At least half of all participants instantly get put on the back foot. Even if I put in effort to do as good a leg as possible, it can often go to waste because of the time of day I participate.
Perhaps, like what This suggested before, the challenges should be segmented into 2, 3 or 4 components, with the person with the highest points combined between these elements the winner. And with leg times calculated sans-traffic....
peteroli34 wrote:Biscione wrote:
No, what bothers me is this - when the alternative routes dry up, and teams are stuck to taking the same route for much of the journey, the winner becomes a question of whoever logs on at the right time to suffer from the least traffic. At least half of all participants instantly get put on the back foot. Even if I put in effort to do as good a leg as possible, it can often go to waste because of the time of day I participate.
Perhaps, like what This suggested before, the challenges should be segmented into 2, 3 or 4 components, with the person with the highest points combined between these elements the winner. And with leg times calculated sans-traffic....
That is a problem most people have used exactly the same route on this race that's why id quite like to do my idea at some point where you have to visit certain locations but you get to choose where you start and finish and in what order to visit the destinations
Anthony Byrne wrote:Stayed with the mad Aussie for two nights in a row. We were getting slightly suspicious. We only realised today that we had crossed the Equator, that weird imaginary line that gives this country its name. Fascinating. Our 19th day of driving was in perfect conditions, no traffic delays at all as we pushed on to the Peruvian border. Accommodation in the southern part of the country was getting harder to find, so we pulled off our planned route to find a hotel in Huaquillas, right on the border.
The traffic we faced yesterday was the result of that shoot-out we had heard so much about. fortunately the Voecklers were alight and i hope that no innocent Colombians were injured. Its a reminder that were are not in the safest part of the world think we will be driving and MRAP on the next one. Today we head into Ecuador and find somewhere to stay just across the border the next place to stay just a bit to far and that Ecuadorian Border guard just wore us out
Prudhoe Bay - Ushuaia Challenge - day 19: Tabacundo to Alamor
Today, we could reach Peru. But we wouldn't. Because we didn't want to.
You see, we could either stick to the ocean and cross into Peru today, or stay decently far from it and reach the country tomorrow. There were more hotels on the coast, but we went for the more central route instead, hoping it'll pay off. We left our small hotel at the usual time and headed South towards Quito. Traffic was easy going, and by now, we knew we'd reached the Andes. We also knew we'd have to cross them. But not before Chile. We knew it would get worse. And this was already quite bad. We ain't seen nothin' yet...
The road South didn't have many stunning points in the landscape aside from the ever-more present Andes, but the roads themselves, although not particularly well-maintained, certainly made for some fun driving. After Alobamba, Y'all insisted he'd drive the second half of the leg. I didn't blame him. And I said no.
At one point, we got close to the ocean, but didn't actually reach the coast. At Arenillas, we had the choice to turn right towards the coastline itself, Huaquillas and Peru. Instead, we turned left, heading South along the border and stopping about half an hour down the line in Alamor at the Hotel Los Angeles, about three minutes off the main road. A fun journey without much challenge, and one day closer to the End of the World.
kevinbotz wrote:Cantonese is a completely nonsensical f*cking alien language masquerading as some grossly bastardised form of Chinese
Gonzo wrote:Wasn't there some sort of communisim in the East part of Germany?
Day 20 and our journey continues through Ecuador a place which I know absolutely nothing about, However from today we calculate that we are about a week from the finish where that puts us in relation to the other teams I do not know. After travelling over 9 hours we found a hotel called Hotel Irene. How it got that name i do not know. Maybe its named after the owner. Doesnt sound, its Spanish they speak here right, like I say I don't know anything about this country
Thomas De Bock wrote:Prudhoe Bay - Ushuaia Challenge - day 20: Alamor to Trujillo
Peru!
...That's about it, really. No other cause for rejoicing, just an average leg heading South into a new country. There were deserts, straight roads, plains and mountain-y sections, but ultimately, a fairly boring drive.
To top things off, we stopped far too early, but we couldn't make it any further. Disappointed. But finally! the Pacific Ocean!
kevinbotz wrote:Cantonese is a completely nonsensical f*cking alien language masquerading as some grossly bastardised form of Chinese
Gonzo wrote:Wasn't there some sort of communisim in the East part of Germany?
Anthony Byrne wrote:Slight miscalculation. It turns out it actually would have been quicker to go further down the coast instead of u-turning and going along the originally planned route. No matter, we had a feeling accommodation was going to be difficult to find for several hours beyond Trujillo, so hopefully we would meet those that continued there. So we made our U-turn and crossed the border at Macara, passing through the likes of Piura and Chiclayo before renting a bungalow in Trujillo. We should pass by Lima tomorrow.
Wasn't feeling so well yesterday so mom did all the work. She promised to put the review online, but forgot it. Typically her. Well i chatted a little bit with my sweatheart on the phone, so i feel better.
So yesterday we decided to stay close to the sea, instead of in the mountains, as we figured the straight flat roads would progress a lot better than the mickey mousy Andes roads. Besides, i love the sea. So eventually we decided to stay for the night in Trujilo, also by the sea. The Pacific Ocean. In honour of the great formula 1 team!
Again, those mad Australians were stalking us. I think they got a crush on me. I'm worried. All other teams are dropping like flies, but they keep on chasing us! Also, i heared about the Voecklers trough uncle Ron. Scary.
On a positive note, we must be somewhere around 2/3 of the total distance.
Trujilo turned out to be a lively city. With lot of people playing panflutes. We drove trough Santa District, so we finally know for sure where Santa lives. We kept on driving alongside the coast, until we reached the capital Lima. At least, the capital doesn't have the same name as the country, which is very good! There were some minor traffic works. Strangely, we won some time because of that... We continued along the coast to Chincha Alta. Also, the discussion of whether Christoffel Columbus was Italian, Spanish or Portuguese was finally solved. He was Japanese! At least, that's what this hotel name in engrish seems to suggest. Looks like a good place to crashuuuuu, though! Side-o by side-o with mom, of course.
Anthony Byrne wrote:We continued further down the coast through Lima. We're nowhere near the border. Peru is a vast country compared to Ecuador, but we will make it out.
Shadaza wrote:This is making great progress in South America and is quite a bit ahead. Good job.
Anthony Byrne wrote:Spent the whole day following Route 1S away from the coast, through Ica and Nazca (didn't get to see the lines, unfortunately) and back towards the coast again, where we found that the Pacific Ocean does get a bit boring after a while, like a lot of the scenery we've come across on our journey. We had to stop early in La Punta, which was just before where we were going to turn away from the ocean again. Tomorrow, we should be out of Peru.
