21-10-2005:Brazil
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It was an uncomfatable sensation; The day was getting warmer by the minute, but we were shivering violently from a mixture of sheer exhaustion and the cold from last night. By 9:00am several vehicles had passed but all were heading in the wrong direction. All we needed was one person who’d drop me off at a gas station. By 10:00 we were getting desperate. OK, let us try waiving down someone, anyone, it doesn’tmatter which direction they’re going in. With that we waived down the rider of a small black new looking Honda who’d been heading out of town. Day’s later and we were to call Bill (the rider) our guardian angel. Without fuss or protest Bill had agreed to take me back into town the 13KM he’d just rode and bring me back out with gas. A liitle embarassed I explained that we had another problem and that the only money we had on us, until we found our new friends in the Hilux, was some Dollars we’d stashed on the bikes for emergencies. Bill simply smiled and said “no problem”.

The road into town was the normal bumpy, potholed tar we’d now call ‘a great road’ and 13 Km on we pulled into the first gas station we’d passed. Bill was off. Within minutes he’darranged two large containers and was having them filled with the lovely golden nectre we so desperately needed last night, noooo not beer, gas. Mind you I’d have killed for a cold beer last night.

I jokingly mentioned that all we needed now was a hotel room, a shower and how Lisa had been fantasising about Coca-Cola for the last week. The next thing I know is Bill stood by my side, smilling broadly and is handing me a white plastic bag with 3 bottles of coke inside. “Lisa’s not going to believe this”, I thought. In spite of my best verbal protest Bill paid for the lot. I did my best to assure Bill we’d be here for a few days and that I’d repay him later. Bill was simply smilling and shaking his head.

A little while later and back at the bikes we’d thanked Bill, who seemed genuinely surprised at our appreciation. Lisa was thinking the same as me…”if only he knew what we’d been through in the last week”!

With our fuel emergency over, we now only had one other ‘small issue’ to do deal with…our complete lack of ‘ANYTHING’. We were praying that the Hilux driver hadn’t done a runner with our kit, God that wasn’t even worth thinking about. We were however both sure that the driver had mentioned about being in Humatai for several days, besides he just didn’t seem the sort.

As we pulled into the second gas staion in the centre of town the young attendant was doing his best to waive us down. He’s enthusiastic I thought? A few minutes we’d found out why. Our friends in the Hilux had left messages with all the gas stations in town, to look out for us. The Hilux team were still in Humatia at a local hotel and would be looking for us. The only problem was the young attendant couldn’t remember which hotel they were staying at, It wasn’t a big issue, Humatai only has 5.

OK, we know our kit is here, lets take care of ourselves. A little while later and we’d checked into the aptly names ‘Hotel Brazil’. The room was basic but after our struggle to get here it was a sight for sore eyes. Air-con, fridge and Ooooooohhhh Yeeeeeaaaah baaaaaby…a hot shower. It was only now we realized exactly how bad we actually looked and smelt…we stank!!!

By early evening we showered 3 times (yeah we were that dirty) and even bumped into the guys in the Hilux. Our kit had been returned and was now stinking out the otherwise clean hotel room.

Now we just need to sleep.
22-10-2005

The bikes needed some attention if we were now going to try and ride to Porto Velho and then on to Sao Paulo. There was a more pressing priority. The orange mud/clay was coating everything. Unless we get this stuff off we’re not going to be able to look for other problems. A visit to the truck wash was in order.

An hour later and the bikes were looking better. I’d taken special care with where we’d sprayed the water, painfully aware that there may still be exposed wiring from my extensive repair of a few day ago. I hate being right.

Turning the key in the ignition was doing nothing…oh c’mon!!! Pushing the bike to the front of the gas station I’d assumed my familiar position, as I undid the tank bolt and checked spark plugs for water damage, nothing, even the electrics were dry. I ended up pushing the bike the 1KM back to Hotel Brazil. I didn’t have the energy to do anything else. My cunning and expert plan was friggin’ ingenious…leave the damm thing in the baking Sun and hope that something that’s now wet…gets dry!!

Bill had somehow heard of our plight and had dropped by the hotel. With the bike sun tanning we readily accepted his offer to join him and his friends for lunch at a local fish restaurant. We spent the afternoon in the company of new friends and great people. The food was simple but bloody fantastic.

I’ll look at the bike again tomorrow after a good nights sleep.
23-10-2005

It seems our ‘good luck’ fairy has returned from extended vacation. Diego Motos was situated right next door to our hotel and with the expert help of Juan we’d sprayed everything electrical with a water disperser and cleaned off the spark plugs, turned the engine over using the back whell with the bike in fifth and nailed down the problems. A mixture of electrical issues, water fouling and the left hand cyclinder having drowned in gas when I’d tried to start the bike yesterday. 2 hours of tweaking and a jump start from the biggest battery I’d ever seen finally coaxed the big girl to life. Needless to say a ‘massive thankyou to Juan at Diego Motos for doing all this on a Sunday.

With the evening spent with Bil and friends,we’re feeling infinitely beeter than when we’d arrived. We’ll make a move tomorrow to Porto Velho.
24-10-2005

Left Humatai for Porto Velho. A mixture of bad and good tar but way, way better than the 319 stuff we’d been doing. We arrived in PV in stupidly heavey rain; we were down to 10mph and soaked through. Spent the night at Hotel Piranha.
25-10-2005
5 minutes after setting of from Hotel Piranha we had another…yes another small incident. Lisa’s entire front cockpit simply fell off. On closer inspection she’s managed to snap the main brace that holds the lights and cock-pit assembly to the frame.

The zip ties I’d used to re-attach the assembly weren’t holding and so after resigning ourselves to another dealy we quickly found ourselves at a friendly Yamaha garage. 3 hours later and we’d dismantled the entire cockpit, stripped the electrics and one of the staff had disappeared off to get the broken brace welded and we were now trying to reattach everything.

It wasn’t unitll a few minutes after leaving Yamaha that we’d worked out she now had no lights at all, no indicators and that her instiment cluster i.e. speedo, rev counter etc, were all doing nothing. We’d have to leave it that way for now, we simply had to make some ground to Sao Paulo.

With the occasional heavy rain we got soaked a few times and were beginning to dry out. The road had been good and at last we were feeling like we were getting somewhere. With dusk setting in we were hoping to reach the town Ji-Parana. 25KM out and our good luck fairy had put up the sign that read ‘ GONE FOR LUNCH, BACK WHEN I FEEL LIKE IT’!!!

The back end of the big GS had gone loose very suddenly. The whole bike was unstable. I had an uneasy feeling about the problem. It could have been a flat but I’d not gone over anything. With the bike pulled over to the right and the sidestand down it wasn’t hard to see the problem. My worst fears had been realised. The back wheel was hemeridging gear oil. The reaer wheel bearing had gone, taking the oil seal with it. This isn’t repairable.

With yet another dilemma to deal with prior to SaoPaul, we are so, so passed ‘demoralised’. There was nothing I could do here. With a quick scan of the area done, I’d noticed a gravel entrance to a fenced off compound, the best I could do right now was to try and find someone and ask permission to put up our tent and camp the night.

And so with our predicament explained we pushed the big GS into the compound doing a great impression of a ‘slug’, moving very slowly and leaving a slippery trail behind us.

Turns out this whole place is a government run agricultural trainng centre, complete with rooms. 30 minutes later we’d made new friends and had gratefully accepted the offer of one of the rooms as opposed to the tent.

I’ll try and get my head around a solution tomorrow. In the mean time…sleeeeeeeeeeeep!

26-10-2005
Having had a closer look at the rear wheel, there was no way to repair it. With the pain in my neck and back getting worse the idea of catching a ride to Sao Paulo was bebinging to sound better and better. I’m simply not sure how much further I could ride? Right now I’m as pissed off with the lack of sensation in my right side as I am with the acute pain across my whole upper back.

…and so with that in mind we’ve started investigating the cost of putting the bikes onto a truck heading to Sao Paulo. By late afternoon we’d called every number we could find the cheapest price we’d been given was 4,000 reals, yeah right, and that was for just the bikes. No-one was willing to take us and the bikes. There’s no way we can find £1,000 for the journey.

With the truck plan firmly tossed (kicked and finally shot in the head) we needed a new one, we needed to call Andres in Sao Paulo. We have no choice but to try and get a new wheel bearing, seal and O-ring sent up here, replace the knackered one and ride to SP.

Andres Fuse (BMW) will see what he see what he can do. First things first he’s got to see if they have one in stock.
27-10-2005
By mid morning the day was already hot and we’d caught a lift with one of the staff into Ji-Pirana. I’d manged to disassemble the rear crown wheel and final drive housing yesterday and whilst we wait to hear from Andres as to whether he’s got a rear-wheel bearing in stock I thought I’d have a go at finding an alternative, hey, you never know?

First things first, I’ve somehow got to remove the old bearing from the final drive shaft, for that we were going to need some help, hence the visit to town. 4 different scrap yards/workshops later and we’d finally managed to prize the old bearing off. It wa s quite a technical job involving a good sized persuader (a mahher) and a sodding big chisel, I’mpretty sure that neither were specialy number BMW tools. At least now we could see the identifying numbers and try to find a local replacement. (The BMW part No for the rear whell bearing is: 33 12 1 242 210 1). It was going to be a long day.

It was worth a try. We’ve spent the day visiting every body and anybody that might have access to bearing but with no joy. It’s now down to Andres to see if he can get us one sent from Sao Paulo. Whatever happens we’re going to be here ofr another few days at least.


OK, update: I’ve just spoken to Andre and he’s got the parts and has despatched them immediately. With no direct flight to this neck of the woods, jungly stuff…the parts aren’t going to be here until Monday or Tuesday of next week…uuuuugghhhhhhh! At this rate I’m either going to run out of pain killers or develop a bllody huge stomach ulser.

In the mean time my neck is killing me and I’m loosing more sensation in my left side, especially my hand! Typing this is proving to be a one handed mission, but it’s keeping me occupied?
 
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'Bill' our saviour in Humaita
 
the mud/clay remains of our Amazon experience
 
 
a big thankyou to Juan and the guys at Diego Motos for all their help with 'Tinkerbelle'
moths the size of birds
our temporary home at the Brazilian academy for agriculture