Yesterday after Siesta ended (not that I had any Siesta) I walked to the Tyre-Man to see how Peens was doing with “cracking open” his forks, and got there just in time to see him spill all the oil over his shorts and on the floor. Our storage is 40km out of the city of Mendoza Down Town and is in a suburb called San Martin. It is such an eye opener to see how the people live. Most of the very humble little houses has a “side hustle” going. Like behind ourTyre Man there is a Pet Shop operating behind all the types from the same premises, how they don’t go crazy I don’t know, as all the dogs never stops barking, there are baby cats running around between all the old tires, and many many birds screech non stop.

Other houses sells Pizza through a hatch, many sells Empanadas (small half moon home made Pies,) other has a beauty or nail bar going, one sells vegetable and fruit from their front porch. other places were still busy with Siesta, so not sure what they sell.

Some of you who has been following us for a while will remember Dog, he is an ex military man who is now a Houston Policeman, a friend Tex made when he emigrated to the USA. Well you might remember Dog drove our Back Up Vehicle from Mongolia, through China and into Laos. Later he joined us when we traveled through the USA and Canada, but he did not join us through Central America and South America. But the good news is that he has shipped his KTM to Mendoza and will hopefully get the bike out of the Bonded Storage at Customs and be able to ride with us on the next few Legs.

However, we have just heard from Dog on our WhatsApp Group that there is once again a “problem” with the Customs Department and Dogs bike might only be released tomorrow, Day 1 of our riding ???? And the promise of 9h30 is a lie, we have had lots of experience in the past, Customs Officials are like Builders, you know they are lying when there lips move. (Just a joke.)

Here is a very tired Dog in the video below, (I wonder where he plans to put that hat while he rides???)

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Last night we went out for dinner at a little Street Cafe, a young Swiss couple joined us. They took 4 months leave from work and was busy riding through South America on two Royal Enfield Himalayas when Jasmin’s bikes gearbox blew-up, Michel then towed her for 500km over the next three days to Mendoza where they left it at the local Royal Enfield dealership and flew to the Amazon for 2 weeks. They also returned yesterday, and have learnt her bike is still not ready. They camp whenever they can in a very small little tent, (see below.)

This is what a 400cc Royal Enfield Himalaya looks like:

Being Swiss, they are VERY organized, and know how to pack. This compartmentalised bag fits exactly into one of their panniers.

Michel “3D Printed” a Speaker, and it was printed to fit inside their printed coffee Plunger-type Percolator, and inside the plunger part fits a little coffee bean mill. Once the mill is removed and the speaker inserted the empty part help make the sound resonate and it then sounds like a big speaker and not just a little “printed” speaker.

But it was time for them to go and apply pressure at the Machanic working on her bike and it was time to say goodbye.

All the other guys of the group arrived after lunch and immediately started working on their bikes, except Rocky, our Minister of Finance who had to pay Valentin for the Storage Fee and for transporting us to and from the Airport.

The oil leak Peens found was under Pie’s bike, so he had more problems than the rest of us to solve.

We needed to replace Bolts on most bikes that had rattled out over the past two trips, that is what days in the Andes Mountains will do to a bike, we were lucky to see it on Rockys bike at the end of the last Leg, and when we looked at our own bikes we saw several bolts missing, the exhaust or Panniers held by a single bolt with two out of three missing.

After 17h00 we all set off :

Not to the city of Mendoza, but back to Tyre Man where several things had to happen to several bikes, plus another set of tires fitted to Peens’s bike, with tyres brought by Tex, who thought his tires were worse and brought a pair, but then decided not to fit tires on this trip but only on the next trip. We also needed to borrow more special tools (a grinder to cut off parts of the bolts we fitted that were too long.) Once again I sat in agony listening to the Pets making loud noise.

While there a local guy came in for tires to his truck, drinking the traditional Tea drunk by the locals, called Yerba Mate, which is drunk from a little “cup” and sipped through a metal straw-like strainer. It is an acquired taste.

Then we rode to the city and checked into the same hotel we stayed at last time. Met up with Dog and tonight we will go out to celebrate that we got through the 1st day, always my worst day of the trip as everyone is tired after about 24 hours of travel, some Jet Lagged, and stress to get all the bikes going and to organize your panniers and discover how poorly you took notes at the end of the last trip. I brought 6 pairs of black riding socks, only to discover I left 7 pairs here. I also should not have brought a sweater and  not any underpants as the 6 pairs I brought looks pretty simple next to the 6 pairs I left here in April.  I re-read my notes and can now see where the confusion came from, as I wrote under my notes on my phone, under the heading “What to Bring” things like Lip-Ice, Imodium, Spare GPS, etc. and there I also wrote “No Black Socks” and “No Underpants” instead of just writing Socks and Under Pants, so when I told myself I had nothing I brought, now I have plenty.

But I managed to stuff everything into my panniers and fought the lids closed, only to find that Roque bought me a bottle of Jamesons Whisky as a present, for which I am very thankful, so I had to either leave the whisky or ditch some socks and underpants, guess what I left? There will be some clean socks and underpants for a rather large Over-Lander staying over at Valantin’s Camp Site.

Peens ditched some Boots and a Helmet, Millsy ditched a rain suit as they brought replacements, these things do not last forever, but we hope some person will pass through Mendoza and find that the things we left are in better shape than what they were wearing. I doubt Peens’s boots will get any takers, at least not to a person who has a sense of smell, no matter how poor.

OK folks, that is it, We chat again tomorrow.

XXXXX

Fleisch