Day 39_to-42

Today we are a bit nervous and we wake up around 2:00. We want to have plenty of time to cross the desert and the border avoiding the heat. When we are getting ready for the departure we have an unexpected surprise. Paul and Clémence (www.allyoucaneast.de, our friends from our lovely stay on the ferry) arrive at our hostel! They tried last night to obtain at the border a visa to enter to Uzbekistan, and as it was not possible they came back to Beyneu. Tià asks how is the road until the border, and they carry poorly news. It seems that the road is under construction, so they just totally destroyed the old one. We were expecting 50 km of off-road AFTER the border, and now Paul says to us that the 90 km to the border are also off-road. That’s really bad.

Anyway we start riding with Robin and Pixie (thanks to their support and advices, because we were quite nervous), of course they are faster than us, so we’ll meet at the border. We are completely alone on the middle of the desert and it’s still dark when the “no road” starts. It’s bumpy jumpy, but we manage to keep going without major problems, the Bonnie and the driver are doing a great job! It’s just that Tià has to ride really slow, but we have plenty of time.

Also we have to cross some sand-banks, that’s not really funny, but Tià manages to cross them perfectly until the last big one. We are just 20 Km away from the border, and the worst “no road” part is already done. When we see this massive “sand pool” we doubt for a second, but there is not really time to break, so we just keep going. And then, “(sh)it” happens. We fall. It takes just one doubting second with the throttle and we are on the floor. Luckily Tià is fine, the motorbike is lying on the floor and seems fine also, but my ankle is hurting a lot. Anyway, no worries it’s just a food, so we are lucky. A car stops to help us, a guy moves my ankle, so I can see it’s not broken and I’m a bit more calm (at least I stop screaming). I can’t say how many men were on this car, but they are all really nice; they help us to lift the motorbike, and they stop another car to drive me to the border. Then, we left, I’m riding on an old Lada through the desert! The other car is escorting me (just to be sure that I reach the border), but they left Tià alone with the motorbike in the middle of the sand!!!! He has to manage to cross the sand bank alone.

My escort and I reach the border, there Pixie and Robin are waiting for us taking a little nap. When they see me with this men they get worried, what happened?? where is Tià??? I’ll explain everything, and they take care of me until Tià arrives.

Now we have to cross the border it’s around 8:00 in the morning when we start, I’ll just say that we reach Uzbeck land around 11:00. The officials from both sides treat us really well, I get extraVIP treatment for being an injured tourist. It takes us so long because we are the first ones entering this border with an electronic Uzbeck visa, so they don’t really know what to do. We are doing history here!

A nice official from the Kazakhstan border:

Once in Uzbeckistan everything gets crazy, we need an insurance, money and fuel. And we get all of it on a bizarre black market.

Changing money…

After taking some tea, we decide to continue. This is a bizarre place and we don’t want to stay. We’ll be doing checkpoints with our lovely kiwis so they are sure that we arrive fine (and that we have enough benzine). I can’t explain how hard it is to ride injured off-road, every pothole, and every stone hurts as hell, but I have any other option. We manage to cover the around 400 km without any gas station with our “peanut tank” and our canisters (we refill in the middle of nowhere in front of the camels, that’s a new experience!) and we reach Kungirat when the sunset starts.

Trying to get off the bike near Jasliq:

Stop for refill the tank:

What a crazy loooooooong day! After asking around we find a “guesthouse”, it seems to be the only option for us to spend the night. It’s an special place… Robin calls it a “cultural experience”. At least we don’t have to share the rooms with anyone, I’m the only one who gets a proper matres, and we are feeded so it’s good enough (even having a shared hole as a toilet).

It’s time to look at my foot, it’s hard to get rid of the boot, it’s black, swollen and it hurts a lot. However I can stand, so it seems not broken. We just go to sleep and tomorrow we’ll look for a doctor in Nukus.

Next day I’ve slept almost 12 hours, yesterday was just too much for me and I really needed to rest. We have breakfast with Robin and Pixie, today is a sad day because our paths are going to separate, it has been so nice riding together! For sure we are going to miss them!

We start riding to Nukus a bit late, but the road is fine and it should take just around an hour. Once we arrive at the hotel, we ask for the hospital; we have lunch and then we take a taxi to go there. I’m a bit nervous, I don’t like doctors! When we enter there I feel overwhelmed, that’s not even a little primary attention center in Spain! A lady writes my name in a sheet and I enter directly to the doctor’s office, by luck we find a kind girl who helps us with the translation … nobody here speaks a word in English.

After a quick check on my ankle (nobody looks at the knee, which today is also hurting) they decide to take an X-ray. It’s just insane! They are taking X-rays in an open room! The nurse is holding my food without any protection while they take it. I don’t get to see the results, someone writes something on a paper, the doctor reads it and says that I should put a bandage and take some painkillers (all of that while I’m seated on the doctor’s office near an old man). They send me again to the hotel.

Well it seems it’s not broken. We buy the painkillers, but I think I will skip taking them… Checking on the internet they seem to be forbidden in a lot of UE countries! I put myself a bandage and we spend the rest of the day just resting. We deserve it!

Next day we decide to leave Nukus and go to Khiva, so we can meet again Pixie and Robin. We leave the hotel a bit late, and we still have to get a SIM card for our phones. As it seems we are going to spend a lot of time here in Uzbekistan it’s a good thing having one.

We have problems finding an open phone store, finally we enter to one. It seems they cannot do it, so Tià goes on food to another one while I wait for him with my new two friends. They are really curious about Spain and our journey. We spend more than an hour talking a bit about everything, but what crushes me is when we talk about money… they are working 12 hours every day 6 days/week and they get paid around 50€!!! Finally Tià comes back with our two new SIM cards. We are ready to go!

Taking selfies while waiting

When we are all full dressed, Tià realizes that he left the keys on the motorbike… and the lights were on!!!! So now we don’t have battery and we can’t go. After calling a taxi, going to buy the cables, and stoping a car to charge the battery, we go back to the hotel. It’s too late and hot to ride to Khiva now!

Trying to start the Bonnie:

At least the hotel was really nice, so it doesn’t bother us to stay here more time!

After yesterday’s big fail, we decide to stay a day more here in Nukus. There is not a lot to do, but the hotel is nice and my leg needs to rest.

As everybody say us to do, we go to the Museum. I was expecting it to be something like an History museum, but it end up being more something like a modern art gallery! We are not really into it. Finally I can say that we don’t get it, but they have there some nice pieces of art.

Walking around the museum hobbling…

Everything it’s closed around the hotel, so we end up eating a pizza in a karaoke… extrange situation. In the afternoon Tià manages to find someone who may help us with the battery.

We have an “almost new” battery, so we are ready to go tomorrow!