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...
