Greetings Everyone

The shipping saga continues……

The NYK Lnyx docked at Valparaiso last Thursday and started unloading containers. Monday arrived and I still don’t have a motorbike. A combination of the weekend and a strike by customs officers means that I should be able to pick it up on Tuesday morning or as the saying goes “mañana”.

Miracles have happened after 35 days of enjoying the delights of Valparaiso I finally have a motorbike and we’re on the road. I’m travelling for a few days with Hans and Stefan as they head south where we will part company at some stage.

Five of crammed into a ute on the trip the freight handlers yards which was a few km outside town. When we got there the customs guys were nowhere to be found, not a good start but Enzo organised for the crate to be brought out so we could start assembling the bike.

The crate did have a bit of damage at one end where it had been “gently handled” by a fork lift but apart from that Hans, Stefan (always bring your factory trained BMW mechanic with you when reassembling your bike) and I unwrapped, unstrapped, unbolted, unboxed everything and started to put the jigsaw back together. Amazingly it all went back together smoothly and I hadn’t left anything back in Sydney and for those of you who know what my memory is like that’s a major achievement.

An hour later and everything was back together and working I was ready to ride out, except the customs guys were still a no show. Finally an hour later they arrived and after the briefest inspection (“Yes it’s a motorbike, what’s the frame number?”)

We’re ready to go, no we’re not. More shuffling of papers and waiting and more shuffling of papers and then paying fees for whatever and then we are done. Remind me never to send a bike by sea freight again.

Riding back to Villa Kunterbunt Kitty seemed to have enjoyed her sea voyage and purred through the hills back to Valparaiso. Considering that a week before being crating there was all sorts of mystery problems to be sorted out she was running very nicely after a long period of inactivity.  Again I want to thank Julian at Motohansa for sorting out what should have been a simple tweak that turned into major investigation.

The rest of the day was spent packing the bike in preparation for leaving the next day. As I mentioned earlier I am travelling with Hans and Stefan for a few days, to be honest I’ve been a bit apprehensive about starting the journey so I’m very grateful them for allowing me to join them especially since they delayed their trip until Kitty arrived.

We’ve been on the road for almost a week now and it’s been an interesting trip. I won’t write about our adventures until the next post where some of the highlights will be.

– Our first police encounter and why I will never buy 1 litre bottles of beer ever again

– The joys of riding 400kg bikes through bull dust and gravel roads

The rest of this post has some stories from the last few weeks in Valparaiso

Enjoy.

The Valparaiso Bus 500

In the four weeks I’ve been in Valparaiso I’ve been on more buses that the last 20 years in Oz. I’m not a fan of buses in overseas countries, I suppose it’s been the number of times that my bike and a bus have both wanted to occupy the same piece of road simultaneously that has put me off them (the bus always wins) and to be honest my love of buses has not grown over the last month. I’m not saying they’re dull, believe me a trip down to the Sotomayor Square in the morning is more exciting than many roller coaster rides and is a better wake up tonic than a triple shot espresso coffee but I don’t recommend it as a daily event.

You would be amazed at the sideways G-force a 505 bus develops as it goes down the long and windy hill to the port area and still stay upright. The other day an older woman fell out of her seat onto the floor as we were going around one corner.

On the way up it’s a slower journey but you might be lucky to have a drag race with another bus, it get more exiting towards the end of the race when the road narrows and it turns into a game of chicken. Trust me it’s definitely never a dull ride.

Don’t get me wrong there are good things about the bus system, the best being that there are so many of them. We never have to wait for more than a few minutes before finding a bus to take us where we want to go. Although we have not yet worked out how the bus routes work, we find a bus going in the approximate direction we want with a route number in the range we want e.g. 500’ish jump on and ask “Usted va a Playa Ancha? (Do you go to Playa Ancha?). If we get a vague nod of agreement we stay on board and pay a ridiculously cheap fare (less than a $1) otherwise we jump of quickly because these guys do not wait around for anyone. Why would you when you’re in a race?

One other good thing about the local bus system is you don’t have to find a bus stop you just hail them anywhere. Although this does have a down side because smooth is not a word I associate with local bus trips. The driver either has his foot flat on the accelerator pedal, or jammed on the brakes and here is where it gets a bit metaphysical. Judging by the speed people bounce forward and backwards in their seats I’m convinced the driver can move his foot between pedals at the speed of light, or (and this is the important bit) faster than light speed. Of course this needs to studied, theories proposed, experiments performed but at the end of it I’m convinced a whole new area of physics is waiting to be explored. Who knows infinite energy may be just around the corner. Or then again it may be the 612 bus on a collision course.

In the front of the local buses is the obligatory maximum speed 50 kph sign.  They do like their little jokes around here, although they do take it more seriously on the intercity buses.

When I get the intercity bus to Santiago there is also the obligatory 100kph sign but it’s next to a digital readout speedometer so the passengers can see what speed the bus is going, and maybe give the driver a little encouragement to slow down if needed? I’m guessing it the past that long distance bus travel was more exciting than it is today.

And something for the Train Spotters out there (you know who you are) there are also trolley buses in parts of the city.

These trolley buses date back to the 1950’s and even the late 1940’s and are well used, they can be more deadly than the buses as they run quite silently so you need to look before you leap. My problem is that I have to remember to look the left. Coming from a country of right hand drive vehicles to South America does require a bit of road survival rewiring.

Las delicias turísticos de Valparaíso Ciudad

I would have to compare the tourist delights of Valparaiso town to a large bowl of mixed salad leaves. Very colourful with a lot of promise but ultimately unfulfilling, and to take the analogy a bit further you have to keep an eye out for any hidden grubs (I’ve lost my vegetarian readers).

Valparaiso is a port city which has had ships land here for over 400 years so it’s quite large with a population of over 275,000 and one Australian waiting for his motorbike. The city only has a relatively narrow strip of land that runs alongside ocean but then quickly slopes up into the steep hills as you move farther away from the sea. Growing up here kids must get fit very quickly.

Dotted along the hills are a series of funicular (vertical) railways that were used to help people get to the upper levels of the city. There are around 26 railways built over the years, the earliest were built in the late 1800’s but only about 6 or so are still in use today and we only were able to use them in the last couple of days as they have been closed due to a strike over a pay dispute. (Strikes have been a common theme around here. The garbos have been on strike since before I arrived and many days in Sotomayor Square there have been protest demonstrations followed by a march through the streets). Traveling on the funiculars is like being on an old style wooden roller coaster, they make the same clattering noises and have the same rickety feeling but if you start to pick up speed like a roller coaster you’re in big trouble as there will be a hell of a stop at the bottom.

Valparaiso would have to be one of the most brightly coloured cities I have ever seen. It’s almost seems like there is a competition to see who can have the brightest colour house in a street, dull Australian suburbs with streets of cookie cutters houses it’s not.

However there is a dark side. Valparaiso is a not place where you wander around without a fair degree caution. Recently when Hans and I went for a walk exploring the heights behind the main plaza we were stopped twice by locals and strongly advised to turn around and go back. Despite the fact they spoke no English it was very clear what they were trying to tell. We took their advice especially since once of the locals was a well-armed policeman.

Just a 20 minute bus ride up the coast is the city of Vina del Mar. Valparaiso and Vina del Mar have grown into one continuous metropolis but Vina del Mar is the posh end of the coastal strip with good beaches, casino and expensive shopping malls instead of smaller markets.

That said as an introduction to South America, Chile does ease you into a more relaxed way of doing things. As a general rule people are very friendly and helpful, especially to lost tourists who “no hablo Espanol” I discovered that the day I arrived as I got off the bus from Santiago, a local couple asked if I needed help to get to where I wanted to go to. Although I knew what I wanted (a taxi to the hostel) I could not have been a more obvious tourist than if I had a flashing neon sign above my head. That said I appreciated their offer of help.

Eating Chilean Style

For those readers who would be described as cautious eaters (you know who you are) you would find the local dining very acceptable. Food is not spicy hot, most of the time it barely reaches spicy warm. The vast majority of things we have ordered have contained no surprises although one “Paila Marina” we ordered (sort of a local version of bouillabaisse) seemed to have the parts of the fish that John West did reject (probably with extreme prejudice). Over the last month we’ve found a variety of cheap (and occasionally not so cheap) restaurants that we like. They vary from an excellent cheap seafood place full of locals in the very dodgy port area to a very posh modern place high up in the hills overlooking the city and bay. Altitude and view is always proportional to price. Normally we search for places that advertise a “Menu de Dia”, this is usually for lunch and for a fixed price will give a range of choices for entrée, main and drink, or variations. For example at one place we had a small Pisco Sour as an aperitif followed by soup (I have no idea what type, it was green and tasty) and then a glass of red wine with a bowl of pasta. For less than $7 it’s a good deal.

So far the food highlights would have to the local bread, meat and wine.

Instead of the normal sliced loaf the bread we are buying consists of 4 rolls joined together in a square. There are small panaderia (bakeries) at every small shopping area and they bake bread throughout the day so often you buy them warm from the oven and it’s the best bread I’ve had for a long time. Unlike the bread that I’m used to in Oz it does not keep well even overnight which makes me ask the question what do we add to bread to make it last?

Cooking facilities at Villa Kuntebunt are fairly primitive so we have a lot of barbeques with salads. The local meat is superb, lots of flavour and always tender. Hans has become the head BBQ chef and the avocado dip I make with Larni’s secret sauce has been a hit with my German colleagues.

Finally the local Chilean wine is very good and incredibly cheap. At the moment our current tipple is a Melot from Gato. It’s not the world’s greatest drop but it’s a pleasant wine and while it won’t win to many major awards it’s less than $4.50 for a 1.5 litre bottle so its been a hit with us. From my biased viewpoint Chilean wine is as good as Oz wine and at a fraction of the price so it’s been no surprise that I haven’t found any Oz wine on the shelves here, we did spot some Bega cheese in the supermercado the other day but that’s all.

Taking Kitty’s cousin for a ride

At last a story motorcycling on a motorcycle blog! A couple of days ago I had my first experience of riding a bike for the trip, unfortunately it wasn’t my bike but it was close relative as Hans also has a very similar bike to Kitty, it’s just a few of years older. Hans and Stefan wanted to go for a ride down the coast for a short day trip so I rode Hans’s bike and he was the pillion passenger.

It’s been said that experienced motorcyclists make the worse pillion passengers (you know who you are out there) and I’m not saying this applied to Hans but in the words of Sir Francis Urquhart

“You might say that I couldn’t possibly comment”

That said it was good day and not entirely uneventful. One thing I had forgotten about a standard R100GS was how bad the brakes are. I have modified Kitty so the brakes are excellent but when I had to stop quickly on Han’s bike I found out exciting it could be, that said his gearbox was as smooth silk unlike Kitty’s.

The road down to Quintay was full of nice twisty bits which we took at a sedate pace (strange bike, unknown pillion, other side of the road, nervous rider) after a very nice seafood lunch it was time to head off. This was not as easy as it seems, pressing the starter button and only a loud “click” was heard. This was not a good sound. Fortunately Hans had the foresight to bring his own personal mechanic along. Stefan works in the BMW service department and his skills were well used over the next couple of days. The first theory was that the battery was flat. Han’s second piece of luck was that his bike has a kick start and Stefan was able to start it that way, all good and off we went.

The next interesting event happened a few miles down the road when we stopped to check directions. The bike was not idling properly, the motor was racing. Again Stefan’s skills were put to the test and he spent the next 20 minutes tweaking the carburettors on the side of the road. They were sort of working so we headed off but I managed to stall the bike.

Bugger.

Guess what happened when I pressed the starter button? You guessed it “click”.

Double bugger.

Not a problem it has a kick start, I saw how it was done earlier, no worries. The bloody thing would not even fire once. Again Stefan comes to the rescue and a minute later the bike is running. I should point out Stefan is not a big bloke but what he does have a lot of is technique. Whereas I have brute force and ignorance (and not a lot of brute force either).

Anyway we got back and I was very careful about not stalling the damn thing anymore.

Stefan’s work was not done yet, after charging the battery overnight and finding out that it made no real difference it was decided that there might be a problem with the starter motor. Half an hour later the bike is disassembled to the point where the starter motor has been removed and a nasty discovery has been made.

The magnets in the starter motor have detached themselves and have been crunched up. This is not a good thing. The chance of getting a replacement motor locally from BMW soon is about zero, so we looked at other options but Stefan came to the rescue (again) and managed to find enough spare parts to rebuild it from the auto electrics shops in town. Hans is one very lucky lad (apart from breaking his collarbone the day after he arrived).

Stefan’s work was not done yet, the next morning when I appeared for coffee at the crack of 11 o’clock, on the table were two disassembled carburettors and another bike (Benno’s F650) had its entire rear end disassembled to have a new chain fitted. Stefan spent the rest of the day cleaning and rebuilding carburettors and helping to fit the bike chain. I think he will be glad to get back to work in Germany so he can have a rest.

So the rule is always bring your factory trained motorcycle mechanic along with you on your overland trip, or how do you say “preventative maintenance” in German? 🙂

Thanks all for now