Crossing the border was a two day affair as you climb to around 4800 metres. Arthur cugged up hill and during the 2300 metre climb (we started at 2500m) we had to stop 5 times to let the engine cool down. We think the problem was a strong breeze right behind us which meant that there was little or no wind going through the radiator, as we had climbed similar mountains with no problem.

This particular pass we had come through (in the opposite direction) on our last trip. It is very scenic with beautiful red, orange, green and white coloured mountains and salt lakes with flamingos. After reaching 4800 metres we dropped to a very large plateau area at 4200 metres and decided to camp for the night. We had a rather large dinner of all the veg, salmon and turkey we had to get rid of before we hit the border. Argentina is not quite as fussy as Chile about food so we hoped the rest would be okay as we have a rather large hoard of food that you just can't get in Argentina. We hid the pistachio nuts!

We camped the night at 4200m and in the morning headed off for the boarder. We got through with no problem and after filling with diesel started what we hoped would be a steady drive down to an altitude that we could cope with. In fact the drive down involved 150 Kms across a high plateau, over two mountain ranges, one which had 51 hairpin bends to go up and down a 1500 metre range, and an enormous salt lake, to the respectable altitude of 2800.

Later that day a 6 litre plastic bottle of water that also didn't like the altitude changes split and flooded the floor and when we parked up the battery monitor said the battery which supplies the interior lights, water pump etc was flat. Investigations showed that a 60 amp fuse must have blown when trying to use this battery to get Arthur started. Enough for one day! At least it was cooler.

We had an executive meeting and considering Bolivia's high altitude and the poor weather for the region we made the decision to skip our visit to Tupiza.

After breakfast we drove down to the main highway and headed east but soon ground to a halt. With lots of police and smoke ahead on the road we thought there had been an accident. The police just waved everyone on so we thought it must be okay but as we approached the smoke we saw it was a protest and burning lorry tyres in the road had brought traffic to a halt in both directions. Not a policeman in sight now. Here we stayed for about half an hour. Finally the traffic started to move and we had to drive by the burning tyres.

As though that wasn't enough excitement for one day we then got stopped three times by police road checks. Twice we got waived on as soon as they saw we were not Argentinians. The third time the policeman spoke to me and I couldn't understand a word he was saying. I know my Spanish is not brilliant but I can usually figure out what they are saying from the words I recognise. As he was repeating himself I realised he had a lisp but luckily he gave up at this point and waived us threw.

The 700 Km road we were driving on crosses from west to east through lush green farmland and a few small towns so we were limited in places to stop. It took us three days to drive across and with no places to camp along the road itself we had to spend the two nights in petrol stations in the rather dismal, dusty and dirty towns. We had another two police check points to pass through. At the second one he didn't ask for Peter's driving licence but for money. I pretended I couldn't understand him and eventually looking a little peeved he let us go.

As we headed east the temperature and humidity rose and rose. After three days in soaring temperatures we made our second executive decision to skip the very northeast of Argentina. With this decision made we decided to head back to Montevideo.

The border crossing into Uruguay was across a huge dam (Salto Gande) that supplies nearly 70% of Uruguays electricity and 7% of Argentinas. Construction began in 1974 and was completed in 1979. Power is generated by fourteen massive turbines. The dam passes approximately 64,000 cubic metres (2,300,000 cu ft) of water per second from a 783 square kilometres (302 sq mi) reservoir.The dam can generate 6,700,000MWh of power and supplies Argentina through 784 Kms of cable and Uruguay through 476 Kms of cable.

It was lovely to be back in Uruguay. It was still quite warm but with lower humidity we both breathed a sigh of relief. The green countryside reminded us of home. We found a garage with two very helpful assistants who gave Arthur a much needed wash. After a days drive we arrived back in Montevideo and in a couple of days we had sorted our and Arthur's return home.