Day 73/74/75 - Cali

Day 73

Having stopped for the day i decided to wash the motorbike, when was driving tho the petrol station i got stopped by the police, more for a chat than anything else, but they asked to see my documents, which i produced. Unfortunately i had not purchased the mandatory columbian insurance, so i was driving illegally. Fortunately the police decided not to fine me and showed my where to purchase the documents. On arriving i filled out the paperwork, only to be told the system was down, come back tomorrow. 

It was then that my clutch cable decide to snap. Arriving back at the hostel the owner, mike (also a biker) helped me to trawl through the local suppliers to try and find a replacement - non found.

Whist planning my next move Mike and i decided to grab a beer and sit on the hostel patio facing the street, all calm…than a motorbike drove passed, the passages suddenly produces a machine gun and shoots three people at the bar next to us and drives off. It happen so quickly it took about a minute to register what we'd seen, another 5 to native the holes in the umbrella above us and the holes in the signs behind. The police turned up in force, but told us it was a mafia, drug related killing and they would never catch anyone. The remainder of the night we were told to stay in the hostel. no problem.

Day 74

Got my insurance, you can only buy 3 months, had to be done but hugely expensive…

When i returned to the hostel Mike told be he had called BMW Bogata and they had the clutch cables in stock and could ship them at the beginning of the week, would take 2-3 business days to arrive. On hearing this i decided, maybe a little hastily that the best/easiest and quickest way to fix the bike would be for me to fly to Bogata, so decision made, flights booked, taxi ordered off i went to Bogata. Arriving i got taxi to BMW picked up the parts then on to a hostel for the night.

Day 75

Bogata airport is been refurbished, big problems, big delays…the plane back to Cali arrived late morning. From the rain in Bogata i was greeted with more rain and 33 degree heat. With some help i managed to replace the cable. By this point it was to late to set off…tomorrow.

one of the bullet holes in the sign behind me