I think we are all rubbing off on one another, we are all different now to when we started with Leg 1 in 2012. Who would have thought that Pie would become caring? Last night he went to the cafe across the road from our Hostel and bought me a water and a Fanta (Cooldrink) and dropped it off in my room while I was sweating through my fever, and asked if I was OK. And this morning he gave me my lunch of the previous day which I missed, a bread roll he made himself with the meat of the previous night and from bread he cut himself!!!!! Hell might just freeze over after all. He insisted I take it and eat it for breakfast, but my stomach was still not well and I was not 100% yet, plus, the meat on said sandwich was already 36 hours old and has not spent any time in a fridge, it sounded like more trouble to me, so without telling Pie I left it in my room before I left.
But as they say, “No Good Deed Goes Un Punished.” So today old Murphy and his Law chose Pie to make him suffer. Let me explain.
Tonight we are 200km short of the town we planned to sleep in. We spent the whole day on the road, (or more accurately, next to the road.) Pie had to attend to some urgent business matters, and there was no Cell Phone Signal for most of the day. So we rode on until we saw a small little house with a sign on the pavement saying “Cafe” so we stopped for Coffee (and she served us stale bread, about 3 days away from being Rusks and it was supposed to be dipped into a watery jam, nogal Lekker,) there was Wi-Fi. So while we drank Moer Koffie, Pie was on the phone briefing Lawyers and Advocates and getting an Urgent Court Order issued against the City of Johannesburg. We wasted more than an hour.
More photos of this morning:
These inconsiderate fools with their stickers, you can hardly see we are on Route 40:
We rode in the valley the entire day and we crossed this very big river several times, can’t imagine what it would look like when it is in full flow after the rains.
Builders rushing out on a job with their trailer hitched to their vehicle:
Then we continued through the flat farm-lands and started seeing vineyards. The road went through one settlement after another, but no shops or fuel stations, our fuel was getting very low and we had to push on another 94km to the next fuel stop, my bike showed I would make 80km, so I snuggled onto my Tank Bag and tucked myself in behind my screen and hoped for the best.
At a stage Pie followed me with his front wheel right against my back wheel to stay in my slipstreem and save fuel. Millsy and Peens was ahead and Rocky stopped to add another layer of clothing, and when I looked again I was all on my own, with 7,5km to go to the fuel. When I got to the fuel station one that was ahead of me were there, and Pie those behind me did not arrive either. So I filled up with fuel and filled my bladder and turned around to save the day and give my stranded mates some fuel, only to find nobody on the road waiting to be saved. I carried on for 20km then realized they must have turned off the main road in search of fuel in a small little village next to Route 40. So I continued alone, hoping to catch up with them as I was sure they were now ahead of me.
Big was my surprise when I met up with Peens at a Fruit Seller and learnt that Pie’s bike had an electrical problem and was still at the fuel station and they were trying to find the fault. So peens and I continued and ordered a big lunch of chicken and empanadas and some sausage.
My Fruit Seller & Money changer below. The inflation rate is so high in Argentina, (currently down to 66,9% but was around 79% last year,) so that the local people will take any foreign currency as they know even Soles from Peru or the Chilean Dollar is worth holding as their Argentinian Pesos is losing value all the time, worse than our poor Rand, for now.
Our lunch stop:
Look below, how interesting, they have a different way to Butterfly the chicken, they don’t just cut it down the middle, they also then pull the breast part forward, clever, why did I not think of this.
The Empanadas came straight from the oil and was filled with a chicken and potato mixture, LOVELY !!!
We waited and ate and waited watching life goes by. Rocky sent notice that we should look for a motorbike mechanic and they will load the bike on a trailer and bring it to the Machanic. I found this guy who mainly works on Brush Cutters, Bicycles and Scooters, he laughed at my question about KTM Electrical Problems, I did not need to translate his response.
While I was looking for a Machanic Rocky found a car with a trailer, (including a new family for him,) and was negotiating a price to bring Pie’s broken bike to the “Machanic” I found.
And while Peens and I was sitting at the “restaurant” it was all action 100km back with all the damage caused my Murphy:
The problem has been showing itself since the Salt Flats and on a few occasions, when turning the steering to the left, the bike would cut-out, usually while overtasking with a fast approaching truck.
They eventually found the fault, taped it together, brushed the bikes teeth and were on their way.
Peens had found us a hotel with very bad Wi-Fi and cold water, but they allowed the hungry late-arrivals to sit on their garden furniture and eat the Doggy Bag Peens and I packed them from lunch.
We now had 2 short days in a row and will have to start pushing a little as we still have 800km to Mendoza, so hopefully Murphy is now off our backs and we can have a clear run down to the Stellenbosch (wine capital of South Africa) of Argentina where we plan to end this Leg.
And on the bright side, a while ago I decided to see where the thief that stole my Lap-Top was and if he had managed to go on line with it yet, if he did it would immediately be “wiped” or erased, of all my information. To my surprise I found it Pinging in terminal 3 at the airport in São Paulo. It did not move for about a week and then it was moved to a new location near Passport Control. Long story short, after several emails the Lost and Found of Terminal 3 confirmed they have my MacBook Air and I have 60 days to come and collect it, so I guess no one stole it from under my nose while sleeping, I must have taken it out of my bag while having a coffee at Starbucks just before we boarded the plane and someone from Starbucks kept it in their office and then handed it in. I will definitely go in search of this person who handed in my computer and reward him/her handsomely. See screen shot I took when searching on Find My Phone.
So with that good news I say goodbye tonight.
Have great weekend you’all
Fleisch
Murphy be GONE!!
Good luck for tomorrow xx
Love you madly!