*Be warned, there is just little bit of bad language in this one.*

Oli's first glimpse of the good ship Victoria

'Well, at least it has a crane,' says Olivier, sighing a slight amount of relief as we get our first glimpse of 'La Victoria,' the boat of largely rotten planks painted green and white that will take us one step closer to Colombia, as far as the town of Jaque.  Sat deep amidst the jungles of Darien, Jaque is still in Panama but close enough to smell the drug smuggling FARC of Colombia.

'I'll be happier when the bikes are on, we're on and we're on our way.'  I reply, anxiously viewing the huge mound of cargo still sitting on the dock waiting to be loaded.
'They can't be putting all that on,' says Oli, ever the optimist, 'it must be for another boat.' Though I can sense even Olivier's doubt.
'Maybe,' I say, calculating space, as a man adds steel rods to the mound and to my equation of; bricks, cement, fridges, washing machines, wood, galvanise, rice, beer, fizzy drinks, steel girders and the ubiquitous can't-go-anywhere-without-one....chicken...alive.

And let's not forget the two motorbikes.

"One dollar."

(Corresponding Photos for this blog are HERE)
 
After several passes of curiosity, the boy comes over to my corner of shade outside the "tienda."
"Where are you from?" he asks shyly.
"England." I reply, taking a thirst quenching sip from my cola.
"Is that far?"
"Ohhh, yes!  Very far!"  I tell him.
"Is it close to Germany?" he asks.
"Mmmm, more or less, yeah."
"How long does it take with your motorcycle?" he says leaning closer now on his bicycle.
"Ohh, you can't go by motorcycle."
"What about a bus?"
"Nooo, there's no road!"
"No road!?"
"No.  There's a big ocean, so you need a plane!  It's about 6000km or so."
"A plane!"
"Yeah, it's about 16 hours...."  I say to him, but he looks confused and add, "or maybe a month on a boat!"
"Farther than the city?" he asks after a moment.
"Oh yes!  Much further!"
"Further than USA?"
"Oh yes," I say staring at my empty coke bottle contemplating, "Yup....." It is very far, and seems impossibly so now, when only days ago I was there saying goodbye to my family....

"The Moment of Truth, Take Four" was complete and hot off the...umm, developing table, but it didn't take long for another problem to crop up and "Take Five" was soon created, leaving me feeling like an overused actor, in a worn out ongoing story line...like in the endless "Saw" movie series; I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. In fact, I wonder if - like the movies - this was my own slow torture, to rid me of my selfish bad ways, taking, taking, taking, never giving, riding around the world, take, take, take, and now to cure me of my demon I must perhaps give up something dear to me....Rudolf?

After toiling for days ad days and weeks and weeks and fighting every step against the lack of parts the lack of tools or the lack of help (which was later to come from numerous people...Julio, Raul and Luis!) without other options I had to admit defeat and hand it over the very helpful people at Yamaha Canella Central in Guatemala City.

A special thanks to Julio, for organising the delivery of the bike to Guate City, Raul Toledo at Yamaha Proceres for organising workshop help and Luis Hernandez the service manager at Yamaha Central, everyone was really unbelievably generous and kind and helpful and I am left wondering why I deserve such help really.

Watch and find out...