Tuesday – Sucre, Bolivia
The new word for the day, OBOLIVIANED
Another day and another lesson in futility! It started off the normal Bolivian way, we were at the shipping office on time, they weren’t! We had discussed strategy and Chris advised as there were tyres enough for 4 bikes in the box, then at least 4 riders with TVIP’s should turn up, this may have been a big mistake, but hindsight is an annoying thing, especially after the fact! But, the good news of the day was that there was a box there and it was not a figment of his imagination 🙂
Those faces of glee soon turned to WTF!
The reason being, because now Bolivian bullshit came to the surface, the box could not be released until it had been through customs and it could not be opened here. They had to pay for a taxi for two customs people to come here to tell them that and even though Melissa pleaded they were not going to change their minds, they could smell money!!! The box had to go back to the airport and another taxi was ordered for this to happen, bye bye box, maybe never to be seen again 😦
So, that was it for a while, I was thinking this was becoming futile and I may have to just forget the used tyre and buy the new one, although I hate abandoning everyone after all this effort and time. But, the way the customs and import agent were talking, it may not be until tomorrow, so near yet so far! SO, it was off back to the hotel and some more blog work on the semi existing internet connection. The chap kept on resetting it, but when I asked about getting it repaired, he said the chap had come this morning and done the job but it was still faulty, Bolivia! Graham had a bit of fun and got onto the hotels computers in the foyer, also connected to the network(I use that term loosely) and added some text to the wallpaper, he had to do this a few times because the staff kept on clearing it 🙂
We went back to the balcony place for another lunch before heading back for some more struggle with the blog. Late in the afternoon, I had to make a decision as Chris had advised, after the 3pm phone call, the box would have three choices. Basically, the customs people had said the box needed to have some paperwork entered into the system via internet by the customs agent, who’s network was also down at this time. Once that info was entered, they would push a ‘button’, or something and you either get a green, yellow or red light. Green meant take the box now, no more hassle, yellow meant they would check some extra details and this could take 3 days and red meant they would do a full check on everything in the box and it could take a week 😦 I made my decision and went and bought the tyre, I figured, maybe I could add some good karma by not being another anchor on the box. So, with Johannes’ help I took the front wheel and headed in a taxi to the tyre shop.
The tyre I wanted was still there so I bought it, cost of $380Bob, about $53 and had the taxi take me to a tyre fitter. Once there I realised I had left the tyre sensor back at the hotel, so another trip in the taxi, get the sensor, return and finish off the fitting before finally installing the wheel and I was good to go 🙂
That evening during dinner I mentioned I was heading to Uyuni, then from there south and west to Ollagua and the border crossing with Chile. Most of the others had been heading to San Pedro de Atacama but if I wanted to see the Dakar I needed to make a move very soon. With the distance involved and the direction the Dakar event was heading, there was a real good chance of meeting them on a few days. If you look at this map I am near the B in Bolivia and my direction of travel is the red line, by the time I got over the border, the event should be heading north to Iquequi, so I may see them going past and then after that they would be heading the same direction south 🙂
In actual fact this evening a few of the others had also decided to ride to Uyuni, we had been stuck in this hotel for 4 days and a change is good. Chris said if the tyres get out tomorrow he would bus them down to Uyuni, he was staying here no matter what. So, another day down, but with a new front tyre I felt better equipped to attempt the dirt road south and the border.
Day – 0 miles and 0 km
Trip – 48,079 miles and 77,376 km
Salud
TravellingStrom
WORLD 
TravellingStrom 