24.01. – 02.02.
Unfortunately, our attempts to seal the damaged radiator had no success. The water always finds a way and dribbles. This solution is not an option for my journey. My radiator must be replaced.
In the BMW workshop in Salta, they told me it takes 4 to 5 weeks. There is no radiator in stock in the country. The shipping would be the smallest problem. With parcel service, a new radiator would be here in a few days. The problem is customs. The things are in customs for weeks until they are reviewed and forwarded.
This is obviously bad news. Waiting 4 to 5 weeks? My/our journey gets completely messed up and means a complete change of the route. How it will look like, I do not know yet.
I try my luck at a BMW dealer in Chile and Bolivia and write e-mails. Perhaps a fitting part is in stock in Chile or Bolivia and it is possible to repair my bike faster. I will have an answer tomorrow Monday. With enough coolant liquid in the luggage I can do it either to Chile or Bolivia.
So we’re stuck until Wednesday in Salta. That’s not a big problem, as Salta is a very nice city with a lot of nice places and a lot of things to do.
For me, the long stay would be less of a problem. I’m still a few months on the road, could remain in one place and plunge deeper into the life here.
I have already crossed almost all the countries I wanted to cross in Central and South America. So I don’t really mind changing the route. To get back on track I could circumnavigate a few countries in Central America. But let’s see. For Andi, waiting 4 to 5 weeks is not an option. He has to go back at the end of March.
The positive news is, the rest is doing Andis’ foot very well. It is getting better day by day.
The days are quiet here. I spend them going to the BMW dealer and sightseeing .. finally I can visit museums again. In the “Museum for high altitudes” a very well-preserved mummy of a child is displayed. It is one of three children, which were found in 1999 on the highest peak here, about 6.700m, in a tomb. It is in court now. Descendants of the Incas want the children to be returned.
So there is not too much to report, except a special encounter.
Street dogs I saw a lot on my ride. Often they were wild mixtures and they had different characters. Most of them are peaceful and hungry for affection. Some seemed tired of life and stood with empty eyes at the roadside. They chase cars and bikes and bite into tires, sometimes lose a leg or are smashed on the road.
Here in Salta we should meet a special one.
We were sitting outside on the street in a restaurant on the central square “Plaza 9 de Julio”. A short time later, one of these dogs joined us and laid down next to our table. We were joking: Why did the dog join tourists? Did it recognize it? It seemed like.
Salta is quite touristy, especially on the central square “Plaza 9 de Julio“. In the evening shoeshine boys and poor street vendors were running around, trying to make business, selling their little things, such as jewelry, figurines and sweets. Among them, there are a lot of young children too, not older than 5 to 10 years.
When one of the shoeshine boys approached our table with his stool and shoe polish, “our” street dog was growling very aggressively and barking at him. We wondered. Maybe the shoeshine boys treated him badly and he therefore did not like them? But it was not just the shoeshine boys, he barked very aggressively and once almost bit one. He acted very aggressively against the whole subclass and only against them. Whether they wanted to sell jewelry or sweets or if they wanted to put a note on the table – “I’m deaf and dumb …”, regardless of age. No aggression against waiters, other customers in the restaurant or other people passing by.
After a while I felt really uncomfortable, because we had drawn attention to us and it made the impression that it is our dog, keeping these people away trying to earn a bit of money.
When we were finished eating and the table was empty, he began to stray to other tables. It was the tables of noticeable foreign guests. He did not go to the tables of what seemed to be local people.
A strange encounter.
So I will see if I am lucky with my bike or if I have to stay here for a while.
Thank you for reading, Jürgen.