Back in La Paz

While we had planned to repair the chassis in La Paz, we now also needed to repair the door. It was therefore a good job we had given ourselves the option of up to a week in the city. As we had not made it nearly as far as we wanted to the previous day, we still had a fair drive to go. We managed to buy fuel in the town for 5 bol/l and we set off for the capital.

After negotiating the ever-present crazy market and road closures that always seemed to be around Leo and Tacu’s workshop, we opted to pull up outside their house and sleep there for the night. It wasn’t until later on that we saw them both and agreed that in the morning we’d drive round and begin fixing the problems.

The next day, we parked back up outside the garage. I was happy to be here doing the repairs, as I knew these guys would listen to us. I explained the problem and they tutted and shook their heads over the previous welding job. I tried to explain to them how best to repair it. Leo suggested a new piece of chassis, which would definitely be the best solution, but as the Brazilian and European models do not have exactly the same set-up on the rear suspension, this would probably be hard to come by.

I told them about the welding we had done in Ecuador that seemed to be holding up, but they were struggling to visualise it, so we took it apart to better show them how the angle had been affected. Now it was all in pieces, we were on the same page.

The thing I like about these guys is that they know what they can do. While they do have a welder, they said this job needed someone more skilled, as it was so structurally important, and so we hopped in Leo’s Beetle and went to speak to the torno. This was the same guy who had made us a lovely new set of brake pad pins and they were holding up just fine, so I was more than happy for him to do it. The only problem was that, as he was clearly good, he was clearly quite in demand and so didn’t have availability for a few days. He recommended another welder just down the street from him, and we all walked down to have a chat with him.

Pepe was outside his shop, putting the finishing touches on some large metal table. The other guy introduced us and explained the problem. I showed him some pictures and we booked ourselves in for Monday.

With the weekend now looming, I did my best to reassemble Ruby so that we could move round to sleep outside the house again. The road outside the garage was busy and there was also a nearby club at the weekends. As the metal had moved so much, it was nearly impossible to reassemble the suspension properly and so I had to leave out the bushes. We crawled slowly on the uneven paved streets back to the house. It was worth it for a quiet night.

With the van waiting for the workshop on Monday, we had a weekend to kill. On Tacu’s recommendation, we headed down to a parts shop in the city to find new door handles. The majority of the force from the accident had hit the door handle, crumpling it completely. While the door itself and the wheel arch below needed some TLC, the good news was that the collectivo had managed to miss not only the B-pillar but also the A-pillar. Our new front panel was untouched and all the damage was confined in between the two.

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We walked the now familiar route to the cable car, catching the first and then the second connecting line down into the city. We had been here before, outside the cathedral, but hadn’t ventured up behind it to where the automotive section of the city was. We had a recommended shop to visit for VW parts, but as we walked in we saw them everywhere. We popped into a shop and there it was—it’s that easy if you own a Brazilian Kombi. We got a price for everything before heading back to get out some cash.

As we searched for a free cash point, we walked past the window of a nearby vet. The shutters were down, but the cages were still visible through another window. All were empty apart from one. The saddest, fluffiest kitten I have ever seen sat there alone. It wasn’t sleeping, eating or playing, which from my knowledge of kittens is pretty much all the settings. It sat staring at the floor. It had food, water and a little tray, but that didn’t stop its sad little face staring back at us from behind the glass. It was probably a good thing the shop was shut, as I would have walked in right there and then and taken it.

Back at the parts shop, we easily bought new handles, suspension bushes and a headlight trim. With the VW stuff sorted, we walked round to another shop to find a new brake line. It seems that not only did the previous welder do a horrible job, they also managed to crush the brake line in the disassembly process. With this too in our possession, we decided to check out the city around us.

We had walked past lots of English pubs and couldn’t resist the temptation to see how accurate this was.

We walked down the colourful streets lined with Arsenal shops until we made it to the Lucky Llama Irish Pub. We ordered some incredibly loaded nachos and a drink, and took a minute to enjoy ourselves. We probably would have stayed longer, but we realised that we still needed some bolts and so we headed back to the shop, just in time to catch them before the doors shut. We decided that we would come back tomorrow instead and have ourselves a ‘tourist day’, now that all the parts for Ruby were ready to go.

While there were other places we could have tried, the free pool and loaded nachos drew us back once again to the Lucky Llama the next day. It was conveniently situated right next to the famous Witches’ Market, which we wandered around first. It was a shame that much of it seemed shut, but there were still several stalls selling the items that give the place its name. Llama foetuses were among the many popular things you could buy. We also spotted a dried baby pig amongst the amulets, herbs and trinkets.

Back in the pub, we made good use of the pool table and enjoyed some more nachos. We had spent a whole day enjoying ourselves out of the van and that was a nice break. La Paz has so many other things to offer and we hadn’t even begun to look at them. We hoped that when we re-entered Bolivia we’d have time to come back and do more.

With our fun day complete, we set an alarm for the following morning. We had agreed to be at the welders for an 8am start.

Perhaps we should never have trusted my ability to find things in a city. I grew up with trees and fields. I can get my bearings in a forest or open countryside. Streets all look the same to me and it takes me ages to find my way around them.

I was convinced that we had pulled up at the right place and so we waited. For a couple of hours. Outside some closed gates.

Then we messaged Leo, annoyed that the guy wasn’t there. He drove back with us and as he turned the corner where we had been waiting, I got a horrid sinking feeling as I realised I had us waiting just around the corner. If we had moved forward a few metres, we’d have even seen the door. Feeling like a complete and utter idiot, we now arrived outside the right place. At least Latin America is very relaxed. No one but me was giving us a hard time about my stupid mistake and so it wasn’t until midday that we finally got started.

I offered to dismantle it and, seeing it in pieces, Pepe quickly grasped the situation and what we wanted. He set off to find us a pipe the right size that would slot inside the two pieces and align the torsion tube once more. He was gone for several hours and finally returned with something. He hadn’t been able to find the right size and so he set about modifying a slightly bigger one into the correct width. He welded on the end and then hammered it down into the tube. Checking his little book of notes and measurements, he realigned it all and welded it in place. I slid the torsion bar in and it sat perfectly in the centre. He had done an excellent job and only wanted to charge us less than £40 for it.

It was dark and late by the time we had the suspension all back together. Despite the fact that I had marked the bar position, the sagging chassis meant that even though it was refitted in the same place, the height was totally different now. We drove back wonkily, but at least we didn’t have to worry about the wheel falling off completely anymore.

With the major issue now fixed, it was Tuesday. We still had a few days left and so we drove back round to see if the guys could hook us up with a bodywork place. Tacu accompanied us in Ruby to a nearby garage that he said had repaired something for him before. When we got there though, the guy wasn’t in. We drove round to another one and had better luck there. The guy came and inspected it. He told us it would cost £30 to beat out the door and respray it. We couldn’t quite believe it and we were more than happy to drop him off at the local paint shop to order the colour for tomorrow.

Once again, it was an 8am start. As Lee had come this time, there was no fear of us repeating the same mistake and before we knew it we were parked in his little courtyard and he was beating out the door. He spent eight hours fixing up Ruby, including painting her. That meant we were in and out in a day, with it all pretty much sorted. The colour matched perfectly. It hadn’t taken much time or money and we couldn’t have been happier. The only thing we still needed to do was fix the internal door mechanism—it appeared that the impact had bent it and even with our new handle we couldn’t open it from the outside.

Back outside Leo’s house, we told him we were all done and would be heading off tomorrow. He offered to help us get some fuel before we left and so the next morning we headed off once again in the Beetle. He said that apparently in La Paz you are only allowed to fill one thing, once a day. He filled the tank on his Beetle for us, which apparently is only 20 litres, so we could have just put it straight in our jerry can and been no worse off. Still, that would be enough fuel to get us to the border and then in Peru it would be easy once again.

As things had gone so smoothly with our repairs, we decided to treat ourselves to one night at our favourite lake spot in absolute peace and quiet before hitting the border. It was the perfect way to finish Bolivia as we sipped our honey beer in the sun and watched the birds floating amongst the reeds along the lakeshore. I only wished we had more than one day there, but visa limits meant we had to keep moving.

Tomorrow, we would re-enter Peru.