With motorcycle rental and tour operator office comes a lot of official business like renewing insurance and license for the vehicles. Our host asked me to drive one of the bikes to the Centro Mecánico in Rionegro and get the traffic license renewed. Of course I said yes, then it turned out it’s going to be one of the 115cc Yamaha Fino scooters, but hey, free ride…

My wife was taking Spanish classes on a farm, so I drove her to the school, had a huge breakfast and headed to Rionegro. The road to Marinilla was nothing new,la Piedra, El Peñol, then I’m at the highway, 35km, piece of cake…

In Colombia nothing is as easy as it seems. In Peñol I realized that the speedometer is not working at all, and I was told it’s kind of a big deal, but I got reassured, it’s mandatory to have one on the bike, it doesn’t have to work. Confidently I ride to Rionegro and found the place for the first try, just to realize, the check engine light is on. Doesn’t look good, but I figured, I drove here, let’s give it a try.

I entered and got a tsunami of paperwork and questions, all in Spanish, and the lady was halfway through her monologue by the time I was able to ask her to slow down. In 10 minutes, we figured out all the details, and I was pointed to a waiting room until they are ready with the bike.

It was surprisingly fast, and either they did not want to deal with my Spanish or they really let everyone pass, but I got the papers, keys and I was good to go.

I headed back to Marinilla and proceeded on the road to El Peñol, when it started raining. Quickly I put on the rain suit, and continued on the serpentine, that’s when I found out that the rear break is not working on a bike, that just got licensed to be rented for tourists.

I stopped and luckily the rain subsided in 6 minutes and I continued my way back to the rental office.

At the mechanic, it turned out the speedometer is really not necessary, the check engine light can be turned on by holding both breaks during ignition and the rear break was adjusted, so it’s safe now to ride.