A Day in the Life..

A Day in the Life..

Sometimes our posts make it look like our lives are exciting and extraordinary, but it isn’t always sunshine and roses, so I thought I would bring it all down to earth a bit..

Today was not a good day, mechanically-speaking! We had overnighted in a typical “panoramic-view” type of spot, with no-one around – just us and the stars. But, in the morning, Bertha hiccupped while starting. We were at 4000m+ in altitude, so waited a bit for her to warm up and all seemed well.

Skipping breakfast, we got an early start towards our intended destination of Oruro, about 160km away.
After 40km or so, we decided to stop for breakfast – just a pull out from the main road, but with another scenic view.

After eating, we packed up and Bertha wouldn’t start! Investigation revealed one of our two starter batteries was knackered. Now these had been given a clean bill of health at MAN Santiago in May, but, since then, we have travelled at high altitude and low temperatures. The batteries, which we had new in September 2020, could be expected to last for four years, but, with the excessive cold of the Atacama and the general stress they have been subjected to recently on the Laguna route, ours had obviously given up the ghost (well, one of them had – the other was ok, but couldn’t carry it’s partner!). So we put out the hazard triangles, looked pathetic and hoped that a kind trucker would stop to give us a jump start.

In Argentina, you just have to think about breaking down for numerous cars and trucks to stop to offer assistance – but this is not Argentina! For whatever reason, four trucks passed by as Dave waved jump leads longingly at them (although some did wave back!). The fifth truck did stop, but was too big to get near enough for our car-sized jump leads to reach (why don’t we have longer leads?). Apologetically, he left. The sixth truck, however, was smaller and the very helpful driver reversed up, the leads reached and we were started again in no time.

Excellent! Now the trick was just to not turn off the engine until we had found replacement batteries! It was still early (10am), so we decided to continue to Oruro, which, as the fifth largest town in Bolivia, would be sure to have batteries!

After progressing another 30km, there was a rather disconcerting sound of a sudden and violent air leak from somewhere, accompanied by dashboard warning messages to stop immediately. Dave had hoped it was just his seat – but when he got out to check, realised that it was something more serious. Fortunately, we were now on a flat road with good visibility (having just finished the scenic up and down hills with bends!).

Out again with the triangles augmented by four old tyres that Dave found in a ditch. We were barely off the road (with no air, we couldn’t move at all), so it was a necessary precaution. Dave tipped the cab to try to find the leak, but with the noise of the engine, it was impossible to identify the location. There was nothing for it but to switch the engine off! Immediately, we could hear where the leak was and it turned out to be a small matter of roadside repair, but this did mean that we needed another jump start afterwards to continue!

Trucks were few and not stopping, but eventually (by virtually throwing ourselves into their path), one did stop and the driver helped to jump start us. He said there was a shop selling batteries in the next village and the one after that too. Good news!

We scoured the streets of Uncía, finding nothing but a large market on the main through road, which we quickly became part of! We had more luck in Llallagua, a larger town than Uncía with a modern-looking motor spares shop, stocking a range of batteries. Hooray! We had found some truck batteries! The shop can only take Bolivianos cash though, but, no worries, – we are told that there was a jewellers shop in the main square that changes dollars. So we turn Bertha’s engine off and take a taxi to the main square. Near the main square, we find a jeweller who does indeed change dollars. She give a rate of 9 BOB/1USD (the official rate is 6.96 BOB/USD). We have had a better rate previously so look for another jewellers, but the three we try do not change dollars. We return to the first shop, but the same woman who told us the rate, says that the lady who changes money had left to “get water” and she doesn’t know when she will be back! BUT she does know that the cellphone shop in town also changes dollars. She waves vaguely in the direction of the square, when we ask where it is. We wander off and eventually (after the third attempt) find the “cambio” cellphone shop. He offers 10.1 BOB/1 USD, so we change what we need and return to the battery shop.

We pay for the two new batteries. Dave disconnects the old ones and then realises that the new batteries aren’t quite the same dimensions and won’t fit! There is no problem with the shop returning our cash when we return the batteries, but we now have the same problem as before!

It is already 5.30pm. There are few trucks passing down the high street. It gets dark at 6.30pm. Dave is tired and there is no way we could reach Oruro in time to sort our problem today. But there is another battery shop across the road, dealing more with technical issues. Even though we have driven maybe 100km in total today and our old batteries have not held a charge, the technician is sure that he can charge the “bad” battery enough for us to get going. Dave takes the battery out again and it is whisked away to be charged. After a short while, we decide that we have to reassemble everything before it gets too late and retrieve the battery, charged or not. But, amazingly, Bertha starts! We give our thanks to the technician and set off again.

We stop just off the road on the outskirts of town, making sure that there is room for a truck to jump start us in the morning again! Dave disconnects the batteries, saving whatever charge may still be in them – just in case we can get going on our own. There is no beautiful view tonight, but the road is pretty quiet after 9pm. Let’s hope we can get it sorted tomorrow! [It actually took a second full day of Dave running around and some adjustments of the battery mounting rods to get us going again.]