Tribulations

Well, I think Ive dealt with all the details here at Lake Atitlan that I needed to, so now I can hit the road at last.


But, I have to say that Im not particularly pleased with the way things went with selling the little motorbike... And Im gonna have a little "vent" about it here, so you may want to skip this griping self indulgent post and just "move on"... Which is exactly what Ill do after Ive written it :)))


So, I ended up "taking quite a bath" on the deal!
As I mentioned, finding a buyer was being difficult because I didnt have the papers for the bike.
The papers had been left in a box with some spare parts for the bike with my other boxes of stuff.
But when I left my boxes of stuff with a friend (before heading back to Vancouver to start this trip) he decided that box was motorbike stuff and should be put in his workshop.
Then, six months after I had left he decided to sell his mechanic business and through casual neglect he just let the new owner have everything in the shop... Including the little box of parts and several other items of mine that were worth several hundred dollars to replace!... Now it was mentioned to the new owner by the friend in question and by the owner of the rental space where the workshop was that there were some things that were not to be taken (though not that particular little box)... But it didnt matter, everything was taken by the new owner and moved to his new workshop space.
So, when I got the bike cleaned up and going, I approached the new mechanic about my things, and specifically about the bike papers...
This got "stone walled" with "No, it was all mine, and there was lots of junk that I just threw out"!
I stayed polite and tried again... Describing specifically what the items I wanted looked like! ... And got the same answer... No Joy!
So, then I wrote to my friend who had sold the mechanic business and he sent the new owner an email as well.
... And I tried again... And I got stone walled yet again!

Now, this all took over a week to unfold, and by this time I was figuring I wasnt gonna get anything out of the new mechanic, and I needed to sell the bike somehow, and sitting around here was costing me hundreds of dollars each week!
So, I lowered the price and eventually made a deal with the original owner of the bike whos name the "lost" papers are still in... Its far easier for him to get new papers issued than for me!

But theres another story with that too...
The guy wanted the bike but didnt want to pay much for it, and fair enough, he had not seen the bike in a couple of years and I dont blame him for assuming the worst! (Though it was in actually in really good condition!). But I also offered to add two good motorbike helmets to encourage the deal as well... And I offered to drive the bike into Antigua to help with him picking it up too.

But whatever the case he told me stories about having only $200 himself, and borrowing $200 from his brother and $200 more from his mother, and $200 more from his sister... And that was all he could find...
To whichy I said... "Look, I hear you, and Ill come down a bit but Im not moving till I get $900...
... There was more humming and stories about borrowing from someone else too...
And after a couple more calls, he finally commted to the $900 deal, but not before I mentioned that Id basically had enough and had a local offer for $900 that Id take instead (Which was in fact 100% true too!)
But he commited and so I stuck with the deal Id started first and thus rode the bike into Antigua to make the deal...
And when the appointed hour came, I was alone in the appointed public location... Half an hour later the buyer shows up (how typical for Guatemala!) and the transaction goes off without further issue...
... But my gripe here is that the guy shows up in a sparkling clean, late model pickup truck that would cost at least $30,000 - $40,000 in Canada and probably about $60,000 or more down here... And he, and his son who accompanied him, were all dressed up in expensive clothes too... He peels off the $900 from a pile of notes which he says are "straight from the bank" (cos Im checking them for fakes) and proceeds to tell me that after this they are going to have some pizza at one of the expensive clubs in the town!

Now, I dont know the actual facts of his finances, and the stories he told me may have been true but it sure didnt seem like it from external appearances!
... But, what can ya do!....
So I go back to the lake today, and as I get off the shuttle bus, I walk past the new mechanic shop and decide to go ask about my stuff one more time...

And the mechanic and his father are both there, and I start to get the same story as before...
But I interrupt this time, and without shouting, but being very clear and assertive, I say "Look, I KNOW the stuff I want is here because I SAW IT here when I first came in here to charge the motorbike battery over a week ago... And I KNOW youve moved it cos its now not where it was!!!"
Then ensues a very rappid babble of responses from them both about "stuff gets moved around all the time here" and "we're very busy and havnt had time to look" etc, but while the father continues with the babble, the mechanic trots off around the nearest corner and comes back within ten seconds with my pile of stuff, AND the motorbike papers!!!!

ARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

So, their little game "keep it if you can" has deffinitely cost me about $500 in the sale of that motorbike! And that stuff that I could have posted home with the other boxes I sent (posted the last one yesterday!) will now have to be strapped to the back of the bike instead!!

... And now that I have them, I could hold the bike papers "ransom" and ask for more money from the guy with the shiny pickup...
... Or, I could just throw them out and make the guy incure the cost delay, and inconvenience of getting new ones issued...

But really, that just makes me as "small" as they all are and why would I do that to myself?
No, I think Ill just let the past be the past, give the guy his bikes papers and "be done with it all"!

Honestly, this sort of thing just makes me feel so tired, and so "sad" for people in general... Why do we do these things to each other?
I just dont know why we are all so "small"!


But, thats enough of my griping... And now Ill let it go and get on with riding North...

I hit the road tomorrow morning :))