San Antonio to Santiago to San Antonio to Santiago
On Wednesday, the cousin of our shipping broker (Gaston - SAmericaXplorer) Cathy, and her daughter, Francisca, picked us up at our hotel in the Providencia district of Santiago.
Our deal with them really explains their level of hospitality: we pay for gas and they help us through the Customs process. We had no idea how important they were about to become...
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We had a pleasant hour and a half ride to the city of San Antonio (yes, it is a weird coincidence considering we're from San Antonio, TX) where we immediately headed to the Aduana (Customs). It was here that we encountered what was to be the first of many hiccups in the importation process of our motorcycle.
On Wednesday, Cathy, the cousin of our shipping broker (Gaston - SAmericaXplorer), and her daughter, Francisca, picked us up at our hotel in the Providencia district of Santiago.
Our deal with them really explains their level of hospitality: we pay for gas and they help us through the Customs process. We had no idea how important they were about to become...
*
We had a pleasant hour and a half ride to the city of San Antonio (yes, it is a weird coincidence considering we're from San Antonio, TX) where we immediately headed to the Aduana (Customs). It was here that we encountered what was to be the first of many hiccups in the importation process of our motorcycle.
Fran and Cathy acted as our constant translators as our Spanish is a work in progress - especially when dealing with official business.
In our first meeting with Aduana, we were informed that we had a problem with our paperwork - namely with our Bill of Lading, which essentially checks our crate into the country. We were sent over to the port authorities to clear it up...
...at the port we were told that our paperwork had been printed with a mistake and that we would need to head to the SAAM head office, which I believe is the main office for the entire port of San Antonio. To be honest, its all a bit hazy at this point...
At SAAM, we are again told that our paperwork was incorrect, but we would need to come back because the man who can 100% confirm this fact was out of the office until later that afternoon. Feeling a bit defeated, we headed back to the Aduana only to find it closed for lunch.
Perfect.
So with nothing else to do, we headed up the coastline to Cartagena for lunch.
It is at this point that we began to see the silver lining in our day of delays. Not only did we find ourselves eating fresh seafood on the beach, but we were sharing a meal with two amazingly friendly and interesting Chileans. Seeing that Fran has almost completed her degree in history and that she has written her thesis on Cartagena and the surrounding area, we are thrust into a long and insightful discussion on how the past has molded Chile into what it is today. Our lunch moves from history to politics to culture - and just like that, we are given a cross-section of life in Chile.
At some point during our discussion, with a trio playing Chilean pop songs nearby, a child riding a pony across the sand near the waves and Kristen asking for another bottled water in Spanish - my heart grows full and am grateful for the opportunity to travel. Awesome.
Click HERE for a 360 view (iPhone capable).
At some point we head back to San Antonio:
Disappointment strikes again at SAAM. We are told that because our Bill of Lading says that our crate was sent Valparaiso (where it was originally supposed to be dropped off), we need to get our shipping line (SeaBoard) to sign our form to confirm that a mistake was made. The problem is that the SeaBoard office is in Valparaiso, an hour and a half away. Seeing as Chile apparently does not believe in fax machines and that it is now 6 PM, we leave San Antonio and head further up the coast for the night.
Thankfully, Fran and Cathy agree to go to Valparaiso with us and then back to San Antonio the next day. Plus, it gives them a chance to visit an apartment that their family owns near the ocean. We head to Valparaiso with our heads held high considering the place is situated right across the street from the beach, which we immediately head out to explore.
Click HERE for a 360 view (iPhone capable).
Valparaiso reminds us both of southeast Florida with its boardwalks, beaches and high-rise apartments lining the coast.
We eventually head up into the hills and go to a hotel of our own, seeing as Cathys son and some of his friends are already using their apartment for the night. We get settled in, walk down below to buy a empanada con queso for dinner and then promptly go to sleep with the windows open.
Click HERE for a 360 view (iPhone capable).
We wake the next morning and immediately head downtown with a determined Cathy and a sleeping Fran (understandable after a late night with her friends - 5 AM!). Downtown Valparaiso is a nightmare for drivers unfamiliar with the area. It is a very old town and the streets are set up as such. If Kristen and I had been left to figure out this importing business ourselves, we would have definitely been lost.
They are expecting us at SeaBoard and the process is quick. In fact, its so quick that I almost feel like reaching across the desk to slap the guy. He makes a quick signature, a quick stamp and then asks, They made you come all the way here for a stamp?
Insult to injury...
All this for one stamp. Muchas gracias.
We then head back to San Antonio and the port authority, convinced that we will now be getting BigBoi out of captivity.
As you might have guessed, that is not the case.
Click HERE for a 360 view.
The port authority finds another mistake. All of our documents from SeaBoard have a typo when mentioning the VIN number for the bike - a 2 for the Z. We are sent back to SAAM.
It is here that Pedro Gras is waiting for us. He lets us know he has made some phone calls and can fix our situation. The problem is that the paperwork wont be ready until 6 PM.
As you can see below, this news does not make Cathy happy.
We head to the Aduana one more time to see if they will be open until 6 PM.
Again, as you might have guessed, they will not be able to process our new paperwork until the next Monday.
It is Friday.
Very apologetically, Cathy tells us that she needs to head back to Santiago and that she cannot take us to San Antonio on Monday. Overwhelmed, Kristen starts crying. I have personally read enough reports on ADV to know this is normal... Shes not proud of it, but it turned out to be a blessing. Cathy feels so badly that she changes her mind and decides to come back with us on Monday morning with her boyfriend.
We then head back to Santiago. The girls drop us off downtown - I run and find us a hostal while Kristen guards our stuff.
So now, we find ourselves back in Santiago for the weekend with our computers, one change of clothes which it looks like we will have been wearing for a week by the time we get to the bike, and iPhones to take pictures. Oh, what I would do for our wide-angle lens. Thankfully, we found a fairly cheap and nice place to stay, we have been having fun walking around town and we now have time to do some chores.
Click HERE for a 360 view.
The subway conductor got mad at us for taking this picture. Any ideas why?
New slippers for Kris and fresh churros for me off the street:
Click HERE for a 360 view.
Last night, we decided to try and go to the mall (Falabella) and buy insurance for our motorcycle. It is illegal to drive around any country in South America without it (although we've heard you really don't need it) but we had heard that the mall was a good place to find an affordable plan. We spend the next 30 minutes struggling through a conversation with one of their agents who didnt speak a word of English. At some point, he pulled up GoogleTranslate on his computer and we had a digital conversation. Technology is amazing.
As you might expect, this did not work out. Just to give our week a perfect score for failure, we were not allowed to buy insurance because we didnt have a RUT number and were told to come back on Monday.
I know, I know - it sounds like nothing is going our way. But this is all part of the adventure! I would much rather be writing about us riding the bike through the wilderness, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Its all going to be worth it. I have no doubt.
