December 21st:
I knew that I can count on these guys.
Thomas, from Touratech-West, in Aachen helped me a lot with his advice when a prepared my bike for this trip. Now I sent him the list with the needed spare parts; but, because of the internal organization of the BMW group, it would take a few days to get all I need, especially because of the Christmas holidays. So, here is what we’ll do: Thomas sells me a second hand engine. This one has to be disassembled from a motorbike in their showroom first! BMW Aachen is very efficient, and in only 24 hours the engine is dismounted, cleaned packed and ready for transportation.
December 22nd:
Sébastien, from DHL Luxembourg is my logistics partner since 10 years. From Luxembourg he sends à van to Aachen to collect the engine, brings it to Luxembourg, and everything is ready to send it the same day to Peru, where it should arrive on Monday 26th. In Lima, the team from DHL Peru will make all customs paperwork, and deliver the parcel to BMW Lima. Here the mechanics are ready to build it into my bike immediately and I should be able to resume my travel on Wednesday 28th.
So far for the theory.
Late on the 22nd I get a message from Seb telling me that there is a problem. A big problem. The customs from Peru will not accept the engine because it is not a new one! Seb spent his whole day calling and writing to Lima, but so far without success. The customs officers even proposed him to send the engine to another country! That is where Seb decided to keep it in Luxembourg, until the situation it cleared. Good decision. If we cannot find a solution, the parcel might be stuck in the Peruvian customs for weeks.
Now I am in the most detestable possible situation. It is totally out of my control, there is nothing I can do at the moment. I just can rely on my partners, and I still do so.
As I do not want to spend Christmas in Lima, I booked a plane for Cusco. I will visit the former capital of the Incas and make a two day trip to Machu Picchu. This was planned anyway, although not by plane….
On Tuesday, I will fly back to Lima, try to get hold of the people in charge at the Lima customs, and start moving things from this side.
Merry Christmas to you all.
