(3) Guatemala and points south 
with Frank Butler
We hung around in port most of the day before we could get unloaded, some of the bikes had picked up a few new scratches which did not go down well with the owners, but we were lucky that the crossing had been relatively smooth and the bikes had not been covered in salt spray.
In Cartagena I was going to stay with Fernando Morales.... I never got to say a proper goodbye to the rest of the gang on the boat. I was keen to clear Customs on the bike and didn't want to give them any reason to be unreasonable, so unlike the other guys with bikes I went straight to Customs who were very helpful. I then went to find a hotel, and by the time that was done I was too tired to go to the farewell party, so I went to bed, maybe I am getting too old for this life style..or maybe I just like being on my own after five days at sea with thirteen other people in a smallish boat.
Cartagena is an old historic Spanish-style town in Colombia in the north of South America on the Caribbean coast.The reason I mention this is because it is about ten degrees north of the equator and as such it has a whole lot of weather. It was raining as it only can in the tropics. I was out on the bike in town and got caught coming back, even the insides of my ears were wet. Soon the rain will stop and the humidity will go up to about ninety percent, which is only a few degrees less than you would find in a sauna.
I am making plans to meet the Dakar Rally in northern Chile in the New Year and will probably do some diving work here as I need a lot of pounds to do an engine rebuild on the bike.
You get kind of used to your own company when you ride for endless hours on your own...I wonder if this will be a permanent condition.
That thought aside I went to see Fernando in Turbaco a little town twenty kilometres south of Cartagena. Staying with Fernando was like staying in a Fraternity house must be.He was showing me around the house, when he opened the fridge with great pride he showed me the empty shelves. Like all single men I have nothing in my fridge, Fernando had been widowed eighteen months earlier and was obviously still missing his wife very much. The house had no rules, do as you wish, come and go when you want, stay as long as you like.
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Fernando was also hosting a couple of young Argentinians who were traveling around south America in an old Ford Falcon selling tee-shirts which promoted their trip around south America...why do I never think of things like that.I spent most of my time there trying to sort out a place to get Beem looked at. He had been grumbling for the last few weeks in a most un-germanic way, and was becoming a pig to ride, no power and uncharactoristic noises, I had diagnosed the problem as crankshaft bearing, based on the engine noise underload. So I was trying to find a place to get a good engine rebuild...cheap.
I sent out a call for help on Horizons Unlimited
and a flood of replies came back with various recommendations, but most were to take the bike to Ruta 40 in Medellin about six hundered kilometres away to the south.
Carlos Gomez sent a message that he and a bunch of friends were coming up to a little holiday town called Rincin del Mar about a hundred kilometres south of where I was and that I could ride down and meet them there and ride back to Medellin with them. So that is what I did.I said farewell to Fernando, Philippe and the Argentinians and headed down the road in cool afternoon sunshine. After a hundred odd kilometres the road turned to dirt so I carried on for another fifteen k's and came to the sandy mainstreet of Rincin del Mar a small fishing village recently trying its hand at tourism. I met Carlos, his brother Andres, a couple of Albertos and a whole gang of beautiful women, at the little hotel right on the beach.
Next morning at six o'clock we were all packed up ready to leave...the thing is..it had been raining through the night, not a lot but not a little, so the road that I had enjoyed cruising in on had now turned into south America's longest skating rink, It wasn't that it was rough it was that it was as slippy as hell, you could hardly stand up on the bloody thing, much less ride a heavy motorcycle on it. Having said that this is one of the rare times when I had just the right tyres on Beem, the other bikes were V stroms and big BMWs and they were suffering, the Vstroms particularly were collecting mud on the front wheel to the point where it was loocking up. That fifteen kilometres took us two hours with just about everyone taking a fall, it was a bad start to the day. Once we hit the tarmac there was much back slapping in that particularly South American way.Back on the sealed roads the big bikes were off and running, once more back in their element, and me and Beem were tail-end Charlie again, poor old Beem coughing and wheezing but trying his best. Nine oclock that night we all arrived in Medellin safe and sound if a little wet, the Medellin boys had got us there in one piece...I never take for granted the extraordinary effort that bikers will go to to look after their own, it makes me proud to be part of this small band of brothers.
Andres brought me to Kasa Kiwi a hostel in the upmarket end of Medellin and got me sorted for accomodation he left the reseptionist with instructions to make sure I get to Ruta 40...the BM people.
Next morning the receptionist had my map drawn and phone numbers all listed, he offered to call a taxi to guide me...Me who has been wondering around the world for years annoying pedesrians and motorists alike with silly hand gesture and facial expressions. I found the place in ten minutes The bike was being worked on in twenty.
Like I said, I was convinced that the problem was connecting-rod bearings, which would mean taking the engine completly apart and rebuilding it, and considerable expense and time and a high degree of skill...I wasn't worried I had the time, the other requirements were more uncertain.
I hove the bike into the workshop, and expressed my concerns about the need for an engine rebuild. The head machanic Andres said the problem was probably fuel...he said central American fuel was shit...I told him that Beem had blasted through India, and their fuel is three parts Kerosene, so I didn't think this was the cause...Andres said we'll see...in Spanish of course.
I stripped the bike down and Andres took the carburettor that houses the fuel injection unit off, and cleaned it up and said that it would be best to send it to an Injector specialist, have it crack pressure and spray pattern checked, the inline filter replaced and the whole thing cleaned, $30 why not ? I took the primary fuel filter off and Andres checked its flow rate ... 'aha aha aha, listen to the pump, the pump is working too hard, that is a problem.' I said 'not to worry I have a new one that I have been carrying since I bought it from a Spanish biker in Morocco two or three years ago.' We stuck that on the pump ... Whhhooosh flowing like a good'un !
'That is your problem' Andres said with a smile...that was the best news I could have hoped for.
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That weekend I went with Carlos for a ride around the pueblos (villages) to check Beem out and see the sights... he was going better than new..I was so happy. The new tyres were a dream. Thay were quiet, I didn't miss the weeear sound that worn-out knoblies make, I can tell you that.The next day was Sunday, and I said goodbye to Medellin. That had been a really good stop. Beem doesn't know himself, going like a trouper now, that should see him through to the end of the trip, I hope...
November 9th
We will be moving south through Colombia for the next few days, so will be maintaining radio silence. Apparently there are still places where it is better to pass through early in the day as the danger increases as the light decreases. They don't tell you about that in the brochures...
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November 20th
Hola !
Just arrived in Quito. Next Lima, Peru.
December 14th
I am in Trujillo on the coast of Peru about five hundred kilometres north of Lima...all is well. I am waiting for Fernando and Isi to catch up they are on their way from Cartagena. Should be here in a couple of days.
Peru is lousy with Police I was stopped five times yesterday..mind you one of them was for going around a roundabout the wrong way..long story, no fine.
Beem is going like a champion and I am well...losing a few pounds getting ready to go home and face the crowds. I have a new plan...surprise , surprise. I am going to mount a major expedition around PNG going up the Sepik River and down the Fly River and circumnavigater the coast.....
December 27th
After meeting up with Isa and Fernandezm we decided to head for Lake Titicaca, over 12,000 feet up in the high Andes, on the border netween Peru and Bolivia.
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