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We met with the owner today who are selling several pieces of land in Santa Rosa De Calamuchita. The land that he had available was just outside the town centre in Villa Adelina. It is an unspoilt area close to the Santa Rosa river and surrounded by mountains. We started to negotiate only to find that the prices that he advertised are not the same prices. I have later learned in Argentina that “prices are always rising”, especially when you are a foreigner.

Andrey and I took a very good look at the land available and decided on a corner piece of land. We took pictures of the land and told the owner that we would get back to him. In Argentina you need to be very careful when you buy land. People will pressure you to pay a deposit or sometimes the full amount. You always need to work through lawyers and not be pushed into a transaction. He insisted that we pay a deposit but we refused until we have seen some paperwork. He contacted us the same evening and told us that we could meet at an attorney in Cordoba to inspect all the paperwork.

Here are some background on the Dakar race.

“Considered the most dangerous race on the planet, the Dakar Rally starts on Saturday with 378 drivers taking part in the second edition staged in South America because of security concerns.

Dunes, desert, mountains and other hostile terrain lie in wait for 138 cars, 161 motorbikes, 29 quads and 50 trucks in the 16-stage race that covers 9 030km across Argentina and Chile before finishing on January 16 in Buenos Aires.

Last year’s winner, Ginield De Villiers of South Africa, leads the favourites. The 2009 champions in other categories also return: Spanish motorbike rider Marc Coma, Czech quad driver Josef Machacek and Russian truck driver Firdaus Kabirov.

The symbolic start of the race will take place Friday, with a 349km drive from emblematic Buenos Aires monument, the Obelisk, to the city of Colon.

Racing begins the following day from Colon with a 684km first stage to Cordoba. Drivers then head to La Rioja and Fiambala in Argentina before going to Copiapo on January 5, the first Chilean city to host the Dakar, followed by Antofogasta, Iquique, La Serena and Santiago.

The race returns to Argentina, passing through San Juan, San Rafael, Santa Rosa and finally Buenos Aires. The only rest day in the 32nd edition of the Dakar Rally will be January 9.

Teams from Volkswagen and BMW are the favourites. Volkswagen boasts De Villiers, as well as former world rally champion Carlos Sainz from Spain and Qatari driver Al Attiyah.

BMW will have French driver Stephane Peterhansel behind the wheel, a six-time champion on motorbikes and three-time winner in cars of the Dakar Rally in Africa, plus Nani Roma of Spain.

“The Dakar is the hardest race in the world, you have to work hard and suffer a lot,” said Roma, the 2006 winner. “But when you get to be champion, it’s worth it.” “

Now for my experience!

It is difficult to describe how it feels to be part of such a big event. Some people only manage to watch this on television. Some people never get to see it. I was very lucky and I am grateful for the organizers who decided that the route past our hostel should be included.

Honestly I had no idea what to expect. I knew that 378 drivers were going to take part and that in itself was already enough for me. I had my camera ready, battery charged and I found a very nice spot to be able to take decent pictures. But when the first bike approached I almost missed it because I was so excited. I wanted to get the perfect angle, I wanted to wave and scream and some times I missed the photo opportunity because it was so great to see the riders taking the time to enjoy the atmosphere.

Andrey was excited to see the performance of the Russian drivers and I could not find any South Africans eventhough the winner last year was a South African. But they decided to use the abreviation ZAF and not SA and I only realized it this morning when I was putting names to the drivers. We had some SA drivers and I have some pictures of them!

It was a hot and beatiful day. When the bikes came past some people were complaining that it was too slow. But I don’t think people realize how difficult it is to ride a 2 wheeler. Bikes are not new to me. Back in SA I had a 250cc offroad as well as a 450cc road bike. Here the road is difficult and you need to be so careful not to slide and get injured. It was not easy for drivers to overtake and go very fast. First they went throught the river and then they switched over to some very muddy areas. Then they were back on sand and rocks. You could hear some bikes beeping and obviously something was wrong. Some drivers got upset and others were checking their bikes to see what was wrong. Some spectators were upset and I was totally amazed. Then the quads came and it was easier fro them and they kicked up quite a performance!

Next to come was the cars and man did I enjoy them. They were absolutely great! Then we had the buggies and a little later came the big trucks. I have never seen them before and they were so laid back with 3 people in the cabin. They were hooting and people were cheering.

Luckily we had no injuries here. The police did an excellent job to keep people of the roads. Some people were really doing some crazy things by trying to go on the road with their cars or bikes, but they got stopped. In Rio Cuart a woman was killed and people were injured.

I had a wonderful, wonderful day and I can only say thank you to Dakar who made this event possible. i wish all the drivers well and thank you to the drivers who took the time to wave back at me and who obviously enjoyed the time!

Go Dakar!!!