Deane's Motorcycle Trip In SOUTH AMERICA
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Deane's Motorcycle Trip In SOUTH AMERICA |
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April 3, 4 - Vina del Mar, Chile |
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April 3rd was the day for the motorcycle touring riders to meet our tour guides, making sure that everybody connected. We were 11 riders who didn't know each other or what each other looked like, and we had to meet at an airport where none of us had ever been. As it turned out, we did all connect, by holding up signs at the arrival gate, but each of the other riders was as concerned as I was about finding the tour group leader and the others. We all knew that if we missed this gathering, we would have to find our own way from Santiago to Vina del Mar, a distance of some 50 miles, by ourselves. Vina del Mar is a seacoast resort type of town, with very expensive condos, apartments, or time-shares and is a classy city.
The reason for going to Vina del Mar was that it is close to the seaport of Valparaiso, Chile, where the container ship had unloaded our container of motorcycles. This is the start of our month-long adventure ride, starting at sea level on the west coast of South America, to ride over and through the Andes Mountains, up to about 15,000 ft. elevation!! Along with getting to meet with each other, we received instructions for the type of ride we were going to take, an "Expedition". (We'll find out what that really means in the coming days!) Then we gave the chief tour guide our passports, our original motorcycle titles, and our visas to be in Chile, so that he could get the paper work started for reclaiming our motorcycles from the container. With a customs man who the tour guide got to come to our hotel, we signed the proper papers to get the motorcycles. Only then would customs set a time for the container to be opened and the motorcycles individually checked through That was to be at 4:00 PM the next day, at the port of Valparaiso. On the morning of the second day, we took taxies along the coast to the port city of Valparaiso, to get an idea of what kind of a city it is. Visiting the port, taking a rickety cable tramway, having lunch at the seaman's union hall, and walking some of the streets took up the morning.
For a little description of our tour guides, one (Guillermo "Willy" Samyn) lives in Vina del Mar, and has taken groups on this general ride for about 8 years. The second, (Juan Stanglmaier), who lives in Mexico City, and has lead tours in South America, but also in Turkey, and parts of the Middle East, and Henry Von Wartenberg, who lives in Buenos Aires. Quite a combination! The members of the tour group come from diverse places, mostly in the Southwest of the US. Besides me from New Mexico, they come from the States of Arizona, Colorado, California, Nevada (an English engineer working in the US), Texas, Utah, Connecticut, and New York. Then there is one member who comes from New Zealand! One of our members, Matthew Power, is an "associate editor" of the "National Geographic Adventure" magazine, and his assignment is to write an article about this type of motorcycle touring, with South America as the setting. Henry is also a freelance photographer, and is working on an assignment to provide Matt with photos of the group and the ride as it goes along. We got our first look at gasoline prices today, and while we knew they would be high, this is the first look at how high.
The exchange rate is about 520 Chilean Pesos to the US Dollar, but this price is for a Liter. That makes the price of a gallon about $4.00 + !! Good thing we have motorcycles with better than 40 mpg gas mileage!! |
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