together, making them stronger however, both are quick
to point out that the good times far outweigh those that
are not so good.
“To be honest, it’s been a great experience overall,”
Kelvin explains.
“I guess the main issue has been finding good me-
chanics,” he continues explaining that those responsible
always had the best intentions, perhaps just not the right
skills set to complete the task.
“It cost us a lot of time and money and shaved about
3 months off our trip finish date,” Suzie adds. “Unfortu-
nately, it’s resulted in about 5 months’ worth of sitting
around waiting for parts and work to be completed. For-
tunately, in these times we got to meet some awesome
people, which definitely added to our travel experience
so there’s always a silver lining.”
Suzie adds that the bike problems did get them down.
The first few occasions were quite positive; chance en-
counters, new experiences, visiting unknown towns all
added to the experience then as the problems reoccurred
it became something that dragged both down.
“After the engine had been opened the 5th time we felt
quite negative and a bit defeated,” Suzie explained.
“Fortunately, the last mechanic based in Sucre, Boliv-
ia, that worked on my engine, was actually the only one
really worth his salt and since then things have been
good,” she went on.
It's this positive attitude and approach to life that has
seen both Suzie and Kelvin get through. An approach
that has allowed them to see through the misconceptions
portrayed by the Western Media, often finding that nega-
tive news reports are far from the truth. Both agree that
this has been the greatest eyeopener and has changed
their own conceived ideas and beliefs.
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