Less than a month before Leg 21 starts

We are in the final stretch before the next Leg. I have submitted the final document for my Bolivian Visa and now I must just wait. I was not planning on traveling through Bolivia, there are several political protests happening there as they are having elections there in October and their previous President Juan Eva Morales is planning to make a come-back. Several protest marches has turned violent. A further reason to not go to Bolivia is the shortage of fuel. There are very long queues outside fuel stations, but from the internet we learn that fuel may not be sold to tourists as fuel is heavily subsidised. So tourist has to buy fuel from locals selling fuel, at three times the normal price. So “entrepreneurial” Bolivians has also started “stretching” their profit margins by diluting it with water. So before you buy fuel you need to test it, and because of the poor quality one need to add Octane Booster to the fuel. So the plan is to carry fuel across the border from Peru in fuel-bladders, which will mean we only have to fill up once in Bolivia.

So you can understand why I was willing to skip Bolivia and simply go around it and enter Argentina instead. But Tex and Millsy spent time together over Christmas and no doubt, after a few Whiskies, over ruled my route which I had already worked out.

The highlights of Bolivia will be lake Titicaca and the Salt Flats which are situated at very high altitude.

But 1st we will do several Tourist-stops in Peru, so dont miss the Blog, ride with us. But more about that closer to the 16th of March when we fly out to South America.

I also splashed out on a new Crash Helmet and new Riding Pants (with more ventilation-zips.) I used one helmet for Europe and Asia, then another for North America and Central America, but it is starting to fall apart and I just could not continue “fixing” it with Ducktape. I estimate one puts your helmet on at least 12 times every riding day, so there is a fair amount “wear&tear” on your helmet. I removed my intercom and speakers from my old helmet and fitted them in the new helmet.

I have also chosen another make, an Italian make Airoh, it cost half the price of an Arai and the write-ups on the internet looks good, time will tell if this was a good or bad move.

I will do another Test Post closer to the date that we start. So now it is time to push the “Publish” button and test if the Blog (website) is working properly and the post is displayed and saved at the right place on the page.