Fixing Elvis

Since getting to Columbia Elvis has been a little noisy. It sounds just like the rear differential problems we had when first got the van, which wasn't a cheap fix, so we're keeping everything crossed it wouldn't be that bad. We tried a couple of local mechanics who didn't have a clue so in the end we drove 3 hours to Riohacha, where we had someone highly recommended.

We met up with Mr Washington and he soon had the back half of the van in pieces. The problem was wear in the gear/pinion which had left a sharp edge on the cogs. Unfortunately the used part he had on site was even noisier than the original, so he then went to the Venezuelan border where he was sure he would find the part, but frustratingly he returned empty handed. He eventually ground off the sharp edges and reassembled everything, but it was still a little noisy so we had to find the part. After a couple of nights sleeping in his yard/workshop and a couple more in hotels in town when Elvis was up on chocks we'd had our fill of sleepy Riohacha and decided to head back to Taganga, where we had a great hostel with pool to work out what to do next.

After much confusion over the correct part we eventually ordered one from Amazon, to be delivered to the hostel. Despite it being in stock a few days later it still hadn't shipped. We were harassing Amazon's customer service daily and not getting a straight answer (from India). We eventually ordered the part again as instructed but it still didn't ship. We then ordered from another company and it shipped the following morning!

The end of our problems you would think... but even though it got from the states to a nearby city in a couple of days we were still no nearer getting our hands on it. After a few more days of craziness we decided to drive down to the place it was being held. It was only a couple of hours down the road, but we hadn't planned on the Bolivianos games being on and road cycling being run without shutting the roads to traffic so we eventually got to Barranquilla in twice the time.

THEN WE GOT ROBBED! We were sitting in traffic with the windows down as usual and all of a sudden an arm appeared through Jo's window and grabbed the phone we were using for GPS from the dashboard. I jumped out and chased, leaving the car in the middle of a busy road, but realistically I had no chance of catching a local weaving his way through a crowded market place. By the time I got back to the van there were a bunch of police, and we had to follow them to the station. Initially I thought we might be in trouble, but they were friendly and helpful enough although there was really nothing they could do.

Fortunately I'd backed up the photos recently so losing it isn't a huge deal, but obviously annoying. Jo gave me a hard time when I brought 4 phones with me, but after one getting stolen from Jo's rucksack on a Nicaraguan bus we are now down to the oldest two.

After all the drama picking up the part from FedEx was surprisingly simple, and we found a mechanic in the city to install it the next day. We spent the night on the street smack in the middle of the city, but frustratingly we needed another small part so we had to spend a second night, this time locked into the mechanic's yard. The work was finished just as it was getting dark and a huge downpour turned the road into a river, so we spent another night at the yard and headed off early the next day.

Despite all the amazing photos on Instagram & Facebook the truth is travelling isn't always that glamorous. This run of bad luck we've had has meant we really haven't seen much of Colombia despite being here over a month and we have been regretting our decision to ship south, but I'm sure all that will change when we get back into the swing of things.Leia mais