"These are the days that must happen to you" - Walt Whitman

Feeling more confident now the work was done on the bike I navigated my way out of the teeming metropolis of Lima and headed down the coast to the town of Pisco about 150 miles away. An uneventful ride brought me into the town at around mid day.

As the temperature began to soar I happened upon a convenient and affordable hostal right next to the town`s central plaza. Pisco is an uninspiring place probably made more so because they were completely resurfacing all the roads around the plaza adding to the general unattractiveness of the town.

As I wandered around the in the afternoon, I was again struck by the Peruvian propensity for gambling. Every city and town I had visited in Peru had one thing in common, they all had at least one casino. Maybe that`s where all their money goes as it certainly doesn`t go on finishing their buildings!

The next day I set off for Nasca, a world heritage site famous for the “Nasca Lines”. I was about 40 miles into the journey and just leaving the town of Ica when I heard a strange noise and felt a slight jerk at the back wheel, pulling over immediately, I got off and a cursory inspection saw the chain flopping around.

“That doesn`t look good”, I thought, (or words to that effect).

I quickly found the right hand, rear chain tensioner had completely exploded (or imploded – either way it had disintegrated). I unloaded the bike and got out my tools in a pointless attempt to put some tension back into the chain. To be honest, I didn`t know what else to do. It was clear I wasn`t going any distance with the chain as it was. At that point, a local tuc tuc driver who had been parked at the side of the road exactly where I pulled over, came over to see what had happened,

“Necessito un mecanico”, I said. “Hay un mecanico aqui cerca?”

He said there was one back in Ica a few minutes away and offered to guide me there. I followed slowly, barely getting out of first gear. He took me to a Honda dealer which I knew was a long shot as the part I required was specific to BMW`s. After a brief conversation between the tuc tuc driver and the Honda mechanic I heard the word, “Repuestos”. He was suggesting we find garage that sells spares. I was still doubtful we could just pick up that kind of part, in fact I was certain we couldn`t.

My mind was racing ahead with possible scenarios. I would either have to get one shipped in from The U.K. or maybe even go back to Lima and pick one up from the BMW garage as it would probably be quicker than getting one sent, but how would I describe which part I needed? All these thoughts were racing around my head when we pulled up outside a spares garage. Alonso (my driver) ran over to the garage and came out a few minutes later and pointed to another one down the road. Eventually we found a man who insisted he could make me a part,

“Si es posible?” I asked desperately hoping he would confirm what he said.

“Si, Si!” He seemed very confident which is just what I was looking for.

“Puede hacerlo hoy?” (Can you do it today?)

“Si, si, tres horas”

So, with a possible solution, I said I would come back that afternoon. In the meantime, I asked Alonso if there was a local hotel with internet that I could stay at, having decided that whatever happened I wouldn`t be riding further that day. He raced off and came back a couple of minutes later. He`d found one just down the road and helped me unload the bike and took me with all my baggage to the hotel. I thanked him profusely and paid him for his troubles.

With sweat pouring off me I dumped my stuff in the room and grabbed a quick shower. When I`d recovered I thought back over the last few hours.

“It had finally happened”, I reflected.

Ever since I began this journey, one of my biggest fears had always been breaking down and not being able to fix the problem. It had been at the back of my mind virtually every day. Even with a limited knowledge of quantum physics, the notion that “thoughts become things” and whatever you continually focus on will manifest eventually, has been proven time and again. I finally got what I`d been focusing on. What was interesting though was how I handled the situation. I was much calmer than I thought I would be, probably helped by the synchronicities that surrounded the day.
How convenient to break down right next to that tuc tuc driver?

The hotel I was staying in unfortunately had no garage or secure parking, but there was a garage I could use at night about a block away. Not ideal, but never mind.

At the appointed hour I went back to see if he had managed to fashion a replacement part. It cost me an arm and a leg but amazingly he had done the job! From possibly being stranded in the town for several days I was now in a position to get back on the bike the next day! As I rode back to the hotel my mind was still puzzled by how the problem had occurred in the first place and also, when I checked the chain, I noticed it had a “tight spot” which shouldn`t occur in a brand new chain. Something wasn`t quite right and I didn`t know what. It was just a gut feeling.

That night I rode slowly up the garage and enquired,

“Cuanta cuesta por una noche?”

“Tres soles”. Well that was reasonable, 3 soles for parking overnight, and the owner happened to be a bike mechanic! Synchronicity number 2. I asked if he would look at my lights and horn as they had suddenly decided to stop working, strangely, just after the BMW garage had finished working on the bike.

The following day I was at the garage for the appointed time of 8.00 a.m. and sure enough the mechanic turned up on the dot at 9.00 a.m. Peruvian time! For some reason, before we even looked at the lights, I asked him to take a look at the chain. When he took off the front sprocket cover, I couldn`t believe my eyes. There should have been a huge nut and washer holding on the front sprocket. It wasn`t there! Nothing. Nada. The BMW mechanics had forgotten to put it back on!

I had ridden nearly 200 miles with nothing stopping the front sprocket from coming off and taking the chain with it. If that had happened at high speed……… ? I didn’t even want to contemplate it. The mechanic asked if the BMW mechanics were German or Peruvian. When I said Peruvian, he just shrugged his shoulders.

My next problem…… where could we possibly get the right size nut? It wasn`t a standard size. Asking him if he knew somewhere, he nodded confidently, jumped on his bike and took off, reappearing 10 mins later with an exact match! Was I glad I bumped into this man the night before! He spent a good 3 hrs working on my bike testing and cleaning the rear sprocket also, before declaring it ready.

“Cuanta cuesta por su ayuda?” I asked him.

He asked for 40 soles (about £9). I think he was quietly pleased to be able to work on something different from the usual small, 125 cc Chinese bikes that everyone rides in Peru. A BMW is a rare bike in South America, which is probably why he insisted on having several photos of him posing next to the bike. I thanked him and rode back to the hotel to pack the bike and finally head off for Nasca. While I was packing, I refelected on the last 24 hrs and considered the lessons I had learned:-

1. Always trust your gut feeling
2. Be mindful of what you focus on
3. Never trust Peruvian BMW mechanics