South America Round 2. We are in the wind!!...Almost.

Nov 7-8.

The last couple of days have been a blur. We made it to Montevideo as scheduled with a 2am arrival, this made it difficult to book a hotel for the night so we waited in the airport until around 8am when we jumped in a cab and made our way to our hotel, well Bed&Breakfast to be precise. The name of the place is Una Noche Mas (One Night More). At first we thought “oh boy, what did we pay for this time”, mostly due to the pungent aroma in the downstairs hallway, but after entering the main area of the B&B we were pleasantly surprised by an eclectically decorated, five bedroom two storey house.

The manager Eduardo said it was built in 1927, the only remaining original interior feature is the very narrow stairway to the second floor where our room is. By narrow I mean 12” across and steep, watch your head for the concrete beam that looks like it has claimed a few scalps over the years.

 Our room is barely larger than the queen size bed but is adjacent to a nice kitchen/dining area and rooftop patio and lots of windows with views of the city skyline. Oh ya, our room is octagonal in shape, Eduardo said it is supposed to be lucky or help you get lucky, my Spanish is not very good.

So after a quick nap, we decide we should get to Willi Motos and see if our bikes are still in one piece. It is a gorgeous day (25C) so we decide to walk and see some sights along the way,

 Children painting the wall of their school.

Wind chime art piece made of pop bottle bottoms.

it looks relatively close on the map and after an hour of walking we were looking at our bikes parked in Willi’s secured front lot. We look at each other and just smile, nothing to be said. We had been told that one bike would not start and the other had a flat front tire so a bit of wrenching will be needed before we can ride off into the sunset. We try to chat with Willi,but he speaks very little English and very fast Spanish. Oh how I miss charades. There are the usual topics like where and how long this trip will be, and the giving of gifts. Willi really likes Maple Syrup, something that a fellow Canadian got him hooked on, I also gave him a Harley Davidson t-shirt, something else he is fond of.

 He has a mid 80’s softail and another HD that he installed a V-8 engine into (can be seen in the background of photo above), both proudly displayed in his cramped showroom. Because we walked we did not have any tools or parts with us to start the repair process, I did manage to borrow a couple of tools and checked the air filters that I forgot to clean before we left in March. All clean upon inspection so no need to do anything yet. Next was the issue of my bike not starting, as you may remember I have had an electrical ghost in my bike for some time now so I am not surprise that it is my bike that won’t start. I remove the battery and put it on the charger for an hour or so, 2.3V, yup it is the battery. Senior Willi donde es bateria vendor? After a rapid fire answer that sounded like a one long word I gave him the deer in the headlights look, he then drew a map indicating there is a store 3 blocks down the street towards the water. Precio? $86USD. Wow not bad for a battery, I paid over $200 for the one that I bought in Calgary. Never heard of a Record battery though, I guess the main thing is it fits and the bike started right up. Well that is enough for day one and we take a quick inventory of what else needs to be done then head back to the B&B. Jet lag gets the best of us by the time we have a bite to eat, shower and get into bed, 10pm lights out.

I wake to the sound of my travel alarm clock. WTF? It is 5:30am, I guess I messed up when I adjusted the time and accidentally turned on the alarm. The next time I wake up it is to the smell of fresh coffee, ahhh that is better and so is the 7am time. The breakfast is basic, coffee/toast/apples and an assortment of jams plus dulce de leche (carmelized condensed milk), we both manage to refrain from having any dulce as it is too early in the trip to fall off the wagon.  We enjoy the strong coffee and conversation with our hostess Carla as she explains some of the art pieces in the dining lounge.

 No extra time to relax today, there is bike fixin’ to do. With that we fill a small taxi/race car with all our stuff, I mean all of it. The plan is to finish the bike prep then load them with all the travel stuff and leave all the extras at Willi’s. This has to be done today as he is closed on Sundays. Let’s see Brenda wants better heated grips, Rox risers installed on the handlebars to make standing more comfortable which also requires longer brake lines which means bleeding the brakes( ugh), and last but not least change both sets of tires so we can start with fresh rubber.  During all this we get to meet various customers that stroll into the shop and are wondering who the new mechanic is. Willi explains which leads to a few questions and comments directed our way. We meet Ernesto, who is the fella that owns the storage lot where the bikes are kept, he is very nice and buys us some lunch from the store next door.

 It also provided us with the opportunity to take the rear tire to the local tire shop for replacement, quite handy that there is one two blocks up the street away from the water, no map needed this time. $3 and 10 minutes to flip the rubber, it would cost $50 and take 3 days at home, unless you book in advance, then it only takes one day.  

Wow, 4pm already, well Brenda has been waiting patiently all day for her bike so she can load up her luggage. This year we got some new gear from Altrider so this is the maiden voyage. Maybe not the smartest thing to do but the gear look pretty damn good and the functionality should be second only to the big heavy aluminum cases we had on the 800’s when we did Central America. Stay tuned for more updates as we test them in real life situations. I quickly switch out the bikes in the shop and let her get at it. Meanwhile I too wanted Rox Risers and needed new tires, unfortunately I underestimated the length of my existing brake line and did not bring a longer one. The brake line is not long enough to accommodate the extra 2” of lift and thus I will have to wait until next year. The good news is that saved me at least an hour, now all I have to do is the tires. Rear tire back down the street, $3 thank you thank you, back on in less than hour. Front tire off and I will have to switch the rubber as the tire shop has two cars in line and closes at 5pm. No problem, the fronts are way easier to change than the rears and by 5:30 I have the front back on the bike. Now just throw all the luggage at it and get out of here so Willi can go home, which we have learned is upstairs. 6:30 not bad at all. Back to the B&B then down the street to the secure parkade, as I shower Brenda washes my clothes as they got very dirty in the shop today. Good trade, clean pants for and enjoyable afternoon working on the bikes. Tomorrow, we are in the wind.