THE INCA TRAIL

the big South American adventure rally

Day 36: El Calafate - Torres del Paine (Chile) (434km)

Early morning Time Control somewhere in Argentina

Car collection

As the Inca Trail pushes further south towards Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego, we're beginning to say farewell to the Andes: the Torres del Paine are their dramatic final fling.

The rally has gone up goodness knows how many inclines - and back down again. And these roads offer rich pickings for road sign spotters. How about the one indicating 'Burning tyres on the roadside prohibited' for example? Or 'Don't turn the road into a rubbish dump'?

The sheer variety of steep hill warnings has been excellent: have we been seeing an archive of signs covering the past 45 years or so? Spotted in silhouette, running up or down an improbable 45 degree incline have been the following: Volvo PV544 - Porsche Speedster (very rare, this one) - Peugeot-style box saloon - big Cadillac-style box saloon - and (another rarity) a Datsun 240Z. In some places the box saloons are further embellished by air slipstream lines - presumably to give guidance about the direction of travel: just to be clear over whether the forthcoming hill goes up or down. Any additions to the collection from members of the rally are most welcome.

Taxi!

Inigo Paternina is looking forward to being reunited with his and Jose Capristano's Porsche 356B. They've not had the best of luck. When they had problems before the start in Rio, a new engine was fitted. Then more problems - and a second new engine: fitted in Lima. But to their despair that one seized too, and the car has been transported to Comodoro Rivadavia for another transplant. Meanwhile, friends of Inigo were to have met him to carry the crew around the rally route - but they failed to show up. Undeterred, Inigo secured the services of a local taxi driver 'fortunately we get on just fine' - who will be driving 4,500km with the rally until we reach Comodoro Rivadavia ... Wonder how much his tip will be?