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THE BIG DAY HAS ARRIVED!!!

After a month of organizing, stress, headache, heartache and frustration we’re finally ready to go!

We have our last good breakfast at Don Santiago and bid farewells to our wonderful hosts and friends there. It’s been a big comfort to at least have a comfortable home and good friends about us during this difficult time. Thank you all for your support guys and girls.

And we’re off: Santiago to Los Andes (avoiding the Autopista) and up to the Los Libertadores pass to Mendoza, a total distance of about 365Km. I was obviously thinking of about 4 hours journey time, with two more for breaks and customs/immigration. The Los Libertadores (also known as Christo Redentor) It’s about 3400m high and snowy. The road snakes up 29 or so serpentines and then reaches the Christo Redentor tunnel. It’s been closed for a few days due to bad weather (delaying us even more) so I’m checking for black ice but it’s fine – they seem to have strewn salt on the road. You get a view of Aconcagua on the the level stretch before the border police compound but it’s shrouded in clouds so we can only just see it.

We used the following web sites to check the state of the Chile – Argentina border crossings and weather conditions before travel:
http://www.pasosfronterizos.gov.cl/ (Chile’s official border management page)
http://www.gendarmeria.gov.ar/pasos/estado.html (Argentina police border info page)
http://greenash.net.au/thoughts/2011/04/highway-border-crossings-between-chile-and-argentina/ (Independent info on various Chilean land borders)
http://www.meteochile.gob.cl/pronostico.html (Chile meteorological website)
http://www.windguru.cz/int/ (Detailed weather conditions including wind, precipitation etc)

At the Aduana (the customs & immigration checkpoint) we reach the back of a long queue of cars and buses. We park and I get chatting to the guy parked ahead of me. He suggests, why don’t I just take the bike through to the front of the queue. He recons that’ll be alright. Excellent, because we, not being in a car, are more likely to freeze to death waiting in line up here. We move forward and see a couple of bikers just a few cars from the entrance, so we park up near them and get talking. They’re Brazilian, have been on about a month’s journey from somewhere around Sao Paolo, West and into Northern Chile, down to Santiago and completing the loop back from here. Apparently they’ve been waiting for three hours already! (Good thing we moved ahead!)

Once in the Aduana building things again take time. Cars outside are regularly blowing their horns in frustration – sounds as if they’d just won the football or something. Finally we get to do the paperwork formalities and the customs folks start getting complicated about my RUT: it’s only valid for 3 months and, they say, this will be a problem if I want to re-enter Chile after three months time. (Strange, the guy I bought the bike from re-entered on an expired RUT, because he had to renew his to sell the bike.)

One of the Brazilians help us out with translation a bit. His advice to me is as follows: “When you’re biking through South America like this you have to learn to create problems for yourself and fix them later on the fly, otherwise you’ll never go anywhere.”

Eventually our paperwork gets stamped and we’re free to go. By the time we move on it’s nearly dark. We notice the temperature difference immediately as we move on. My fingers go numb in no time.

We pass some Argentinian soldiers, clearly enjoying their shift standing out here in the snow waiting for vehicles to pass, and continue our freezing journey down to Mendoza. We don’t like riding at night in any case, but this journey is terrible! It’s painfully cold and powerful gusts of wind threaten to blow us down every few hundred metres. I have to lean the bike into the wind as if taking a corner but still ride straight. Scary shit! Thankfully we arrive ok.

Mendoza is ok but not what we expected. Just a big town and not very beautiful. It takes us a couple of hours to find our hostel (Chara Hostal). The road system is a pain in the arse – lots of one way streets and traffic lights. And they’re ALWAYS RED!

We end up asking a taxi driver and he leads us to the correct street, about 500 metres away. I was going to give the guy some cash anyway, but the asshole points at his meter: 500 Pesos. I look at him quizzically, “50 US Dollars, don’t you think that’s a bit steep?”
He decides that he must have misread the meter, it must be 50 Pesos, but of course this is still way out of line, so I give him ten and send him on his way. In hind-sight, I should have just told him to go fuck himself.

The hostel is ok but a bit grimy. People return at 3 and 4AM and make noise, others watch TV at high volume in the common room, which echoes right through the dorm rooms. Oh well, at least the lockers are big and there’s space to park our bike outside. There’s a BBQ area outside which we’re tempted to use but we don’t end up staying long here.

We go on a wine tour in Museo San Felipe La Rural which is interesting and free. And it takes us ages to find it. The ladies there are very nice and recommend us a place to eat. We don’t find that either, in time, and as we are starving we settle for an Italian style tortilla sandwich. It’s good.

The best place we find to eat is the food market. We pass it by chance looking for dinner. Cheap meals to be had, Ebru gets a burger about the size of her head with fresh beef patty and I have a Lomo (something like a kebap sandwich) plus a litre of beer for about 70 peso. And loads of interesting stands vending fresh and cooked produce, smoked meats and spices. By the way, the local Andes beer is delightfully good!

After that we decide Mendoza is not doing it for us and we need to move on. We decide to head out into the open, away from the city, and set course for San Agustin de Valle Fertil.

Well… Quite a few carrabineros (cops) hang out at Johnny Moto’s, get their bikes serviced. One night I ask one of them about this Autopista fees business – shall I pay? He tells me that if I don’t pay, this information gets registered to the bike and makes whoever owns the bike liable for the fines. This information can be checked online, meaning it may give me trouble when selling the bike.  What’s more, you only have 20 days to pay whereafter the outstanding charge is forwarded to the local municipality and they then chase you up for the money, plus additional late fees. Shit! He tells me to visit the Autopista offices, get a list of the fees due, and ask whether they can be annulled since I had no idea they were due.

There are four main Autopistas in Santiago: Costanera Norte, Autopista Central, Vespucio Norte and Vespucio Sur.

We spend two days visiting their offices, which are all conveniently in totally different parts of the city. It turns out I have used all of them on more than one occasion. The fees total around 100000Pesos and one infraction has been due longer than 20 days, so now this cannot be paid until the municipality has dealt with it. No annulments, no leniency, no mercy. Just what I need! I pay for the outstanding fines, but one kind lady at Autopista Central points out that a few of these (including the one overdue) are from before the bike being registered in my name, so I manage to get these annulled at least. Positive news? I can’t believe it!

Santiago Autopista Links:

Autopista Central: http://www.autopistacentral.cl/contacto/formulario

Costanera Norte: http://www.costaneranorte.cl/contacto.html

Vespucio Norte: http://www.vespucionorte.cl/category/contactanos

We spend more time sorting out our luggage situation. We have too much – we’ve been carrying two rucksacks with combined weight of 50kg plus a bit extra in day packs. We now have additional tools and spares too. Stuff has to go!

We reduce, reduce, compact and reduce. All luxuries are out: nail polish, creams, portable BBQ. Clothing has to be reduced to two sets each plus underwear and a swimming suit each. Mask and snorkel have to come with.

The top box which goes on the tail of the bike won’t hold enough stuff so it has to go; we replace it with one of the rucksacks instead. Eventually we get it right: two sets of clothes, tent, sleeping mats and bags, one small day sack, cooking kit, first aid kit, toiletry bag, fishing kit (didn’t think I’d leave without that did you?), laptops, torches, electronics, small world receiver radio. The rest is tools, lubricants and spares.

This puts our combined weight (+/- 115Kg) and all the baggage (+/- 30Kg) at just under the official maximum load of 155Kg. Truly an achievement, believe it!

It’s gonna be tough going for the next few months I recon

Repair quotes from bike mechanics suddenly all come out at about 500K Pesos. And we still haven’t found gear at the cheap rates Luke mentioned, despite haggling. We spend a lot of time running around the city looking and I spend ages on the Internet researching biker forums, Chilean online markets and so on. Everything’s in Spanish here and hardly anyone speaks English…  and this stuff is definitely not covered in your tourist phrasebook, believe me… you can imagine…..

I decide since I don’t trust the bike dealers (never have), I will go and visit a mechanic recommended by people on Horizons Unlimited, probably the most popular biker forum on the Internet: Ruben Contreras a.k.a. Johnny Moto.

We head the 15Km down to his part of town, La Florida, but after two hours we still haven’t found the place. Then it starts raining as well! Dammit! Eventually we find the place. It’s on the side of the main Autopista, as shown in Google Maps, but the building number is unrecognizably painted on the wall in brown paint… and it doesn’t look anything like a bike shop. We knock… nothing. It’s Sunday.

Monday morning we head there again. This time the big metal gate slides open.

“Ruben Contreras?”

“Si.”

Thank God!

His quote is not much below the Honda dealer’s (450K Pesos) but at least that includes a new front tyre, brake pads, and he has a reputation.

The work gets underway. I supervise (rather “watch”) everything. He seems to be a good mechanic – tidy workshop, clean work surfaces, careful handling of parts, patience…

He changes the clutch plates, transmission, tensioner, brake pads, front tyre, oil, oil/air filter; he greases everything, replaces gaskets and rubber seals, recommends and installs some neoprene dust protectors  on the front suspension.

For extra 20K he accedes to my request and bends up an old aluminium bash plate to fit the bottom of my frame, to protect the engine – a piece I’m really chuffed with.

There’s a lot of bikes there of all models and generations. A regular entourage of bike enthusiasts hanging about, bringing in lunch or breakfast. And plenty of visitors bringing their boneys for repairs. KLRs, Africa Twins, BMWs…

At 7 at night we start up the bike…. the engine emits a terrible gnashing and whipping noise. Surely this can’t be happening! Ruben’s look is a mixture of irritation and defeat. They’ve been working on this thing for a day and a half. He takes it for a spin, comes back and the noise has subsided. Thank god!

The next day we have to go out and sort out the bike papers and gear. Not an easy job, when you don’t know the language. For the bike transfer contract at least we have the help of Colvin&Colvin, which makes that part easier. About midday the engine starts with that strange noise again. Shit! Off we go to Ruben aka “Johnny Moto” – “por favor revisar trabajo” (please revise your work). He does, at no additional charge. Dismantles the clutch, removes the tensioner… nothing to be found.

While the work proceeds I speak to one of the “regulars” there, a young woman named Isabella, who has brought her bike in to check up before a trip to the North. She says she’s been coming here for years and she wouldn’t go anywhere else. When we talk about my bike she says she used to have a bike that was very noisy too and it got her really paranoid… came back here several times to get it fixed. Nothing they could do silenced it – just turned out it was a noisy bike and it gave her years of good service.

Ruben suggests that it might be to do with the tensioner not being a Honda original, though he has used these alternates on this model before without problems and believes it to be a better part. He installs the old tensioner again for me to ride with a while, to see if the problem disappears. And it does.

A day later I take the bike back, thrilled that we’ve discovered the cause of the worrying noise. We haven’t had the noise with the old (Honda original) tensioner for over 100Km. We need to make a deal: since the problem seems to be with the alternative tensioner, I want a new original. Johnny doesn’t think this is a tensioner problem, but we can agree this is the only “scientifically tested” conclusion we can draw at the moment and the alternative – dismantling the engine completely – would be a major and costly endeavour. I’m willing to carry the price difference for the original tensioner but not the whole cost, unless it doesn’t work. He agrees, we buy an original, install it, and everything seems fine. Hallelluja!

The next, with the new tensioner in place,  day Ebru and I loop around Vina del Mar, Los Andes and back, to test drive the bike. Fine for a while but eventually the noise returns. SHIT!

It costs 250K for Ruben to completely dismantle and inspect the engine. When the oil is drained Ruben points out a silvery glittering in it – “aluminium”, he tells me, “malo” (not good). I watch it all. Every single nut, bearing, everything is taken out and checked.

That afternoon another young lady is there with her 750, learning to change her tyre. In conversation I ask her about this little device on her handle bars – is it a GPS? “No it’s a TAG, don’t you have one?”

“No.”

“Oh so you don’t take the Austopista I suppose…”

I’ve been taking it every day to get here. She explains that you have to pay a tax, either by daily pre-pay card or by using a TAG device, which electronically registers with the overhead monitoring systems on the Autopista. I thought those were speed cameras! She’s kind enough to phone up a couple of Autopista offices to see whether I owe anything – my number plate has been registered a few times on a couple of them at least. Shouldn’t be a big deal – a few thousand Pesos at most – but people recommend that I don’t pay because I’m not Chilean anyway.

Inspection result: Everything looks good, except there is a slight amount of abrasion inside the cylinder head walls – possibly caused by vibration.

Shouldn’t happen with a bike so new, but who knows, could be a factory defect. A new cylinder will cost 60K but for no additional cost Ruben suggests re-mounting the cylinder with Loctite, strong chemical bonding agent. He says he’s done this in other cases with success. Just to be sure, two of the main engine bearings are replaced as well.

Two days later the bike is again complete and we start it up. Seems to have worked.

The following day Ebru and I ride around town looking to get our gear sorted.

Then the noise comes up again.

I am just about ready to throw in the towel by this point. I go to visit Johnny Moto.. I’m at the end of it.. ask him if he’s interested in buying the bike. I’ve had enough. Johnny’s not interested in buying it. He tells me to go with confidence. He’s checked every single part and is confident this motor has no issues whatsoever. Only the cylinder could eventually start causing problems and need replacement, he recons, but this bike is ready to go. Go tranquilo! “Vaya con confianza.”

What can I say? What should I think? I’ve watched all the work being done, seen all the parts, asked questions, everything looked good to me, all explanations logical. Everything that can be done, I think, has been done. You cannot dismantle the engine anymore than it was. I guess I’ll have to take his word for it.

UPDATE: Finally, after much worry and strife, we have found the root of this engine noise problem! Read these two articles for the story…

1. Getting an idea of the root cause — Crown Jewel of Bolivia: Sucre

2. Problem Solved! — (Coming soon)

For those interested, here the information that I can impart about the process of buying a bike in Chile.

There is great information on other web sites, notably Horizons Unlimited (aka The HUBB), which will give you more excellent information on the subject. I will refer you to via links to these articles and give other specifics about my experience where applicable. My thanks and credit go to all of the authors on these forums that made the process transparent for me!

Another major motorbiker forum is Adventure Rider Motorbike Forum

OVERVIEW – STEPS TO BUYING A BIKE: 

1 – You get a RUT
2 – You find a bike.rut
3 – Pay for it and do some paperwork.
4 – Wait a week or so for your official ownership paper.
5 – Go anywhere you want. 

These are the main steps needed to purchase a bike in Chile. They’re fantastically documented here, so read this:
HUBB, by Lachy

More great information is located here:
HUBB, by deeve07
WWW.OJURIK.COM

STEP1 – You get a RUT:

Find the Servicio Impuestos Internos (SII) office responsible for your address . If you go to the wrong one tell them your address and they can point you to the right one.

Go early in the morning to avoid queuing (open from 09:00 to 14:00). Take your passport and the address you’re staying (in my case my hostel).

You can try to pick up your permanent RUT card within a week or two (see links above) but you may request it to be sent to your address. If you are leaving in a hurry and are on good terms with your hosts in Chile, the latter may be a better option so they can send it to you if you need it.

Not likely you’ll need the permanent RUT with you to cross borders. My (provisional) RUT was only once checked by the Aduana at Paso Los Libertadores (Chile-Argentina) when leaving Chile first time and they warned about problems re-entering if I tried this after its expiry date. However my RUT was NOT checked when entering Chile at Paso de Jama nor leaving Chile at Ollague. I also know my bike’s previous owner’s (provisional) RUT was expired when he returned to Chile as he requested a new one at SII to sell the bike to me.

STEP 2 – You find a bike.

I found my seller on the road. However in Santiago there are main districts of Vitacura (NorthEast), Las Condes (NorthEast) and Lira (South-Central) (all these are also street names that can be found on main tourist maps), where many dealers can be found. Some sites in Chile where dealers and private sellers advertise are:
www.mercadolibre.cl
http://automoviles.emol.com
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/
http://chileautos.cl
http://www.motonet.cl/
http://www.elrastro.cl/

STEP 3 – Pay for it and do some paperwork.

1. I went with the owner to a Notaria. These can be found all over town. It’d be helpful if you speak enough Spanish or take someone to help.
2. We both signed and fingerprinted a contract (Compra/Venta), in which the seller gave me specific rights to sell the bike to anyone (including myself). Additionally we signed/fingerprinted a document which gave me the right to ride it through any country in South America.
With these documents I should have been able to take the bike as it was, anywhere into South America. However, I wanted the bike inscribed in my name.
3. I paid a motorcycle dealer (approximately 100,000 Pesos) to handle the transfer for me. This took about three days. After a week I went to the Registro Civil on Av. Agustinas and they were able to print me a copy there and then.

STEP 4 – Wait for your official ownership paper.

The new “Padron” or Certificate of Inscription arrived in the post within two weeks. (now I have a spare)

STEP 5 – Go anywhere you want. 

BIKE DOCUMENTS:

These are the main documents you need to have:
1 – Seguro Obligatorio – (Obligatory Third Party Insurance)
2 – Certificado de Revision Tecnica Clase B  – (Roadworthy Certificate)
3 – Certificado de Emisiones Contaminantes – (Emissions certificate)
4 – Permiso de Circulacion – (Road tax)
5 – Certificado de Inscripcion  – (Ownership document)
Note: with new bikes you have generally 3 roadworthy certificates included for the 1st 3 years.

Other documents you may have:
6 – Solicidud de primera inscripcion (Initial registration document)
7 – Solicidud de transferencia (Registration to new owner)
8 – Certificado de Anotaciones Vigentes

PLACES TO BUY MOTORBIKE GEAR IN SANTIAGO

The main place to head is of course calle Lira, where most of the main parts and equipment dealerships are. However it does not hurt to do a bit of searching online as you would do at home. Even if you still don’t understand any Spanish by now, the Google Translate feature built into the Chrome browser allows you to make local websites comprehensible.

In Spanish, the terms you’ll be looking for are:
ropa de moto, accessoriosde moto, offertas, especiales

I found some good deals and sales online which made me good savings. Here are some names and addresses I have in my notes. Some of these I don’t have the shop names for but they were good shops with lots of options away from the main districts like Lira etc:

Agustinas 814, Santiago (OXS – lots of special offers)
Abate Molina 131, Santiago (Pincheira motos)
Los Parajitos 1761, Santiago
Las Condes 8482, Santiago ( Motomundi )
Providencia 2594, Santiago

Other than don’t forget about the classified sites such as those mentioned above, they often contain direct contact info for the sellers so you can call or visit before you buy:
Accessories on motociclistas.cl 
Accessories on motonet.cl
 Accessorios para vehiculos > Accessorios y repuestos de motos

BUYING INSURANCE

If buying the bike in Chile you need the local 3rd party insurance (Seguro Obligatorio). I didn’t have to buy this because I had a valid one with the BIKE from RSAGROUP (www.rsagroup.cl).

For touring some other South American states like Argentina you need a similar seguro obligatorio cover (which will probably be checked at the border). For this I found only the “Seguro Obligatorio Mercosur”  from MAGALLANES (www.magallanes.cl), the RSAGROUP had only the obligatorio cover for Argentina. Note that the MERCOSUR cover covers only the full members Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uraguay) and for the other countries you’re on your own again, unless you can insure bike in the destination country. The cost for 6 months was 66000.00CLP  (about 82.00GBP).

Finding an insurance in Chile itself which could cover me or the bike for legal / medical / other was impossible because I am not a Chilean citizen.

As for medical insurance (as with all the above insurances), which I found with the help of the HUBB (www.horizonsunlimited.com), I booked this with TrueTraveller’s ( http://www.adventuretravelinsurance.co.uk/ ). They seem to be the only ones that will give you Motorcycle Touring Cover, let you book after you’ve already commenced your travel, and the rate is fantastic in my opinion. Our rate included:

Adults: 2, Period : 5Months
213.00GBP – Emergency Medical / Repatriation Insurance (True Value Worldwide excl.USA/Canada)
133.12GBP – Motorcycle Touring Option
53.26GBP – Section E (Baggage) Add-On
20.00GBP – Endorsement: Already Travelling
50.00GBP – Excess Waiver
72.00GBP – Adventure Pack Add-On
————————————————–
541.38GBP TOTAL
(Other bikers I met stated they were covered by the travel insurance on their AMEX card, but I checked AMEX, Barclays, other travel insurance companies and banks, but in their policy documents I only ever found cover for rentals up to 125cc)

We check out the Vitacura and Las Condes districts where the big bike dealers are, asking for prices for new and used bikes. We head to calle Lira, looking at the price for gear and spares. We’re not finding quite the deals that Luke said he’d found but maybe we’ve not looked in the right places.

Decent Helmet: 50-100K Pesos
Biking Slacks and Jacket: 120-200K
Gloves: 16-30K
Tank Bag: 40K plus
And then there’s the question of boots…

Ebru thinks she might have found a more suitable option…

We hook up with Luke and his lady, take a look at his bike and take it for a test drive. He recons he’ll get 2.8mil for it (a kind of “guaranteed buy back” agreed before) from the dealer but sell it to me if I can match the price. It needs some work – it’s only 4 months in service but it has done 18000Km. Luke has inquired and got estimates on the work that needs doing to get the bike in shape for another big journey: 250000Pesos or thereabouts, they recon; for a new transmission, clutch plates and distribution chain tensioner. Aside from that I know this bike can do the journey and it’s got some history.

So what are we looking at?
Bike: 2.8mil
Repairs: 300K
Transfer Paperwork: 100K
———————————-
TOTAL: 3.2mil (excluding biking gear)

That’s about 4000GBP. Not cheap, but still cheaper than buying new (3.65mil for the same model) or a used equivalent from a dealer, and Luke will chuck in the panniers, top box, spares and tools which will save us a few hundred thousand. I’ve worked out roughly:

Luggage Rack: 50K
Top box: 50K
Panniers: 100K
Spares/Lubicants: 150K
———————————-
350000 Pesos

I make an eccentric spreadsheet to calculate all the costs: fuel, accommodation, food, etc, and considering the savings we’ll make on transportation and tours, comparison to the same journey by bus… it’s clearly more expensive but the bike idea still fits the budget. Then Luke’s bike dealer, whom I visited in Vitacura, contacts me saying something has become available and will cost about 2.5mil – I wonder what that may be?

The next day I go to get my RUT, a Chilean tax number / identification document. You can’t buy a bike without it. For this I have to go to the Servicio Impuestos Internos (SII) office, a few of which I have located in Google Maps. I leave in the morning, early, and walk to the closest one and find an empty plot of land. Wonderful!

I walk for more than half an hour to get to the next one and eventually find it. It’s five to nine in the morning, they haven’t opened yet and people are queuing in front of the door. Eventually when I get in and consult the guy at the information desk, he looks at my address (of the hostel) and tells me this is not the office for that district. I must go to Santa Maria, which is a few kilometres the other way. Give me a break!

When I finally get to Santa Maria and my number gets called I’m standing in front of a partly bald, grey, chap with glasses, a suit and an air of self praise about him. Seems nice enough though. He processes my paperwork. Asks me whether I am from Austria? Yes. He tells me he spent some time in Vienna doing something or other, really loves that city. How nice, maybe this will all be easier than I thought. Then I tell him my intentions and ask him if the request can be expedited so I can collect the permanent card (not the provisional one which I get immediately) in less than two weeks. Suddenly he goes all distant on me. I ask because I leave the border in less than a month and cannot be here to collect it, and I know from others’ experience that you can get the card quicker if you ask.

To cut a long story short, he refuses to acknowledge my request and just tries to fob me off. So I ask him to have the card posted to my address, I know this is also an option and all it takes is a tick in that little check-box on that form he’s holding. No. Cannot do. Only for Chileans. “Don’t worry, be happy,”  he says. Great. Hope we don’t get screwed at the border!

In the end – in the eleventh hour, when I’ve basically given up on the deal – Luke contacts me and I offer him 2.3mil. He accepts 2.4mil, which I recon is fair and I’m positive the dealer is not offering more. But I actually pay him 2.5mil because I recon Luke’s pretty gutted with his dealer not keeping his word and getting significantly less than expected, and besides, he’s giving me a lot of additional kit for free. (I’m clearly not a good business man!)

We go to the notary and with the assistance of Luke’s the Honda dealer, Colvin & Colvin, we complete the transfer.

The next day Luke departs on his flight and we need to get ready to hit the road!

In Chanaral, walking back to the hotel that night, a dusty chap pulls over on a motorbike. Luggage rack, scratches on the faring, a few days’ growth on his chin. He must have been touring for a while. Must go and talk to him!

His name is Luke and he and his girl have been touring the continent with their bikes for four months now. Awesome! I ask about how the bike is doing, what paperwork was involved, border crossings and so on – I’m just really curious. He tells me that, having bought the bike in Chile, crossing to other South American countries is easy, no Carnet De Passage required, no additional costs. No way! I can’t believe it. Apparently he’s heading to Santiago tomorrow to sell their bikes and head back home….

Terribly enticing thoughts start churning away in my brain. I can’t help it. Ebru knows what’s coming. We exchange contact details… just in case… you never know.

Originally Ebru and I had hoped to buy a small 4×4 jeep here to tour South America, but even second hand they are pricey, fuel costs are higher than we thought and according to the travel guides we read, the paperwork involved was a pain.

The four if us – we and the German girls – head to the Pullman ticket office for our onward bus tickets, leaving the same night; the plan is to head to San Pedro via Antofagasta. We walk out with only two tickets – those for Anja and Mary. Ebru and I merely have the pricing info for a journey back to Santiago. We say our goodbyes and wish them a good journey, hoping to catch up in Bolivia or Peru soon. Ebru and I go back to the hotel to check our budget.

At midnight, Ebru and I are on a bus back to Santiago, a big motorbiking adventure in mind…. worst case, if it doesn’t work out, at least it’ll only take us an overnight bus trip to get back to where we left off.