3 weeks delay,

The slow train bumps for 14 hours at night to get to Santiago and pick up the parts. You would probably be quicker with an invalid vehicle, but the heating is on and peering out of the window I dream away in memories and future plans.

The "stuff" was flown to the international airport by Iberia. I turn up, nicely shaved, at the customs office where 3 ladies listen giggling to my silly Spanish. I try to get them to hand over the parts without having to pay import duties. These duties are insane because 25% on top of the official bill of € 1750 is not peanuts ! They calculate, phone, discuss and stamp and half an hour later I walk out of the door with 15 kilo's of parts under my arm. Costs ? 0 peso's ! Don't understand it at all.



Again the slow train bumps for 14 hours and stops early in the morning in Temuco where I get off the antique machine, feeling beat. The rest of the day I don't get anything done but on sunday morning when everybody is in church, sending their best wishes upwards, I start working on the Yamaha to get it back on the road again.

I finally lift the motorblock of the table to put it back in the frame, which has been waiting patiently for almost 3 weeks. With only 10 degrees Celcius in this workplace it is not really a holiday camp here but together with Mika, another stranded Yamaha traveller, I have a lot of fun and we finish the job. In the evening the machine gets a kick under its butt and comes to live without grumbling. It sounds like never before. For half an hour the motor runs as quiet as a mouse till everything is red-hot. Try out all the gears and let the cooling start. Check the oil level and cooling fluid again and the bike is ready for take off.
The weather is lousy and ther are still apointments for doing some work on a BMW and welding a Yamaha frame. I've started working on an hourly wage, because it is getting busier every day.




Looking back, the motorbike already died in Cartagena, Colombia after 30.000 kilometres.
The motorbike was built in '92 and I bought the Yamaha new in '98. Already knowing of this journey, the bike was well preserved in the living room to be able to start this journey with a new motorbike.
I sent an official complaint by e-mail to Yamaha but that's labour lost because they don't even take the trouble to react and help me think of a solution.
It have been 40.000 heavy kilometres and it's a fact that one cilinder bikes are less strong. Ofcourse the garanty period was long expired and problems can always be expected but this is not what I call good publicity for and from Yamaha.

The weather is still drizzling when I finally get in the saddle the next morning and say goodbye to Temuco to leave for the 3500 kilometres over the Carrentera Austral to Ushuaia.