Heya Vince

Great to hear from you mate.

Thank you for the good wishes, always well received .....now where is our present

Yes we were pretty happy with our mileage although Dan Pederson on his F8 got 56000 so we were pipped at the post, still happy at 46000 on a angry V2.

I like the Tiger 8, if Maya is stuffed when we get home that is the likely replacement, I would be very interested in your non salesman take on the bike and what you feel could be improved etc, would be grateful if you could chime in with that real world info with some mileage

I will write to No 10 so they recognize the fine efforts of their neighbours in supporting the economy

Have fun at the HU meeting dude and most of all enjoy that new ride, I will take the opportunity to say shinny side up while it is new and untorched

Cheers Andi

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

With a fully charged battery the cactus island was in our sights, remembering that Bolivia is the place that holds the most interest to me and we were ACTUALLY here clap:clap... despite one or two small hick-ups with unusual people in the wrong industry :lol3 and the voltage reg issue things were going well.:freaky

It was cold, below zero but fine.



Thinking it would be hard not seeing the island to aim for etc I had butterflies but it soon became apparent very quickly that the 400 vehicles per day that visit the island left a motorway of black tire marks to follow:eek1, even without that you can eye up the mounts in the distance and keep them placed in the same place and go straight, I think it is impossible to get lost out there but apparently people have.:huh



Arriving at the island we had the place to ourselves other than the 300 - 400 other people already there, yes it was like a supermarket carpark.:evil

We also met two guys, a father and son team from Santiago on two F800GS’s, one being a 30 year anniversary ... noice, Maya had someone to talk too:rofl.



We went out on the salar and did our version of goofy pictures which was actually hard work, full credit to those who pull off some cool pics.





Ellen manage to balance May on her head on the centrestand, teh hands kept there just in case Maya fell off but perfect balance was maintained by the meditating mad moto mistress :rofl



Back to the carpark we talked with the reception and ticket lady and she said we could free camp anywhere, finding ourselves a nice spot in the late afternoon sun it was only 8 degs but felt nice in the sun.



Shortly after setting up a young fella came over on a quad and said we had to pay $30 Bolivianos each, we explained the lady said we could camp for free so he ok'ed that and left.

Later that evening a ranger came over and tried to tell us we needed to pay as well so “take two” we explained it again, he was insistent so we said we didn’t understand and that worked well.

On the edge of the salar there are these little ridges due to expansion and contraction, they stand about 100 mm high, they are in a crazy paving patten and quite cool, this is brown with a mix from the mud under.



A photo up a cactus ... prickly buggas



The evening lowers gently over the salar giving us some supreme quiet and stunning colour changes, although the darkness was falling the salar was coming alive for its goodnight transition







Capped off by a small and short fire we warmed ourselves for a while before hitting the bed early



Although ready to do over a bank we chose to sneak under the covers to fend off the cold .... which was not anything like we had prepared ourselves for



After a coolish night the day greeted us with a slight smattering of cloud enough just to take the wanted and welcomed sun to warm things up, nonetheless it was fine.

This is at 9.00am, -1 :evil



As it turns out this was the ugly face of the monster storm that followed us out and up, it knocked out the power in Uyuni for 3 days and turned Uyuni into a sandpit, snow at the southern end of the salar closing the roads and stopping the jeep trips, we got out the day before it all tipped.



Packing up we set to and headed back to Uyuni, our plans forcefully changed by the dying voltage regulator, a quick stop for photos and the lights on for 20 seconds for the famed photo shoot.



No biggy with the reg as Uyuni is a nice place anyway, mission was to wash Maya however she was still pretty clean to be fair with the salar dry as a bone.

All in all the salar was everything I thought it would be, Uyuni I thought was going to be a lot more "mud hut" than it was but have to agree with other travellers Uyuni does not sell itself to be a salar resort but we really enjoyed it all the same pub scraps and all

Potosi is next in line....

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

The snarl is from the mouth drying out and the skin retracting as it dries

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I once ruled the world, till mum told me it was only the garden!

Heya otr002

That had crossed my mind but not knowing I thought it was a snarl

Makes sense really cos I doubt it could hold that snarl with being nearly dead to dead.

New report later on today

Cheers Andi

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Well not quite like it reads but something cool anyway.:clap

For some it is a junk yard, for some it is a gold mine, for us it was a neat afternoon of some prehistoric metal horses and acrobats.

As it would happen about 20 minutes after we arrived, at first it was "argh ... groan" more gringos to stuff up our peace and quiet..... b u t we were pleasantly surprised to learn most were Colombian and of coarse very nice guys.

I proudly showed them my Colombian wrist tie and my Bogota wrist tie that I bought on my birthday in Bogota as a good luck charm. It was one of my most memorable birthdays spending it with Dan and Sara, Salvi and Pau and we had a blast, out clubbing, eating, drinking etc ... yeah :evil

Now these guys walked the tight rope and had skills, one particular fello was outstanding and his balance world class, while others were trying to walk the rope he was jumping and turning like he was on flat solid ground :eek1:eek1

Our man of talent



A great afternoon in the Bolivian sun with the warmth from the sun quietly grooming our backs and the shadows reminding us of our altitude

Ellen enjoying the afternoon sun, it was very relaxing to say the least



Our quiet afternoon turned into an event and we turned it into a photo sesh as well.

A wreckage and a train



The Mayan playing hide and seek



We played with the sun and the rusted metal and we swung on the swing :clap



Balance at its best, this guys had real talent.:clap

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Finishing at Uyuni having seen the salar and camped out we headed away with a completed task. :clap

The road handed to us a stark contrast to the incoming, we had beautiful flat smooth tarseal all the way, not a bad change after clobbering sandpits and corrugations.

Given we had no rush we decided to kick around for a couple of days in Potosi, it seemed like a nice place and it was.

Finding a hostel was easy, within ten minutes we had an ok place that was quiet and moto parking, no wifi but plenty in town, we feel we are getting a bit boring now with no Police required to calm down unusual owners. :lol3:lol3 .. hard to find a good pub scrap these days

Finding the local market allowed us to home cook again, it would be cheaper just to eat out but we find it better to eat in as you have control over our intake and get what we want.

Typical town with small streets



Potosi is a nice place, slightly touristy but has good services, the main attraction of course being the mine and yes you can buy dynamite off the shelf to take home and blow shit up with, for me I resisted as me and dynamite could end up doing damage .. particularly useful if we headed back to the “ex” hotel in Uyuni.

Upshot is we resisted and simply took the mine tour which was excellent and to be fair very hard work just climbing around in there let alone working 12 hours per day.

All the crash gear



Me set up, the truck to the left was the only vehicle they would let me drive :huh



Even for short people it gets tight



Each miner can find his own silver seam, if the seam turns out to be a dud then that is the way it is, if it turns out to be a boomer he turns up in a Hummer.

This guys working space, step, tight and loose :eek1



The conditions these guys work in is unreal and bloody hard to any standard, there are many deaths ever year for experienced miners falling down shafts and having rock falls come down on them.



And yes some had secretary's too rofl



Getting tighter



....and tighter, too much lunch and you will not fit!!!eek1



Back out to daylight and the mine entrance



Back into Potosi centro we took a look around, we found this amusing, she was fast asleep against the pole with cars roaring past her only a meter away....I guess when ya gotta sleep ya gotta sleep.:evil:rofl



We also celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary there, a Canadian family staying at our hotsel made a curry for us and we joined in for a good feast, TMK providing the all important Bacardi Mojeto grog to soften the night .... good times.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

G'day Andi and Ellen ,good to catch up on your travels once again ,been a bit busy ,and had some issues to deal with ( Mum was hit by a hit and run driver ) thankfully survived but not in great shape ,she had another operation yesterday on her foot ( was pointing backward) and they are now looking at her broken arm .At 81 she did not need this.anyhoo very much enjoyed your latest addition .(No the bloody house is not sold ) there were only 5 sales across all 7 agents last month things are not good here ,lots of businessess shutting down .I may have to ride it out now BUGGER! any how have a ride to the coast on saturday that should clear the head of bad thoughts ,until next time YDF Noel

Heya Noel

Gezz man that is very bad news, no one needs that let alone at 81!!!

Please pass our best wishes on to your mum and some positive energy to help her get sorted out and well again.

I hate reading things like this, I simply can't understand why some shithead would do it

Also a bugger about the house too bro, yes a good ride is always good to empty the head of baddies.

All the best mate and please let us know how your mum gets on, again give her well wishes from TMK and I am guessing the Hubbers as well.

Cheers Andi

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Making our way to Sucre, totally tarseal and only 150 km, we took our time taking in the scenery, nice to have an easy section in civilization given we had some charging issues.

Mika had kindly told us of a good hostel so we went straight there and he was right, good moto parking, reasonable price and ok wifi and a record breaking fourth hostel in a row without Police back up, I really feel we are getting old and loosing our criminal touch.

Mika had also told us of an amigo who is just 5 minutes walk from the hostel, moto rider and very nice guy, also willing able to help travellers too, onya Mika, very nice guy indeed, so we contacted Gustavo as we needed some help to get sorted out, Gustavo has owns Auto Clinic and runs his own mechanical shop.

Our voltage regulator was on its way so we had a few spare days in between.

As it happened timing wise the national series moto x was on and only 14 km from where we were staying, Gustavo (Mikas friend) is THE man, very well known in the moto circles and very well respected.

The Friday afternoon we went out and watch practice, some good riding going on, we only went for an hour and just as well as the weather caved in and started raining and got very very cold very quickly.

Fast forward to Sunday, the national champs, this event not being held here since 2002 it was making a real noise.

The place was packed with spectators and the entries FULL with riders from all over Bolivia.



Now as a moto rider of 35 years, done moto X, enduro, flat tracking, trials, motard and track racing I watched these young fellas in awe, there is some serious talent here well and truly fit for the international circuit.



Any some upcoming talent



Of course they also had there their own Bolivian Dakar riders as well to pump the atmosphere .... it worked!!!

The only thing I didn’t like was their “no red flag” rule as a rider went down and hard and proceeded to get run over 7 times but his competitors, the first two leading the charge to stop more carnage was me (in the brown hat and Klim gear)and Gustavo.

Here is the vid

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...type=2&theater

To be honest the race marshal girls were bloody useless, it was by the luck of moto gods he did not even suffer a broken bone, he will have been very saw the next day.

As it happened to be a long weekend and the President was in town (to meet us but we were too busy with the moto X) the streets were all closed in centro and lined with literally thousands of people making getting anywhere a mission and a half.

The Parades, brightly dressed and nice to watch at least for some of them.

We did find one girl who had a huge smile on her face which warmed our day as the majority were very long faced ... with our knowledge of the place know we suspect she does not live here



These guys were flexible :eek1



Fast forward a week and a half of waiting our parts had arrived in La Paz, then in true Boliviano style the blockades and strikes kept our parts away for another week which was a pissoff, Sucre is a nice place to stay ...but.huh

The Mayan

On pulling the alternator cover off to replace a small oil seal we then discovered that the stator (the electrical charging part for you non petrolheads) was 1/4 toast with one sector pretty much burnt out, this had to be rewound here in Sucre.

We are not sure if the voltage reg failed causing the stator to go or vice versa, either way we now have a fairly new battery, voltage reg and rewound stator so hoping all is good form here on in.

All issues are known to happen over time and comes with wear, tear, mileage and being used in anger so not really a biggy in the scheme of things, the only aspect being a biggy is the bloody strikes and blockades that the Bolivians seem to live for, if they targeted that energy to helping themselves go forward the whole place would be way way better off.

It is a very frustrating place to get stuff done that is for sure and takes 20 x longer than it should on a bad day.:cry

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Hi Guys, am back from the HU meet .... super, met up with some really fine people, got some super info, tips etc & it did me hart good. Bloody cold at night though

Oke have the tiger 6 weeks & done 7000 kms to date .. Gawwwd me bum hurts After the HU shing ding went to Romania, Hungary & Slovakia. Drove the transfagarsan pass in Romania, brill

Will give you the real story Andy regarding the tiger, but will do it via your website mail, don't want to get bombarded with this little bugger. But I am happy

Guys have fun keep the rubber side down .... sir Vince knight of the sore bums

Well when you think it can't get worse, it can ,mum suffered a stroke ( mild thankfully ) still getting to the bottom of what happened .Now in Tamworth NSW .did manage to get my ride in to the coast ,before hearing the bad news .thanks for the kind wishes .Regards Noel YDF .

Heya Vince

Back in zona wifi now after 10 days in the back blocks.

Yeah the HU meetings are cool, we did one in Cambria USA and really enjoyed ourselves, meet lots going south and going north.

You will never get bombarded with "offtopic" for something I have asked you, we did get your email and very very informative so seriously appreciated.

Great news you like it, always nice to know there are some shortcoming or I would have felt ripped off on the KTM, no perfect bike outa the box mate, they all need some adjustment and personalizing

Keep us posted on the Tiger (welcome to post on here).

Many thanks, sir Naranja wrecker supreme

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Gezz man, when things go bad they go bad then worse, I am really sorry mate, your mum did not need that on top of all the other crap and trying to mend as well.

We nearly went through Tamworth many moons ago but decided to stick coastal so I know where you are at.

Glad you squeezed in a quick mind cleaner before dealing with the stroke.

Again, please wish her well, kiss and hug from ya kiwi brother and sister abroad.

Cheers Andi & Ellen

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Just one

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Ok, one more

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere