Valdivia, Chile

Dec 25, 2005

Merry Christmas. This is my first day actually on the road in Chile since I started this trip. I left Columbus, Ohio on the 7th of December. It was about 19 degrees,and lightly snowing. By the time I reached the border with West Virginia, my feet were extremely cold, and I could barely feel my legs. So I did the only reasonable thing I could think of. I found a McDonalds and used the automatic hand dryer to warm my boots. After about six sessions with each boot, I could feel my toes again, and made it all the way to Winston Salem, NC. Surprisingly, one can smoke in Applebees in Winston Salem. I went on the next day to the outskirts of Savannah Georgia, then to Miami.

This is where the fun starts. I got in on a Friday night and the person I had planned on staying with was out of town. So I ended up in North Beach, then spent the following night in South Beach, then down to Key West and back on Monday. Monday I did what I needed to do to ship the bike, and called the shipper. She told me that I should have brought it over that day, and she was right. I took it over on Tuesday, and had it put in an open crate. Then I went to her office and the shipping agent explained to me that US Customs needed to approve the export papers and then the bike had to sit for three days at the airport. My friends in Chile says this is to see if it´s going to explode. But the shipping agent said it was to give Customs time to see the bike and check that it is the bike I say it is, the VIN matches and that it is not stolen.

So I left the bike to be crated and shipped and got a cheap next day fare to Santiago. Once there I found out that Customs wouldn´t accept the papers because the copy they had of my passport was too dark. Then they needed a copy of my drivers license. Then they wanted to know what a MuZ motorcycle was, how big the motor, how many cylinders, etc. Then they told the agent that the year of the bike did not correspond to the VIN. Then they decided to go look at the bike. Four days after receiving the papers, they stamped them, and that´s when the three days of waitingto see if it was going to explode started. So I could ship on the 22nd. Meaning I would miss the flight of the 21st, but could ship on the 25th, because Hazardous Cargo from an unknown, to the Homeland Security Department, shipper can only go in cargo planes.

So I was convinced I would be spending two weeks in Santiago, watching my friend the cronic napper take naps and reading three year old motorcycle magazines. I started calling rental car companies. And immediately after making a reservation I got an email from the shipping agent that there was an extra flight going out the night ofthe 22rd, and that my bike was on it, but that they had to get the papers to the airport to go with the bike. So I was still not sure it was coming or not. Finally, I got an email that it was in the air, and the next morning, the 23rd, picked it up, after three hours of waiting and wandering between various Chilean Customs offices. After being in one place for a sizeable length of time, all my possessions were strewn about, so it took me a few hours to pack, and I headed south the 24th.

During this wait, my friend the napper got tired of my disturbing his rest with questions about things to do that did not involve sleeping, and let me take his BMW motorcycle on a loop from Valparaiso to Vina Del Mar, then north up the coast and back to Santiago. The beaches in Vina Del Mar are spectacular. Long stretches of sand with vivid blue water. And because it is on the Pacific, there are waves. And there are a lot of nice little restaurants on the beach. Everything in Chile is clean. There is no litter on the streets, and the people, if a trifle cold, are for the most part friendly and honest.

Valdivia is a lot like being in Washington state. Very green and lush, surrounded, as far as I can tell, by lakes and alpine type mountains,with lots of rolling green meadows thrown in, and in the high 80s this time of year. They eat a lot of pork, which is rare this far south. There is a strong German influence, and the guy who stopped to help me when I ran out of gas was hoping to speak german.

It is not smart to pass gas stations in the middle of nowhere with about 20 miles of gas left in your tank and an empty gas can strapped across the back of your bike. I´m sure most of the people who passed me wondered why I didn't just fill my tank with the gas can I was waving at them.

The ride down was extremely sweltering at times and I got a lot of strange looks when I took off my shirt at gas stations and soaked it in the outdoor fountains. The further one gets from Santiago, thecleaner the sky is, and the rivers are so clear you can see the bottom from the bridge as you race across. One of my theories, which I set out to prove on this trip, is that you can be just as comfortable on a smaller motorcycle if you set it up right with a good seat and more road friendly gearing. This is not true.

One of the main attractions in Valdivia is the microbrewed beer. There are at least three companies that make beer here, and half a liter of one of the artesanals sells for about $2. Finally something cheap in Chile. I also found a hotel with hardwood floors and a private bath for less than $20 a night, within walking distance of downtown.

Another of the attractions is the cheap avocados. You can buy 7 kilos, which is about 15 pounds, for a little less than $2. At the gas stations, you can squeeze all the guacamole you want onto your hotdog. I am now starting to suspect the price of avocados in the US is artificially controlled, much like diamonds.