Feb 20 2015

Breaking out of the bubble…..

As we descended into Santiago last week, I gazed out of the window contemplating how being in an aeroplane seeing the world laid out below me, but not feeling part of it, is a little like being in a bubble. Since we left Streak and Storm in Kuala Lumpur at the end of 2014, it has seemed we have been separated from our world of Adventure Riding, enjoyable as that has been both back in Australia and here in Santiago, we are only half way around the world and the desire to complete the journey and keep our loyal followers sated with new and interesting blog entries, we are keen start travelling again.

Anne has provided an excellent and detailed blog on our stay in Santiago and the surrounds, plus the generosity of Carlos and Jessica, and I can only say I concur wholeheartedly with her views and wish to add my appreciation of the city and its people. As the following photo shows, last night we have been well insulated in our bubble from the rigours of motorcycle travel.

Adventure riding in Santiago!

As we are packing the bikes to depart Santiago, a well dressed elderly couple sit watching us, what are they discussing? Something they would like to have done in their youth or reflecting on a trip they once did like us, we will never know, but it makes me think that we all have memories and dreams and I believe we should try as far as possible in our lives to turn the latter into the former.

We are packed and ready to leave Santiago

We set off, out of Santiago heading south, “Al Sur” the signs say. The weather is fine and the road dual highway, within a hour or so, they skies become dark grey, jagged lightening slashes across the sky, thunder rumbles and rain pelts down soaking our dry weather gloves, so we slow to 100km per hour, Yes the bubble has broken, and we are loving it!

– Anthony

Feb 19 2015

A week in Santiago

After our record breaking bike clearance time at the airport, we have the rest of the week end before we can go to BMW. Sunday is spent walking and walking. First around Bellavista to see some interesting street art. Not all streets in that area feel quite safe, so it was good Anthony came with me. He has been feeling very dizzy and we are not sure why – we suspect it’s his ears as he has had a blocked nose. So we wonder the streets together before he heads back for a snooze.

Bellavista street art, Santiago, Chile

Wealthy people and businesses pay for street art, Bellavista,, Santiago, Chile

Then I wonder off to other areas and find the most exquisite square.

Plaza Libertad de Prenza, Santiago

Time to head back into the centre of Santiago.

Barrio Brasil, Santiago, Chile

Palacio de la Moneda, Santiago, Chile

Basilica de la Merced, Santiago, Chile

We have been eating sandwiches for lunch and dinner for the last few days, we decide to go out to dinner tonight and find a great lively area with all sorts of restaurants. Great spot for people watching.

Jose Victorino Lastarria street, Santiago

Monday morning, we head off to BMW. We meet the guy I emailed but as I suspected, his English is no better than my Spanish, ie non-existent, but he gets someone who speaks English for us and promptly disappears. Ricardo, who was a flight attendant for 15 years, speaks perfect English and understands customer service. He is lovely. So over our 5 hours waiting to hear anything from the service guys, we ask him to give us an update, passes my not-so-subtle suggestions such as try the bike first, then use either Anthony’s DME or the one belonging to the brand new F700GS in their show room, so we can be out of their hair as soon as possible. While we wait, we enjoy the outrageous cafe service they provide customers. We go out to the local mall for lunch, come back for another coffee and cakes.

BMW Santiago waiting area

BMW Santiago cafe

Free cakes at BMW Santiago!

Streak waiting to be fixed at BMW Motorrad Santiago, Chile

After 5 hours we leave after Ricardo promises to call us back with news the next day. The next morning, Ricardo calls, they have identified the problem and the bike will be ready at the end of the day! Really, so quick? I keep asking whether they actually took the bike for a test ride before reprogramming the DME but I never really get a satisfactory answer. Despite usually being positive, I am a little dubious that they have actually fixed my throttle problem with a simple DME software calibration. We’ll find out tomorrow, because today, Tuesday, we are being taken out.

We take the metro to meet Carlos and his family after having a morning coffee at one of the “coffee with legs” places, as they are called here…

Coffee with legs, Santiago, Chile

For $2.50, I get a coffee, pastry and glass of sparkling water and Anthony a great view…

We stumbled upon D’Angelo Botas – making crocodile skin boots, Santiago

We love these types of creative businesses – fresh juice on the go – Santiago

Carlos and Jessica have taken the day off to take us to one of the wine growing areas called Casablanca, just over an hour out of Santiago. We are treated to a fantastic lunch with superb red wine, at the Indómita winery, overlooking the valley. What a wonderful way to spend a few hours.

With Carlos, Jessica and Sebastian

Casablanca valley from Indómita winery, Chile

Then they take us to Valparaiso harbour which is buzzing with life, small colourful wooden boats, a few ex Royal Navy ships in the distance, and people simply enjoying their afternoon in the great sunshine we are having here. We see the various hills around Valparaiso dotted with quaint colourful houses. It will be fun to explore this town again when we return on our own. Because now, it is time to drive to Viña del Mar, the next town up the coast, for ice cream. It is interesting how two little towns so close to each other can have such different feels. Viña del Mar is obviously more affluent, with lovely promenades, lush gardens and great white buildings. It is very pleasant, but we both love the feel of working ports, so Valparaiso is where we will return. What a great day, with our new friends.

Valparaiso port, Chile

Sebastian, Carlos and Jessica at Valparaiso, Chile

Wednesday after doing a spot of repacking, getting our next 6 months’ worth of medication into our kitchen/bathroom pannier, we head off to BMW. I take Streak for a test ride with Anthony following to give me directions or I would get lost!! It doesn’t take long to notice the sluggish accelaration. I want to be quite sure, so we take the freeway so that I can give it a good go. No good. Back to BMW. Ricardo is on leave but we meet Michel from France who is waiting to get his bike fixed and he translates for us. Once again, I insist that someone goes out on my bike and opens the throttle up as if they were overtaking or going accelerating out of a bend. We are told to come back in 3 hours. While they work on both our bikes, we go to the mall and have lunch together. It is the first time we have met a fellow rider going in the opposite ditection who can give us a few tips on some roads to avoid. We return to find out that they did test Streak, felt the problem and found two software upgrades. Time for another tests ride. Instant difference! It feels like I have a brand new bike. So Santiago were right, we didn’t need a new DME after all, simply software upgrades. So after another 6.5 hours today at BMW, we are finally good to go!!!!!!!!!

Back at the apartment, it is time to pack. What do we do, do we head north, do we head south first as we have an extra couple of weeks we thought would be required for my bike, do we have another look for tickets to Easter Island? There are a few seats available to Easter Island over the next few days but the first available flight back from Easter Island is the 9th March!!! That’s too late says Anthony. But I have another idea: we could spend a couple of weeks to explore the Lake District south of Santiago, which also means time to make sure Streak is fully recovered, come back on the 3rd March, if we have bike issues, we can take the bikes back to BMW while we are on Easter Island, and head to Rapa Nui on the 4th, back on the 9th. Knowing how much I have always wanted to go there, Anthony couldn’t resist the look of excitement on my face. An hour or so later, I have booked flights and accommodation!!!!

So much to do and plan, we decide we’ll stay another day tomorrow and head off Friday 21st Feb. Time today for some shopping and more coffee with legs 🙂

Our free glasses of sparkling water to go with Anne’s coffee

We loved Santiago when we first came here and we love it even more. Still so much to see but the roads beckon. Next news will be from somewhere south of here.

Anne

Feb 14 2015

The bikes’ arrival into Santiago

Our bikes’ crating in Singapore and shipping to South America certainly tested our resolve!! We wanted to deal with an airline directly but all the ones we contacted were non-responsive, so we found agents. We haven’t mentioned that Anthony booked a return flight to Singapore in January to sort out the crating of the bikes. While the agent we dealt with in Singapore at Penanshin Air Express was extremely effecicient and kept us informed every step of the way, the people they used to crate the bikes had no concept of air freighting costs and minimising crate size, even though we’d sent them photos and dimensions of our crates from Dubai to Delhi and despite several phone calls. Yes, it was going to be cheaper to fly to Singapore and back and pay for accommodation there than go with the crate they built originally. It was only on the actual day of Anthony’s flight, after our agent went to the airport to see the bikes and crates for herself and finally came back with acceptable measurements of a new crate, that we cancelled the tickets.

The agents in Chile, from The SeaFair Group, were also very responsive and helpful. But they too dealt with another 3rd party – this time the air freighters and because there were no direct cargo flights from Singapore to Santiago, we had the added bonus of airline change enroute. Yes, that means more trouble – more handling, more charges and especially more potential for missing connections. Anyway, we were given so many arrival dates: the day of our own arrival, that changed to Friday, then to Saturday night, then to Monday because the bikes had missed a connection supposedly, then suddenly this morning, we get a call to say that the bikes had arrived overnight!!!! And we can come today to get them out. Being Saturday, will there be any additional costs?! We are told not. So off we head to the airport.

We are prepared for anything after our Delhi experience… Remember, it took us 3 full days of daily visits to the airport and outrageous fees to clear customs and get the bikes out of the warehouse. Well here, from arrival at the cargo area at 11.30am, to clearing customs, to getting the crates taken out of the warehouse, unpacking the bikes from their very solid crates, to reassembling the bikes and riding out of the Cargo terminal area: 3.5 hours!!!!!!!! The agent here was fantastic, he had all the paperwork required and it was a breeze. No special overtime, holiday or whatever extra payments, just a warehouse fee, which turned out to be cheaper than what we had been quoted. And no mad swarms of people and trucks as it was Saturday.

So yes, we have our bikes back!!!!!!

Cargo warehouse – Santiago

Hans sorting out the warehouse paperwork (and fee!) – Santiago Cargo warehouse

The crates they built for us were solid!!! Lucky the guys at the terminal had massive crow bars and hammers to lend us and our agent had brought some over with him too, so the 3 of us set about dismantling the crate. Looking at the state of boxes on the truck in the background, we are grateful our crates were that solid!!

Here comes Storm – Santiago Cargo warehouse

Anthony does the hard work to loosen the many nails – Santiago

Anne pulls the loosened nails out – Santiago

The crates are solid

Streak is well packaged

Anne reassembling her Rox risers and handlebars – Santiago

With the dismantled crates carefully pilled up in the corner and the bikes reassembled, we are ready to leave the Cargo area.

We are reassembled and ready to leave Santiago Cargo warehouse in record time!!

Santiago here we come!

We would definitely recommend both Penanshin Air Express and The SeaFair Group.

For some reason, Storm had just under half a tank of fuel still while Streak was empty (as Storm should have been) so first stop at the Shell petrol station at the airport then time to head into Santiago city centre where we are staying for 4 nights. The Saturday traffic is light and easy.

The security guy at the apartment block we are staying at agrees to let us park the bikes in the underground car park, for a made up fee of course, but not too outragious and so much more convenient and safer than going to a public car park. Had this been India or anywhere in Asia, the lovely great porch area of the apartment block would have been jammed with at least 20 bikes!! Not here though.

Going back in time a little, we were invited out for dinner Friday to a friend of a friend’s. We had actually met in Brisbane at a friend’s place a couple of years ago but didn’t know him very well. Anyway, we were treated to a fabulous barbecue and family dinner at their home. Such lovely people. And great for us to get a taste of local life.

Our wonderful hosts Carlos, Jessica and Sebastian – Santiago, Chile

Monday, we go to the Santiago BMW dealer. Let’s hope that they are more helpful than their lack of email response seem to indicate….

In the meantime, time for some Santiago exploring.

Anne

Feb 11 2015

The Great Gig in the Sky

Here I am, 8 hours into our 12 hour flight to Santiago, listening to Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon album, right now The Great Gig in the Sky track while Anthony sleeps soundly beside me. Flying has always brought such extreme emotions for me: I can’t excited about any upcoming trip because I dread flying so much. Then once up there, emotions get even more raw – I have often wondered whether the depleted oxygen is the cause… My deep love for Anthony, my admiration for nature’s sheer beauty as I look out of the window once we are up at cruising altitude, my aching heart for my beloved brother whom I miss every single day. Movies can make me laugh out loud or make me sob, right now it’s the latter as I listen to this great album which my brother and I used to listen to and which Anthony and I often listen to with a good friend of ours on his fabulous stereo system. What a fabulous sunrise – somewhat psychedelic I think!!

On our way to Santiago on a direct flight from Sydney

The midnight sky over Antarctica

Sunrise as we head towards Santiago

After 6 weeks of luxury at home, I am really looking forward to being out in the elements again. I had worried a little when we first got home on Boxing Day at how I would feel about being on the road again after being home, surrounded by familiar luxuries, good food and good friends. Will I still feel like packing our bags every morning, hand washing every other day?! It feels right though. Being surrounded by nature, meeting people on the road, experiencing different cultures, camping in the middle of nowhere, all our senses alive – that’s what we both love. I won’t lie, the hand washing does get tedious!!! And I’ll no doubt wish I had more off-road riding skills at times. But ever since we first flew over the Andes in 1988 when we visited Santiago on our way to Australia, we’ve both wanted to return and spend time in that part of the world and get a closer look at this mountain range. And here we are!! Nearly. As soon as Streak is fixed… I am so looking forward to exploring roads less travelled, enjoying the deafening silence of the open spaces and seeing all these mountains. I find mountains so awe inspiring…

Here’s hoping we don’t have a repeat of our Happy Delhi Days getting our bikes out of Santiago airport… Fingers crossed!!!

6 hours later… Our bikes have been delayed! Not arriving until Saturday now. Could be Happy Santiago Days!! Oh well, change of plans. Stay tuned 🙂

Anne

Feb 9 2015

Reflection on our home stay

As I sit in our lounge overlooking Moreton Bay surrounded by familiar possessions and hearing the sounds of Manly village on a Saturday morning, it’s hard to image that in five days’ time we will be on our way to the second part of this round the world (RTW) trip. Yesterday Anne and I browsed through a selection of the most memorable photos, to us, from the last six months’ travel. Each brought back wonderful memories of people, buildings, locations or moments, many of which I would have to have thought hard about to recall. It does however seem like a dream – did we really do all that? One day I must sit down and read through the blog to remind myself of the journey.

What I am trying to say, probably somewhat ineloquently, is that regardless of how wonderful the past was and the memories are, we live in the present and that, plus future planning, is where our focus is and should be. With our medical activities of the last few weeks over, we must prepare for departure and develop our preliminary plans for riding through Chile. The break in Australia has made us both feel like we are starting out our trip all over again. While all the acquisition of bike and touring equipment was done last year, it still feels like a new start: a new continent, new road rules, people and cultures (and fresh supplies of medication and bike spare parts) but with the last six months’ experience under our belts, we have less trepidation than last time.

Yesterday we acquired two new pairs of hopefully waterproof TCX adventure boots as we suspect that the next part of the journey will see more rain and we are both tired of wearing plastic carrier bags on our feet and feeling water slosh from one end of the boot to the other as we change gear on the motorbike after a short time riding in the rain (and the ensuing smell of cat’s pee wherever we spend the night). The old pairs, currently with the bikes, will be mailed back from Santiago to the UK for a refund as the manufacturer agrees they are faulty. Talking of motorbikes, they will depart today for Santiago arriving, if all goes according to plan, on the evening before we do. We seem to have found a good agent in Santiago, who not only speaks English but is a motorbike rider himself with a Triumph 800XC. We hope to have the motorbikes out of customs before week’s end so we can take Anne’s to a BMW dealer to have the engine management system (DME) replaced.

Since we will have to wait for the motorbike to be fixed, we are considering a trip to Easter Island should we be able to find a last minute package at a reasonable price. Anne has always wanted to visit there and since we will be so close relatively (5 and a half hours’ flight away), it makes sense to take advantage of the opportunity to visit such an amazing place. It appears that we are heading into the peak season so we will have to see what last minute deals we can find there.

This weekend has seen us say goodbye to many of our friends in Brisbane, brunch, lunch and dinner have pleasurably filled our time, but tinged with a little sadness that we will not see them again until 2016 unless our paths cross overseas in the next 13 months. We have enjoyed being back in Brisbane and reconnecting with all the aspects of our lives here (and the luxury of having a washing machine) but the open road beckons and we are really looking forward to the experiences that the Americas will give us and recording them here on the 2slowspeeds blog.

Anthony

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