Saturday 30 June 2012

Stuck in Limbo

I was hoping to leave Chile today, however my number plates and other documents are not ready.  Also the rain is torrential, and when there is rain in Santiago it means there is snow in the Andes.  A lot of people I meet are excited about skiing and all I can think about is getting through the Andes into Argentina.  With the weather like this the border is closed, and looks to be until the middle of next week.  Will just have to hole up here for a while and fend off the growing cabin fever I am developing.  I do have some ski pants and a fleece now so hopefully that should sort the cold out……still no maps though, can’t find them anywhere.  I also made some fake copies of my driving licence today, ready for the famously corrupt Argentine police, they can keep my fake licence if they cause any trouble as I ride off into the sunset.  Tomorrow I will try to buy some camping stuff for the nights I will have to sleep by the road.

In other news I learnt how my staple diet of Empanadas are made.  Empanadas are like Cornish Pasties and have many different fillings. This type is called Empanada de Pino - filled with minced meat, onion, egg, and an olive.  Different to Argentine Empanadas in that in Chile they like to f*ck with you and leave the stone in the Olive.  It took me about ten Empanadas to remember not to ruin my teeth on them.  

Empanada time - my best effort so far is 6 in one sitting.


In addition to Empanadas I am also finding the time to supplement my diet with Completos - hotdogs topped with chopped onion and tomato, swimming in mayonnaise and mustard. Fantastic stuff.




Wednesday 27 June 2012

Valparaiso, A haven for sadistic dogs

After being in Valparaiso for 2 days in an empty hostel, no exaggeration, I decided to come back a bit early.  Its been pretty cold and rainy here – Valpo is definitely more of a summer destination.  I can see it is a picturesque place but with all the cloud and rain it reminds me of Torquay (the English town not Oz). The only difference being there are an incredible amount of stray dogs and far less Scots.  The dogs here hate motorbikes too.  The bastards chase you when you ride past, which is seriously not fun.  Traffic lights are hellish, they are always there waiting for you.  I ended up developing a method by sticking my leg out just as they go for you so that when they try to bite all they get is the boot.  I suppose a little like a game of Polo, except slightly less graceful and no supermodels to impress.  Beginning to think the Rabies jab would have been an idea now.   The ride back to Santiago was much quicker and I am really getting used to the bike.  Santiago was no way near as daunting this time round.

Valpo view from the port side

Here is a picture of a famous Chilean dish invented in Valpo called Chorillana, essentially made up of a kilo of fries, chopped onion, sausage, I think beef and topped off with fried eggs.  It goes without saying but my diet is radically improving out here.



Monday 25 June 2012

Test run to Valparaiso

Woke early and rode to Calle Lira, my most frequented haunt in Santiago.  I’ve been there so much that many of the people along there simply call me “el Ingles”.  Without much bike knowledge I bought what I thought would be useful, spare parts that I think might be good for later; spark plugs, oil filter, spare chain, little tree air freshener, that kind of thing.  Got the inner tube replaced too, during which in broken Spanish had to explain my plans to the mechanic.  Everyone I meet and tell them what I am planning think it is not possible.  The mechanic was the same, to the point that he had to get another mechanic to come over to tell me so.  I’m sure it is, so I will keep planning.  I will get out of Santiago and over the Andes in the height of Winter!

Anyway….Once all this was done I went back to the hostel, packed and somehow managed to get all my things tied down to the back of my bike.  I finally left at 3pm looking like a Vietnamese local on a scooter carrying all my worldly possessions.  Happy to be getting out of the big city to Valparaiso and more importantly a test run for the bike and me.  It was a good feeling, on a motorbike and free to disappear and get on with what I wanted to do.  I didn’t care that I missed the turning to the main motorway, the route I was taking was far more scenic, through tiny towns and past huge vineyards.  Even going along small roads that wound up huge hills.  I think the area was Maipu – amusingly pronounced “my poo” if thats your kind of humour, it was a really beautiful area despite the name.  

I was loving this so much that I lost track of time and it wasn’t until the hills turned into mountains and it became cold and dark that I noticed I had forgotten to turn off my GPS when I left Santiago.  The darkness helped the low battery sign shine nice and bright and more alarmingly helped remind me that I would have to go without it in Valparaisoo when I get there.  At this point I was fairly confused as I should have arrived at Valpariaso but instead was still going through the mountains in the middle of nowhere. It was a bit unnerving but kept going mainly because I didn’t know what else to do.  Eventually I found a road that took me to the motorway.  

The detour was much longer than I realised, I’d travelled more than the distance needed to get to Valpariaso and I still had some 80km in the dark to get there in what felt like freezing temperatures.  I’m going to have to get more warm clothes for the Andes crossing for sure.  The motorway section was boring, cold and not fun with all with the huge trucks.  It would seem the headlight on a Chinese Euromot is more of a token gesture – you get a massive 3 metre length beam.  Still I eventually made it to down to sea level fine and entered a balmy 9 degree Valparaiso.  It took me a good 90 mins longer than I thought (a lifetime on a freezing bike) and even longer to find somewhere to stay that was safe for the bike.  Anyway despite riding twice the needed distance I made it safely, shattered and cold.  

Conclusion, in future no night riding, more clothes needed and perhaps a bit more obvious but check the route before.  I still need maps, but can’t find them to buy anyway yet!
Sorry no pics this time too cold to stop!

EDIT: Geography lesson…I have since found out that the Andes actually comprise of 2 mountain ranges, the famous Cordillera Oriental between Chile and Argentina and the Cordillera Occidental between Santiago and Valparaiso – sort of explains why it got quite high and why I was so cold on the bike.  Maybe should have researched this a little bit more.


Saturday 23 June 2012

Trouble Comes In Threes

After being ill on the first week and then the $1000 going walkabout the second, I was waiting for the third bit of bad luck to get out of the way.  So today it seems was the day.  I had made a massive list of things I needed to buy and was steadily driving round the city stopping off to buy the said items, when I turned a corner and the back end slipped away.  I managed to get my foot down in time so think I took it quite gracefully considering.  Then again who cares, I’m still here and noone I know was there to judge anyway.  

The culprit was my rear tyre, which had a puncture.  I couldn’t see any obvious puncture marks so I tried to keep going but it was no good, I had to stop.  To make it a little more awkward I realised I was in an area that lets say is ripe for gentrification and it was after 5pm on a Saturday.  This meant there were no “normal” people around, all the shops were closed and more importantly no mechanics anywhere close.  In the end I had to get off and push the bike for some evil amount of time until I came to the area where all the bike repair shops were – Calle Lira.

By the time I got to Calle Lira I was a sweaty mess, it was getting dark and all the mechanics were closed, but luckily not deserted.  It seems a lot of the workers hang out the front to chat to the other workshop workers so I walked along a few streets with my bike asking where I can buy a “la camera” (inner tube).  After being sent back and forth for a while, a guy who thankfully spoke better English than my Spanish (which lets be honest is not hard) suggested I buy an emergency puncture repair aerosol can.  I didn’t think of this, but was pretty grateful it exists..  It works by filling the tyre with foam to block the puncture and air for a temporary fix.  The dubious white foam stain on black jeans not the look of the season but anyway, I made it back home.  

I was supposed to go to Valparaiso tomorrow but this will have to wait until Monday now, no shops are open on Sunday so I am stuck in this city even longer and all I want to do is leave.  Still against all the odds so far I have this bike and its good I learn all I can about it before I move onto somewhere less built up.

Below one of the many workshops on Calle Lira.  These guys were great, somehow in Spanish we joked a lot, their favourite subject being Las Chicas en Sud America...


Friday 22 June 2012

"Go Fuck yourself San-tiago"

An Anchorman inspired quote still doesn’t emphasise how substandard Santiago has been for me.  Firstly I was pretty damn sick the 1st week I was here and now I have just had US$1000 stolen from me.  Bad timing, I don’t usually have that amount in cash floating around but I was getting ready to buy the bike.  Long story that can’t be changed, so I won’t waste it on here.  

Luckily I have my plastic fantastic credit card so used that to pay the shortfall.  So anyway after arriving in Santiago 2 weeks ago I am now the proud owner of a sickly red Euromot GXT200.  Its made in the same factory as the Suzuki DL200 except has different labels, cheap plastics and to add to the fun factor a well documented weakness in the transmission and spokes, all of which I will carry spares and a spanner….maybe a hammer for those more delicate jobs.

With the sale all done, one thing I hadn’t really thought about until that point was how I was going to get it back to the hostel.  I hadn’t ridden a real bike since passing my test 4 years ago except for one afternoon on a little Honda in Kenya last year, and that ended with my friend on the gravel road with the bike on top of him and not the other way round as it is supposed to be.  So when I’d signed all the papers and was ready to leave I was well aware what was about to happen may not be the smoothest thing I’ve ever done. 

To make this worse my first obstacle upon leaving the dealership was an 8 lane road which I’d have to immediately turn on to.  It was busier than I feel was fair, especially when you know in South America people drive on the right (wrong) side of the road.  Still after getting help with adjusting the helmet (muy embarrassing), and another guy helping start the damn bike as I didn’t realise it had a choke, I felt as ready as I would be.  Which was just as well as by then 5 of the dealership workers were pretending not to watch me through the big showroom window. 

Still considering the massive amount of time it took me to move off – I was waiting for a gap that never came – when I eventually moved off it actually went really smoothly.  I managed to cross 3 lanes with no bother and then immediately went into a tunnel.  Unfortunately this was where a bit of a problem started as I couldn’t turn off with all the traffic so I kept going but was funnelled into a toll road where you are supposed to have a device in your vehicle that logs the roads you use and charges you automatically.  I didn’t have this device so I had to keep going on knowing that my picture was being taken.  I had heard that if do this you can have problems when you try to leave the country so was a bit concerned.  But then I realised that I didn’t even have number plates yet, they arrive next week, so I decided to keep smiling for the cameras and go back to my hostel along all the toll roads as they are quieter and easier.  Pretty easy in the end.  Even had time to go buy some saddle bags and other items for the bike.  Job done!  I think I might keep the plates in my backpack when they arrive so that I can get away with this until I leave Chile.  

And here she is...

Thursday 21 June 2012

The Beast Itself, A Beautifully Named Euromot

So far Buenos Aires has been a insane city to live and leave and Rosario could be a great city to live forever, so much so that I was going to go back there straight away, but I after being stuck in Santiago longer than anticipated I decided with a bit of impulse mixed with boredom to buy a motorbike in order to do a spot of independent sightseeing. 
It came about really after meeting a few inspirational people in Buenos Aires back in March.  Two Aussies who had bought bikes in Santiago and a young English lad who was planning to buy one too (he did and by all accounts is having his own adventures somewhere).  At the time it planted a seed and when I had a flight that I booked but no longer needed to Santiago, I thought I would go anyway and use the time to try to buy a bike.  Chile is the best place in S. America to buy a bike because even as a foreigner you are legally able to take it out of the country for up to 6 months.  Other countries do not allow this.  
Looking for a challenge I finally settled on buying a Chinese made copy of a Suzuki motocross bike.  Known over here as a Euromot! and it really is a sterling machine, if you ignore the known faults that is.  The real reason though is that European and Japanese bikes are stupidly expensive in South America.  So yeah it could be a challenge but we’ll see.
I really need to try something different as at this point after several years of travelling I am tired of meeting drunk idiot tourists everywhere I go, with me being the biggest one on many occasions, and this is not why I came back to South America.  It doesn’t matter where you are when you are like this, you can be like this down the local.
Right now I want to see the locations on my own terms and meet the people when I get there.  There’s nothing better than doing all this on a bike, you can stop where you want and go where you want to go, the slower the better, which won’t be a problem for me as my cruising speed will be around 70-80km/h.  I also love the thought of the scrapes I might get to have.  In summary I can’t wait to get going.  Overall I hope this will also help me learn Spanish, currently the biggest challenge for me yet.  
Here is the beast, although mine is in red when I get it.



The Plan

Ok after meeting a few inspirational people and getting sick of the road often travelled, I have bought a motorbike in Santiago, Chile and am going to ride it over the Andes through the highest mountains outside of the Himalayas and into Argentina.  Not great timing, its winter but if all goes well I have 2 pretty good choices, 1st option, ride as far north as I can through Argentina and Bolivia, hopefully to the Amazon rainforest…or 2nd option ride east through Mendoza, Cordoba and back to Rosario (my favourite place so far) and then when it is warm enough ride south to Patagonia, see some glaciers, a few whales, pop into Ushuaia - the southernmost city in the world, then maybe if I can, catch a boat to Antarctica…

After this I somehow have to get the bike back over the Andes to Santiago and sell what is left of it.  I’d like to try both options but my bike is a 200cc Chinese copy of a Suzuki, I’ve had 2 punctures in my 1st 24hrs of ownership and have a staggering cruising speed of 80km/h.  According to the highly accurate google maps this is about 15,000km so possibly a bit ambitious but I’ll give some of it a go.  Right now I’m stuck in Santiago due to a big snow storm in the mountains and the border pass is closed for a week but at least it gives me time to start planning and buy a map.
If anyone is so incredibly bored and have nothing better to do you can read about some of my trip here:  Its written for family, and nothing of depth but you are more than welcome...

Below flying over the Andes into Santiago from Argentina.  Can actually see both sides of the range.