Saturday, 23 June 2012

Trouble Comes In Threes

After being ill on the first week and then the $1000 going walkabout the second, I was waiting for the third bit of bad luck to get out of the way.  So today it seems was the day.  I had made a massive list of things I needed to buy and was steadily driving round the city stopping off to buy the said items, when I turned a corner and the back end slipped away.  I managed to get my foot down in time so think I took it quite gracefully considering.  Then again who cares, I’m still here and noone I know was there to judge anyway.  

The culprit was my rear tyre, which had a puncture.  I couldn’t see any obvious puncture marks so I tried to keep going but it was no good, I had to stop.  To make it a little more awkward I realised I was in an area that lets say is ripe for gentrification and it was after 5pm on a Saturday.  This meant there were no “normal” people around, all the shops were closed and more importantly no mechanics anywhere close.  In the end I had to get off and push the bike for some evil amount of time until I came to the area where all the bike repair shops were – Calle Lira.

By the time I got to Calle Lira I was a sweaty mess, it was getting dark and all the mechanics were closed, but luckily not deserted.  It seems a lot of the workers hang out the front to chat to the other workshop workers so I walked along a few streets with my bike asking where I can buy a “la camera” (inner tube).  After being sent back and forth for a while, a guy who thankfully spoke better English than my Spanish (which lets be honest is not hard) suggested I buy an emergency puncture repair aerosol can.  I didn’t think of this, but was pretty grateful it exists..  It works by filling the tyre with foam to block the puncture and air for a temporary fix.  The dubious white foam stain on black jeans not the look of the season but anyway, I made it back home.  

I was supposed to go to Valparaiso tomorrow but this will have to wait until Monday now, no shops are open on Sunday so I am stuck in this city even longer and all I want to do is leave.  Still against all the odds so far I have this bike and its good I learn all I can about it before I move onto somewhere less built up.

Below one of the many workshops on Calle Lira.  These guys were great, somehow in Spanish we joked a lot, their favourite subject being Las Chicas en Sud America...


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