The latest epistle from Cynthia:

Jess arrived here on Monday, and has already fallen in love with Coyhaique.

We’ve spent a total of three and a half hours dismantling the bike to the point where the engine will jump out on its own – great stuff. I ve sent some pix to Phil so you ll be able to see what we ve done. One shows a broomhandle through the headstock which demonstrates the bend, and another may or may not show what I consider to be a very slight bend in the top frame tube. Bit difficult to tell, really.

Anyway, we didn’t find anything nasty, so it’s all looking good for the rebuild.

UPS reports the packages have arrived in Santiago and are going through the painful process of verification and Customs inspection. I’m hoping for a bit of cooperation from the Customs people here, who issued the temporary import papers for the bike and are aware that once it’s rebuilt it’ll be exported again fairly promptly. That way I may not have to pay any import duty. We’ll see.

Bones are mending slowly, but the shoulder has some way to go in terms of the soft tissue injury. I’m working on it.