EPISODE 2 : Days 13 to 16 (Foz do Iguaçu to Jujuy)

Day 13 - Wednesday 2 February

Another day mainly of good asphalt main roads through mainly flat lush countryside, although this morning we did find a nice 32 km gravel regularity section.

The rally's lunch halt will be at a pleasant restaurant complex - with swimming pool - alongside the extensive remains of the Jesuit mission of San Ignacio Miní. This site was well worth the time we spent visiting it, and can stand comparison with many European monastic ruins. This whole province is called Misiones, as it was opened up by the Jesuits.

A major irritant of road travel in Argentina is the number of official checkpoints, at many of which you are stopped, made to show your vehicle papers and driver's licence, and interrogated about where you are going. Sometimes you have to show what you are carrying.

These checkpoints are run by a variety of different bodies - police, gendarmerie, fiscal authorities, etc - so you can get two or three in quick succession. In most cases, the officials are pleasant enough, and clearly are only doing their job which includes writing down details of all vehicles going along that road. Our UK vehicle registration and documents puzzle them, but the Magic Letter from the Secretary for Tourism proves useful on more than one occasion. Most meetings end with a handshake and a 'Buena suerte' - which means good luck; perhaps they know we need it.

Tonight we arrived late in Corrientes, after covering about 650 km.

Jesuit ruins at San Ignacio Miní
Jesuit ruins at San Ignacio Miní



Day 14 - Thursday 3 February


A hot sunny day spent sorting out hotels and road book in the two cities of Corrientes and its neighbour Resistencia, across the river Paraná. One of the hoteliers knows the President of the local classic car club, and gets him in immediately; as before, promises of help. He clearly means it, because this afternoon we met him in Resistencia, where he'd gone to get the support of that local club, too. His help may be invaluable, as we haven't had time to talk to the tourism people.

A hot river port, Corrientes comes to life at night. The attractive waterfront avenue, the Costanera, is full of people walking, jogging and chatting. We had a parilla at one of the riverside cafés; this is a mixed grill of meats and offal, served in a dish on a little heater, which in the Argentine tradition was wonderful.
Mercury racer (or mock-up?) seen in Resistencia
Mercury racer (or mock-up?) seen in Resistencia



Day 15 - Friday 4 February

This morning we made an early start across the great bridge over the Paraná for the long, long straight drive right across the Chaco. This is a huge flat area of fertile wetlands, where marshy forests alternate with vast cattle estancias and pools of open water. We saw at least a dozen varieties of interesting birds; and when we stop for fuel the birdsong is like an English dawn chorus. Earlier reports that parts of this road are in poor condition prove unfounded - it is excellent throughout.

Towards the Andes, we noted a 29 km regularity section on good gravel which joins our main road with the next one. It will not be one of the rally's highlights, but at least it does give a competitive element on this day. We try another possible section, which starts out superbly before petering out.

For our last 100 km or so, we have run between distant peaks - a promise of things to come. Having covered over 1,000 km, we arrived in Jujuy just before dusk.


Day 16 - Saturday 5 February

Today we have sorted out Jujuy, which we have now chosen as our rally overnight halt instead of Salta, since it shortens by about 100 km the horrifying run next day to Potosí. Our choice was good - this is an agreeable town with a wonderful cathedral. Pronounced 'Hoohooey', it is one of those Argentine cities which most of the time confusingly uses just the last part of its full name - in this case San Salvador de Jujuy.

A good day. We have looked at three hotels, found two good ones, and located a Main Control site at the cathedral, next to one hotel, as well as a rally car park in front of the other. We also saw a Renault Dauphine on to which someone had grafted a Sierra grille. Sadly, we couldn't meet any senior officials as it is Saturday.

I had noticed on the local map a very promising loop of roads just outside the town, so we went to explore that. It started wonderfully, with a twisting climb on good gravel, but after 8 km the road was totally blocked by a landslide. It wasn't such a big one, though, so we decided to try it from the other end, which yielded a further 15 km of superb mountain rally road before another, bigger landslide. This left a gap of about 6 km, so we noted the route back down. Later, the lady in the tourist information centre told us that the road always got blocked in the wet summer season, but that it would definitely be open in October - great news!

Jujuy is full of tired classics, including this Sierra'd Dauphine
Jujuy is full of tired classics, including this Sierra'd Dauphine

Next: Jujuy to La Paz (to be posted Friday 10 March))