baggies ). That woman saved my life !
A splitting headache ceased about the same time her sons completed the work . Then they fed me ! And just like that , another period of doom and gloom averted by the people I met !
As Christmas approached , and after enjoying Peru for three months , it came time to cross into Chile . The region was going through great unrest , I was tear gassed several times while being too close to protestors . With holidays approaching , doom and gloom setting in , seeing all the torn-up buildings , protests , water cannons in use and generally feeling lonely , I headed into the Atacama desert .
There I found an awesome hostel in San Pedro de Atacama and decided to spend the holidays there . It was my first full holiday season away from my family and friends in Ohio , I was again feeling lonely .
Then I got a Facebook message from a German rider , also riding solo , looking for a place to spend the holidays . This is how I met Olaf , Kurt , and Sergio , three riders who rode with me on and off for the next six months , buoying my spirits the entire way . Again , attitude rescue by people I met .
As our group of riders left Mendoza , Argentina to ride an intense mountain pass west to Santiago Chile , I first installed a set of new front brake pads , the ones being used were quite thin , and we knew we had crazy roads ahead .
Unbeknownst to me , I ’ d installed one side incorrectly and something felt amiss . Feeling the front brakes dragging , I dismounted and found that the rotor was red hot . It had warped beyond anything I had ever seen before , the calliper had to be removed to allow the front wheel to rotate . With 100 kilometres of crazy mountain roads ahead , and with only a rear brake , I decided to head back to Mendoza . The gang followed . And with it came yet another crazy twist in my tale , again saved by someone I ’ d met .
It seems there are NO Suzuki parts available in Argentina . Suzuki had pulled out years ago , and only a few things remain .
Mendoza , a large modern city with hundreds of motorcycle shops , where I spent hours walking and Ubering from shop to shop trying to find any front brake rotor that would fit . But alas , nothing .
The internet was resorted to once more , specifically two Facebook pages ; one called Pan American Riders and the other Pan American Mules 1 . Through this method I found a Moto-traveller who , years prior , finished his South American ride and then sold his DR650 to a person in Santiago for parts . He thought that the new owner in Santiago might still have the rotor !
He did , I paid for it . Now to get it to me .
TRAVERSE 64