Oh, how I have wanted to type those three words! If patience was a contact sport then I just went to boot camp. At 9:56am on Monday 11thFeb this year I dropped my bike off at the craters in Australia, 3 months, 5 days, 8 hours later I finally have it now in Lima, Peru. Roughly 97 days, somewhat inflated from the 48 originally promised.
Here are some other statistics for you:
23 – the number of increasingly terse, almost abusive emails written to my incompetent shipping agent in Australia,
4 - the number of bad excuses provided by said agent. And my definition of bad doesn’t necessarily mean false, but come-on, if you are going to make something up then be creative. At least a story featuring Godzilla would have been entertaining.
6 – times I tried to find a place that would sell me mandatory insurance.
1 – time I found myself in the woman’s underwear department trying to purchase said insurance, it’s a long story….
22 – hours sitting in the customs waiting room spread out over four days. Imagine if you will a doctors waiting room. Now close the doors, turn off any ventilation, send the cleaner on an extended vacation, fill it with overweight men yelling into mobile phones and staff it with grumpy, decidedly unhelpful people who would clearly fit nicely next to the dictionary definition of ‘surly’ and then switch to a language that you can’t understand
13 – the number of times I have contorted and squeezed myself into a 40 minute kombi bus ride to the customs and warehouse locations, which just happen to be in clearly one of the most dangerous locations in Lima. Even the locals walk around with petrified expressions and here I am carrying hundreds of dollars required to pay for my bikes ransom!
Uncountable – the number of times I have had to say ‘hablas mas despacio por favor’ (speak slower please) only to receive the sentence again not slower, but faster and strangely, louder as if I was deaf, not simply stupid.
1 – time I have had to ride my bike in night time traffic and congestion that makes ‘chaotic’ seem positively positive.
But the final statistic is 2 – very big smiles from us, ready to get this adventure truly and literally ‘on the road’
So that’s it, from now on the blog takes on a decidedly more ‘mobile’ feel with more pictures and tales from the road. Finally, I can start my odometer…….
Now that the bike has FINALLY arrived I feel the urge to send you a tank of gas......you will however have to wait until payday in a week or so ;-)
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work on the blog, I really enjoy reading it and the pictures you have put up are amazing! I will buy a copy of the book when it comes out!
So where to now you have wheels???? Safe travels!
Vicki Swift
Hi Mark
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear you finally have the bike. What a mission. You patience has been been tested!
Enjoy your travels and hope to catch up with you guys in the next few months somewhere on the road.
Max from Mission Beach