It took me and another guy from a shop around 12 hours, but now Palomina has a new water pump, oil seals, chain, sprockets, front brake hose, oil and filters! I hope this is enough for the next 10.000 miles… at least!
The repairs
Americas 2010 featued on 4tuning.ro
Our journey was presented in the news section of 4tuning.ro, but they “forgot” to mention the source of the info :-\
The parts are H E R E !!!
But getting them was tricky! In the morning we took our daily walk to the post office asking whether the package has arrived. They told us to get back later because probably it will arrive. Get back later, still no package.
“Where is the package?”
“Probably Lima. Come back tomorrow, maybe we have it.”
“Let’s call Lima, find out what’s going on.”
“Can’t call, they usually close earlier than us”
“Maybe they are still there. It’s only 3PM”
“OK, let me try”
…
“Hmmm, Lima told us we have the package, let me check again!”
…
“Well, actually it is here, but you have to pay the custom duty. Not here, at the bank”
We go to bank, bank says the postal worker was supposed to do this, not us, finally they accept the money, we return with the receipt. Then, after printing my name and passport number and signing on six different documents, notebooks, receipts etc we got the package.
After this I promise I will never complain again about the Romanian post being slow! 🙂
The strike continues
Today the miners protested during morning, so by the time we woke up they were already gone. But not the riot police, still guarding everywhere. Businesses remained in the “semi-open” state (meaning main gate stays closed, the small door open only when no miner around) and no still no trace of our package 🙁
The miner’s strike is causing more delays
So, we’ve been here in Nazca for the past 11 days waiting for an EMS shipment with parts from USA that was supposed to take as long as 5 days to arrive. First the shipment was delayed by logistical problems at Peru’s postal service. But now, another issue is preventing the delivery: the miners are on a nationwide strike and, although roads are technically open, no carrier risks using the Panamericana as miners usually assault, detain or block the passage of vehicles in retaliation to government’s dismissal of the demands.
Today most businesses remained closed in Nazca and the people started to protest in support for the miners. The city is now packed with army personnel and riot police. Now, in the evening, there is less agitation, but in the morning we could not find any food store open except for a pizza place where we were forced to eat the worst pizza in years…
This could only remind us of the Mineriada that we experienced firsthand :)!
