#Martin's side of the plan than Andrés. who now thinks he has his chance to show it. a grey character who's bringing his own shit to the

[blorbosexterminator]

Do you think the new heist with an almost totally new team would have worked? Only Sergio, Tokyo from the old team and Rio, after they rescued him. IDK about Raquel, she also felt out of place for most time. I liked Monica and Denver's arc, but they had nothing to do with the plan.

That is a really interesting question. I think it depends on what our definition of 'worked' here is. As in, the audience would have rejected it immediately, because, I think, it was never truly about the heist itself but the characters to them. Renewing the show only for them not get the characters back would have felt like a betrayel to the whole international audience, who grew attached to the characters and as a result starting seeing them as 'a true found family'. Which, if we're being completely honest, was never truly there in Part 1, sure some members grow close to each other and there were some natural comradeship, but it was only that.

But aside from that, if we're taking away the audience element and seeing 'worked' as worked on its own right, I honestly think it would. If, for example, the showrunners had played it as two-parts anthology where the only stables are the main duo El Professor and Tokyo, I think there is a chance it could have been stronger than what we got.

Like make no mistake, I love our characters. I especially love Denver and Monica and I don't at all dislike the arc we got for them. All things considered and compared to the rest of them (Nairobi and Helsinki, for example) they *at least* had a theme, a clumsy story, yes, but a story that is completely theirs and fits with them. But even in this case, it wasn't necessary, their story in part 1 wasn't unfinished. And like the rest of the banda whom I like a lot, as you say, they had nothing to do with the plan. No one except Sergio and Martín did. And Tokyo for Río's case. Which DID make the show weaker because they spent a lot of time trying to justify it both to themselves and the audience. No ond had much of a personal stake in. This "war" that they fought, they fought for what? Denver said the most truthful thing in the beginning lmfao. What did he have to do with Rio? Why should he put his family at risk for him? What was Helsinki doing there, who was eventually used only as a prob for Martín? What did Nairobi has here, couldn't she get her adrenaline in a less suicidal mannar? None of their skills was even necessary at all for this particular heist, unlike the first one, where each character was tailor-made for their role. (Even Raquel, as you say, has really been out of place a lot. It does make a mucky factor, because they would have to come up with good narrative reasons why Serquel aren't together and all. But it still remains the fact that the writers didn't know what to do with her for most of the time. Something that could be said on more characters as well)

Now, if we do imagine a La Casa de Papel: Part 2 that has the Gold Heist in focus and makes up a completely new cast. (Honestly, there could have been different ways to pick up to the second part (with still having Tokyo, as she's the literal main character lmfao) other than the Rio plot. But even if we do leave the Rio thing as it is.)

Alongside Marseille and Bogota, we get around 4 other new characters for the banda, and the show fully focuses on all of them, we get to see them in flashbacks with Andrés and Martín as they were chosen by the duo for their plan back then, people who personally believed in it, had different, diverse personal connection to the plans or to its makers, people who were in mind for its design and who are just, much better for the roles lmfao. There's really not a lack of very current and relevant effects of the Spanish colonialism/imperialism (or Europe as a whole lmfao, since part 2 flirted with the bank heist being a huge problem for the EU as a whole.)

We could have even had Rafael starting from season three. Because mind you, Rafael's conception isn't horrible in its own right, it was just badly excuted and unacceptable in the last season. But if he'd been there from the start, and we had a whole first season getting us into his head, fleshing him and his relationship with his father out, and bit by bit we got relevant history through flashbacks until he was fully accepted as a character, then gave him the 'inner spy' arc, it would have been good. We'd have characters who all truly wanted something from the plan.

Obviously, the show pretty much cared for Berlin more than all the other characters. The plan was only truly relevant to him, Martín, and Sergio. And I do think this led to some lack of internal coherence in the second part; the show was dividedly strained between that and making the rest of the banda relevant. There is a lack of, what do you call it....neatness in the second part. It just wasn't focused. It was too many scattered stories and storylines, not all relevant, in one. With a new banda, all neatly and relevantly written for the new heist, it would have been more focused, everyone made part of the whole, there would have been a focused theme that actually felt true, was developed through all the characters. It would have been fresh too—no need to bleed characters dry for more stories when they have already had their stories told. Everything else could have fresh, new, exciting, but still thematically (and better this time) related to the theme of resistance the first part set. As @spiny-norman said, the imperialism theme could have done really well being one of the most important narrative mirrors and cohesion factors to the part 1.

Lastly, I also think it might have more emotional authenticity. The second part was way too sentimental from the start, acting all like the banda had always been one big happy family where that definitely wasn't the terms we left them on at the end of part 1 lmfao. And sentimentality is the lack of emotional authenticity.

[roswellroamer]

Perito Moreno to El Chaltén, Argentina. 2/13/17.

[still no wifi sufficient for pictures so continued words only today…] The above itinerary was at least the original plan… Most riders were ready to go by 7 AM today since we have a 589 km day slated. A simple breakfast and we headed out of the small town under crystal blue skies. We have been ever so fortunate in the weather department and I expected rain at least half our days. We’ve only had one wet day so far. There is a lot of mining around here. Yesterday we stopped to look over a big coal mining operation in Chile. Now on the Argentinian side they are mining gold. The lush green we had in Chile and forests are now replaced by endless scrub. Amazingly this Argentinian “pampa” covers a huge portion of Argentina. It is not desert as it has steady vegetation, but hardly anything taller than 12-18" high. Andrés says much of the 4000 kilometers towards Buenos Aires is this type of terrain. Rain is uncommon but there is some and there are some lakes and creeks. Due to the very consistent strong winds and extreme cold in winter there are basically no trees at all. Occasionally in a protected dip we have seen a tree grow naturally while all others were nurtured through their fragile youth by an attentive rancher so as to later provide a wind break and shade for the few and far between houses out here. Mostly there is just scrub, popping up like warts defiantly from the earth, endlessly to the rolling scrub covered hills in the distance. What is new today is wildlife. Within 20 minutes of leaving Perito Moreno we encountered our first groups of guanaco. Pronounced with the accent on the second syllable. These lama like animals bound with ease over the sheep/cow fencing and graze wantonly along the road and in the pampa. We all must be careful as they can jump in front of a bike or the Jeep with little warning. They seem to congregate in family groups and are on the lookout for eagles who prey on the babies. We saw our first few pink flamingos today, just wading in a small pond on a ranch by the road. We also came across our first ñandu. The ñandu is some sort of close cousin to the ostrich, but only slightly smaller. One valley we crossed before Bajo Caracoles was so wide, it was like “Big Sky” country south! At the gas station/hotel/souvenir shop in Bajo Caracoles (which means low snail 🐌) we all stopped for a coffee and to admire the gas pumps plastered in stickers from around the world. The roads are in great shape and we hardly saw any cars all day long. We are told that from here southward traffic will be sparse except in the towns. We saw many more guanaco today than vehicles.

About 30 miles past the coffee break, we passed a lot more guanacos and a few families of ñandus when Andrés noticed the Jeep was steaming. The temperature gauge showed normal in the middle of the gauge but steam was bellowing out the drivers side of the hood. (Bonnet for those of you reading in Australia as I understand there are a few! 🇦🇺) I had watched him add water this morning to the radiator reserve tank. It turns out that this plastic tank had a leak two years ago and was patched on the outside with epoxy or J-B weld. Apparently that patch has given way under the barrage of chassis jolts we have encountered. As I am writing this (unusually) in real time we have been here for a bit over 2 ½ hours and gone through 3 different “welding” attempts with JB weld. Four motorists have stopped and donated water to the cause. After the second repair, it was much worse with water literally spraying all over Andrés face in second checking out the leak. Our mechanic, Rodrigo is very busy and we are hoping that this next patch will help. The steam which is escaping from about a 2" seam around the equatorial circumference of where this plastic tank was once joined in a factory is a difficult animal to cage. I suggested after the first failure to run a bead along the inside of the weld. An internal, oversized plug has a much better chance of success in a high pressure situation than a patch does on the outside of resisting steam that has already gained momentum and escaped the tank. I think that both have been done on this last repair effort but I now see the satellite phone in our leaders hands and the mention of a restaurant being 20 km’s away… The support vehicle has never failed this somewhat new outfit before (in its 7th year) and the backup plan is to get a replacement truck somewhere somehow if the tank isn’t able to be repaired… we’ll see and hopefully this patch holds! OK, so we made it about 8 km’s maybe (Cheryl says 6) and the oil light came on. Interestingly, the water gauge shows normal but a quick perusal under the bonnet shows continued water leak (oil is fine go figure) and now Andrés says we have big trouble. Murphy’s law is in full effect as this happens on our biggest day and about as far from anywhere as we could be. We are now on the satellite phone seeking assistance… I usually jot down the day’s highlights here as I am heading to la-la land, I have chosen an interesting day to “live blog”. Of course we are a hundred miles from any cell service but I can at least write down in real time what is happening. As of now (3PM, 4 ½ hrs.) we are awaiting the arrival of a flatbed tow truck coming 100+ miles from Perito Moreno arranged by the hotel Americano. The Ride Adventure team is attempting repair #4 in the meantime having completely removed the radiator’s reserve tank and effected more “inside” epoxy work. It seems weird that the Jeep’s design includes a high pressure water tank as a reserve which is strangely (read cheaply) manufactured from two pieces of plastic instead of a one step molding. 😐 A few more folks have stopped and it seems we have garnered enough water to attempt to refill and test the latest repair effort. We are about 15 km’s from a parador/restaurant and I hear clamps tightening… We have had some chips and Cheryl has delved into the “bickies” and cheese. It seems I am picking up all sorts of Aussie terms. Bickies are biscuits down under.

Repair #4 did not work. 😐. It will be about 3 ½ hours since we called for a truck and nearly six since we first got stuck in 10 minutes time. Cheryl and I are planning to hitchhike to the parador where we can get food and baños and await the tow truck. It will be a first for her and some time since I have hitched. Much more emphasis on the Adventure then the Ride today. We tried once again to make it down the road by jumping the now near dead battery with my jumper (POD) battery I brought for just such an occasion. Didn’t get but a few more km’s and things started smoking and we pulled over again. No hitchhiking today for us since the tow truck pulled up just as we were still spraying water and steam out into the parched pampa. Now we are in the cab of a flatbed truck on the way about 130 km’s to Gobernador Gregores. We believe there is someone there who has the capability to fix the leaky water tank. 🙏 The adventure continues. So we have now arrived in Gobernador Gregores about 8 hours behind schedule. We found our way to a nice Hosteria and are currently awaiting the plan for the rest of the trip. If the radiator reserve is repairable we continue with the Jeep but it seems Andrés is working on a replacement vehicle for the remaining legs to Ushuaia. Not much except a few snacks today so we are anxiously awaiting the kitchen’s opening for dinner (cena)! Hopefully everyone ahead of us has had an uneventful day on their bikes. Nice to be inside and out of the constant wind here. Buenos noches.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Chalt%C3%A9n As a postscript to yesterday we found one bike on the road. It had a flat tire and we loaded it up onto the trailer, now towed by a new truck (Toyota Hilux) driven by a new guy Fernando who joins us for a few days? We then stopped in Tres Lagos to see if Martin was OK. Turns out he was OK and had eventually left the bike as darkness fell and the support truck was nowhere to be found. In town (still no phone signal) the police let Andrés use their wifi and we found that one of the other guys (George) had fallen off and broke his clavicle and a rib. Apparently they had hidden the bike and gotten him to a hospital at the next day’s destination, El Calafate as there was a hospital there. So it ended up being quite the day, with Murphy’s law in effect as the riders needed the support truck which itself is now history. The Jeep engine is blown. What we thought was high pressure in the reserve water tank was only due to a “buggered” engine and the engine’s compression was being delivered through the water system due to blown seals and gaskets. Ugh. Andrés is working on a third vehicle to rent in a few days time for now we have the trailer hitched up to the Toyota. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitz_Roy