Sucre Part 2 .... The Status Of The Stator

This was the problem (not according to the Uyuni autosparky Bolievian)



One sector nearly burnt out and the rest following on



Finally after lies and put offs our stator is rewound, unfortunately yet again the Bolivians tried to rape us blind on the price asking that dearer than US pricing, again this leaves a shitty feeling that every corner you turn here in Bolivia they just want to **** you over and they don’t even smile dong it.

Three times it went back because it simply did not work, he insisted it did work but would not check it, so we forced him to look at the multi meter and the digital volt meter, he did take it back and did fix it almost so it almost worked but not quite enough power coming out, note max 12 .6 volts, then turn on lights, grips etc and it fell below 12 volts.

In the end we asked for our money back and we will take it elsewhere or something as we blew through another weeks accommodation cost waiting for this wanker to fix his ****ups, stress levels exceeding safe limits we called the touristico Policia.

These guys were just as bad, they are also the anti corruption police who are as corrupt as the rest of the abnormal police force, advice to other travellers is don't rely on these guys to help you out as it will not happen.

Several times we tried to negotiate with the guy to get our money back for the wrong rewinding of the wiring but no, in the end he offered 400 out of 600 because we went to the touristico Policia, in Bolivia if someone ****s something of yours you will only get about half back if you are lucky, both parties pay????? ... which meant we ended up paying twice for his shitty work....WTF:eek1

So after arguing like hell to get any money back and threatening him with the touristico Policia he is now being investigated by the Police because he woudl not give a receipt or any paperwork so he is, for his own arseholism going for a skate that will cost him.

As much as I don't want to see people get nailed he deserves every ounce of shit they throw on him for NOT be helpful, for taking a white face to the cleaners and generally being sub human to deal with.

So, we took that refund and gave it straight to another guy who rewound it, the jobs looks like shit but it works, we will buy a factory one when we can as I do not have trust in this.

Our final days in Sucre, 29 days in total, we spent $140 US on a regulator we didn’t need thanks to the auto sparky in Uyuni who said it was stuffed, we paid $140 US for a courier who couldn’t give a **** and caused us grief getting us our unneeded regulator nearly one week later than promised, the auto sparky in Uyuni also said our stator was good, we spent $90 USD getting raped to get our stator rewound cos it was burnt despite what the Uyuni monkey told us, we spent 29 days in Sucre which we didn’t need to waiting for parts we didn’t need. :huh

All in all a very expensive ****up by relying on PAID professional Bolivians who don’t give a **** and charge equal to and more than US prices ... no wonder the place is in so much shit, without being racist NO more Latinos are going to touch Maya ever again as the bullshit, expense, crap and rework is not worth it.

Be fair to say thus far Bolivia is somewhat of a low point for us and confirmed as the most unfriendly and careless bunch in over two years of travel.:cry, they should be called horses cos they all have long faces.

Finally we get to hit the road, we looked at just bailing out of Bolivia because of the crap but it has been a long time coming for me and being the place of most interest so we will continue and I wave to every long faced Boliviano cos they are not going to stuff this up for me.

Next up ... Icla .... I hope it get better :clap

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

Chin up mate ,so any idea why the stator burnt out in the first place ?Back home today ,taking tomorrow off the put things in order at home ,mum is making slow progress ,there is nothing more i can do for her at this time ,may go back down when she is ready to come home ,will be about 6 weeks at best.reading your blog cheers me up so thanks ,hope you get the best out of the place from here in.regards YDF Noel

Heya Noel

Yeap, already got chin up, waving to all long faced Bolivianos ... they will NOT get the better of me.

Not sure what caused the stator to fizz, sometimes they just do it with time, mileage, heat cycles etc and we know of plenty of other brands that have done the same so not too worried, ours was just accentuated by an incompetent arrogant idiot.

Got some more stuff coming (not as good as Argie etc) but bedtime reading anyway.

Best to your mum mate

Cheers Andi

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

hey, Andi and Ellen: you certainly have had some grief with not only your KTM but the Suzukis before.
So I am wondering: if I was to follow in your footprints, with my elderly HarleyBoy, (2004 Sportster with 235000 km mostly in Australia, but including 14000km in NZ), is there any reason why I would change to any of the DR, KTM, BMW fashionistas?
My good old boy has never given any roadside grief, and I know that there are a zillion HD outlets happy to ship any parts for such long - running favourite like the Sportster. What is your opinion? (OK, I know, too heavy... etc)
Rob

Heya Rob, can't knock anything with that mileage.

We actually have not had that many problems and certainly none that have left us standing on the side of the road.

Jap, German, Austrian, yank whatever can have stator issues, a simple rewind turned into a mere having to deal with arrogant Neanderthals that don't give a crap thus that is when the wheels fell off.

I also have a DR 650 at home which has been reliable as the day is long but not the two new ones which were treated well and easy...go figure.

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

While dealing with all the shit with the simple repair we had plenty of time to look around in Sucre and take it in, to be fair we enjoyed the most of it other than sitting out with a huge wait.

We met some cool people at the hostel and had good times.

Some of our fello hoons at the hostal.



We also managed to sneak in a ride with Gustavo our to Maragua which sits in a volcanic basin





At the Pachamama Hotel we had access to an asado grill so we made the most of it have a few cookups with the other guys



One of the days we walked into town cento and saw something I never thought I would see here ... another 950 SE!!!, for $12000 dollars we could buy his stator and get a free bike .... was almost an option :evil



A local at the hostal



A local NOT at our hostal :cry :rofl



We also met up with Jose again by chance and he did a fork job and various other fixits which I helped him with, also Yerns and Stephens bikes in the background.:clap ... no SE :huh



Spotted this while cruising too, magic wee Jawa bike



These we the tourisico policia who "helped" us .. best thing was getting a ride around town while in custody :rofl





Now, if you are in Sucre and needing help Gustavos door to his workshop is open to travellers, Gustavo speaks fluent english and spanish and knows the people in the trade and where to find stuff.

Give him a call he is a welcoming dude, this is his card with details, he is only 5 minutes walk from Pachamama hostel too so very handy.

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

First stop to make a short day was Icla, totally tar on the main drag then about 35 km of cobbled stone road which was cool.:clap



A big zig zag drops you into the heart of Icla which is nestled in a valley surrounded by cliff faces steering down at you, having been served a beautiful day we made the most of our early arrival taking our shoes for a walk.

Dumb & Dumber ... we forgot our camera which was a shame as we entered a cool limestone gorge at the back of the town, never mind you will just have to go there and see it yourself.

With Samiapata as our next stop we headed off taking a short cut ....the longest distance between two points and today was the same, the road/track/boulderfield we took sent us back to the main drag by choice as it was simply too rough, it would have been hard work on a KTM 300 let alone a 950 cc moving house.

Back to the cobbles after our side show we hit the main drag again to Tomina then over to Villa Serano .... mid afternoon entry we called it quits, got Maya gased up ready for the next day assault to Samiapata .

Villa Serano from the view point



Heading up and across to Vallegrande we enjoyed a good serving of back road riding, some mud and slick parts making it interesting after what appears to have been quite and epic rain.





This part of the road took us through the Ruta de Che where Che was captured and killed





After Vallegrande we unexpectedly hit tarseal ..... in mint condition all the way to the main road where it turned to shit with potholes and repair patches galore and the occasional donkey(s) thrown in to to keep us awake.

Arriving at Samiapata we got lodgings at La Jarden (The Garden) with one nice dog and you guessed it an oversized cat size little dog with a voice problem ... we shoulda known then.

The night fell with silence .....then the little pint sized oversizedcat dog started up and throughout the night barked at anything that moved ... I wanted to kill him as he was right outside our door.

We moved the following day to to another place which was nice and quiet with very nice people, we stayed there two nights as it was very clean and a good place called Hostal Kim.:clap

In between we rode out the back to Postrer Valle and around, again with the recent rains it made it interesting in a few spots with washouts, bogholes and slick patches ... good fun!!





The final creek into town



The town center



Samiapata done and dusted ....next destination ..... Toro Toro.

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

Just when you think all the shit might have stopped Ellen was robbed and beaten this afternoon at 1pm.

This happened in broad daylight with people near but no help, our big camera and several other items have been taken, our backpack slashed and stuffed, Ellen suffered cuts, brusing etc.

So far Bolivia has turned into a **** of a place full of backward thinking seriously ****ed up arseholes.

On top of that Ellen had to PAY for the Police report ..WTF to serve and protect ... just as ****en corrupt as the rest of the stinking ****ing place.

We are going to do the death road then get the **** out of this god forsaken shithole ...they can ****en have it.

Good help any wanker who gets in our way now as Mr.Nicegay has left Bolivia and Mr.Get****ed is here, no more shit.













Anyone coming to Bolivia or Brasil????, at least we can try and replace it and not loose memories of our trip.











****en gutless cunts ... two men with machetes against one small woman... ****en arseholes

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

Getting robbed in Bolivia


The fifth day in Cochabamba, we finally got our TVIP extension from Aduana, like pulling the teeth - that’s another story.

Andi decided to take the advantage to fix the cam tensioner, so I said I might go for a walk to the hill - Cristo de la concordia, which looks like 4 or 5 km from our couch surfer’s home. I said I will be back in 3 or 4 hours.

I left home just after 11am, like everyday we’ve been in Cochabamba, the sun is shining . It took me about an hour to get to the bottom of the hill.

From a distance, I can see there is a cable car going up and down, also there is a walk way right next to the cable car line. There are some people walking on it, it doesn’t look like dangerous to me, so I decided to walk up - we haven’t done much hiking recently, I really like to stretch my legs to keep fit if I can.


I started to walk up, meeting quite a few people on the way, there were families with young kids, couples, etc, so again, I didn’t feel unsafe. The walk up wasn’t very long, took me about 20 mins then I was about 100meters from the top - I can see the Cristo and also the building of the cable car.

I continued, all of a sudden two young man with machetes jumped out from nowhere, they threatened me with their knifes and started to pull my backpacker off me. My instinct reaction was to hold it tight and wouldn’t let it go also start yelling and screaming. They pushed me off the road into the bush, one guy used his machete to cut the backpacker strip off - the machete is ****ed, like everything else in this country so it took him quite a few strikes to cut it off. In the mean time the other guy kept dragging me down into the bush. I was kicking and screaming and tried to fight out of my way. The guy who then pushed me down to the ground, hit my head with a rock, then put dirt into my mouth tried to stop me screaming, I bit his hand. Finally, I saw the other guy opened my bag and took the stuff inside put into his bag, then both of them left me and run down hill.

I started to chase them, then I realize they were running too fast to catch. Also I realized I did not have the strength. So I picked up my empty and slashed backpack, walked about 20meters back to the road. I didn’t know if there were any people around, but when I found my hat and sunglasses was put together neatly on the road side along with a knife, I was pretty sure it must be some one who saw it happened and didn’t lend a hand. There is no way my sun glasses would fall into my hat on the ground perfectly when I was fighting with the two guys, simply not. I picked up my hat, sunglasses and the knife. I wish to take a photo of it for evidence, but my camera was taken.

I decided to go up to the building to find a police or someone who can help. Then a group of tourists from North America come by, I tried to ask for help, the first couple didn’t want to know about it they just walked past me. An older man in the middle of the group - might be their teacher stopped and asked me what happened. I told him also asked if there any police up to the top, he said no, but he did offered if he could help. I said I will go up to take the cable car down to find the police.

I got to the building, there was a security guard there, he then took me down the cable car we went to the police right beside the start of the cable car. There were 7 or 8 fully armed police there, but they all watching the football match between Argentina and the Swiss. Finally one police interviewed me, then he called someone else, I was taken in a police car (second times in Bolivia) to another police station.

In this second police station, a police interviewed me again at least this time he wrote down what I said. He then said because you are from Australia ( NO, New Zealand, I said), you must have insurance, you need a police report right? To me, the way he was dealing with the situation, he had no intention to find the crime, only want to do a report for my insurance.It made me think he have done this many times.

Then he told me I need to go to the bank (which is 1 km away) to pay 10 Bolivianos to buy a ticket then come back to get the report done. Luckily I hid some money in my shorts the robbers didn’t get.

So I walked 15 mins to get to the bank. I was given a number of 559 and wait. When my number was up, I went to a wrong counter - I think I was tired, distressed, dehydrated, when I found the correct counter, the number was changed to 560, the man behind the counter was not going to serve me.

With all my anger, I slammed the money and the note from the police onto his desk and said in English “ take the money and give me the ****en ticket, I was just robbed by your country men up the hill, and the police made me to come here to pay for my police report. I’m not leaving until you serve me.” A customer beside me understood my English, he then explained to the bank staff, then everyone saw scratches and bruises on my legs, my face ,then they started sever me. The man said he was very sorry, but by that time, I couldn’t care any less, I just want to get my ticket and police report and get the **** out of there.

I got my ticket, back to the police, then wait again, another police put all the hand writing into computer. After printed out, he ask me if I have 5 Bolivianos, this time I said NO. He then simple gave me the report, I didn’t say thank you.

I do believe it is organized crime, the guys on the hill attacked the tourists, then the police get more money charge the victims for issue a report, what a cunning plan.

I still wouldn’t say this country is more dangerous than any other counties. Robbery happens all around the world, but the aftermath bullshit makes you wonder.

When I finally got home, it was 6pm...

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

Damn Ellen ...
Sorry to hear this gut wrenching story.
Try to let it go ,, think of it an homage to the gods ,, who have protected you guys ,, all these travels.
Things can only get better here on!

this is serious uncool. Sorry to hear this has happened.

Wish you all the best

Sorry to hear about the robbery
I would suggest that going forward you never go alone, in SA. Join a larger group and play it safe.

On other fronts, Bolivia's recent contribution to science:
Why Bolivia reversed its clock – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs

Wooow Ellen, hope you are oke, you also Andi. Try & give this f^&kup a place & let it go. Camera can & will be replaced, now try to get over the shock, it leaves a sh*t feeling when u have been mugged, that is for sure. In Ireland we have a saying when this happens & you lose something, we just fervently say "and let all bad luck go with it". Andi don't let your anger cloud yer judgement. Guys thinking about you & wishing you both well. Hugs Vince

Im week behind on your guys blog, Mike and Jing told us what had happened to Ellen last night.


Ellen we hope you are feeling better and we are glad you are in one piece, although its tough to accept at the moment, the stuff you lost can be replaced, YOU are far more important.


I wont get started on what should be done to the scumbags who did this to you, one day they will get their payback I'm sure - hopefully with a painful dollop of interest.


The apathy shown by the cops is a total disgrace, it wouldn't surprise me if they were in some way connected with the scum who did this, but we will probably never know.


Time will help heal the wounds (both physical and mental) Ellen, you are one tough cookie, support each other and move on guys.


It would be worth putting a mention of this in the travellers advisory section to make sure this scum doesn't do it to the next overlanders rocking through this area.


Hugs to you both, Grif & Lisa

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Cheers
Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca

Heya Joe

Many thanks mate appreciate your kind words, yes plenty more good mind food for the health of the head rather than thinking of the past.

Death road tomorrow then out to Brasil.

Cheers Andi

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