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Other entries in Cochabamba

More bike stuff and... monkeys....

We left La Paz a week ago, on a Sunday, and for the 1st time we had a hostal booked! We had been in contact by email with Chuck, an american biker, for few months now. He was ahead of us but we finally caught up with him.

He was in Cochabamba and had booked us in the hostal. After a long day ride in the freezing Altiplano (we are so glad to have electric jackets & gloves!) we finally arrived to our destination. We found the hostal without too much trouble  for a change and went for dinner with Chuck. It was nice to compare notes as he rides the same model than us and he had been having the same problems than us (like the bikes not starting at altitude.... ) The following day Chuck left and we wandered around a bit.  We sorted various chores (like sending a parcel home with the stuff we don´t use or need!) and also finding  a workshop for the bikes. Here is what we sorted during our week in town, re. the bikes:

****Bike stuff****  

We did a full servicing, most of it in our hotel patio. We checked the batteries and realised that the level was low, so we got  distilled water in (both bikes were very low on liquid). We finally found by chance engine oil 10W40, so we replaced the oil, hoping this will help at altitude as it is very cold in the mornings. Hopefully with the battery topped with water and this oil, they should be easier to start in the morning! We cleaned the air filters, replaced the rear brake pads and ordered tyres for both bikes. We tried to change the spark plugs but realised that the spare ones that we bought at BMW in Guildford were the wrong ones! Despite the fact that Alistair´s bike was having work done there at the time and that he questioned the guy re. the  spark plugs that he was being sold! He was told that these were used in all F650s! Well not so! Now we don´t have any spark plugs and they are not available in Bolivia! We sent an email to BMW Guildford to advise us on what type we could use that would be available locally! No answer yet!

***End of Bike stuff**** 

On Saturday we left Cochambamba (we are still waiting for our rear tyres!) and spent the weekend on the edge of the Jungle, in a small town called Villa Tunari. We visited a sanctuary that reabilitates  traffiqued animals into the wild. It was great, lots of monkeys and some were very friendly! We will post great photos as soon as we can. We have been having problems loading photos into this site for the last week or so, so pls be patient!

One female monkey would climb on Alistair knees or neck and would show me here teeth if I came close. She even jump on me with her mouth open like to bite. The guide told me it was because it was a female and she was jalous of me so I could not come close to Alistair!  Incredible! They have big cats but they are free and we did not come across any wandering, although a group of 3 girls walking behind us in a path saw a female Puma, pregnant, but she walked back into the woods and we did not see it! Shame.

Today we are back in Cochabamba, and we hope that our tyres will turn up tomorrow! We live in hope! Alistair bike started having a steering problem and we took the bike to the workshop where we ordered the tyres. They are very knowlegeable and should fix it today they said!

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