Argentina - Salta to Buenos Aires

ExploringRTW

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Kent & Berkshire
23 July to 6 August

After arriving late the previous night and only being able to find an expensive hotel (for us anyway) that wasn't that close to the centre, we find a hostel, listed in the Lonely Planet run by three sisters. The rooms were meant to be immaculately clean, much nearer the centre and much cheaper. We pack up and head for the hostel. The guide was spot on and we are soon booked into a room on the roof terrace with views over Salta. The only downside was there was no parking but we are directed by the owners to some secure parking just around the corner. Sorted!

We had been corresponding with Lisa and Simon Thomas (www.2ridetheworld.com) about meeting up in town. After some to-ing and fro-ing we finally meet up for coffee and a couple of beers. After an evening out we agreed to meet up the next evening for a photo shoot with the bikes.

The next day we have a quiet-ish day. I knuckled down to some admin tasks and out of desparatrion Mike phoned his insurance company England to explain that nobody seemed to be able to repair his camera. He'd tried in Cusco, Peru, where the dealer hadn't been able to. Nikon in Argentina were apparently under instructions not to touch any Nikons outside of South America. Nikon in Capetown, South Africa advised that water-logged digital cameras are normally a write-off. He'd already missed and was frustrated at not being able to take high quality photos in Bolivia particualry. The insurance company advised that if he could supply a letter to the effect that it was unlikely to be repairable, that would be sufficient. Finally he took his camera to a camera dealer that Simon had used who inspected the camera and wrote such a letter.

We still needed to buy some bike insurance for Argentina, so we head for the local police station where they direct us to a building on the other side of town but it was closed for the day and would not open until the morning.
In this part of Argentina they have a siesta from 1pm until 5 or 6 pm, depending on the service. For government offices, they don't bother with the evening opening!

We had planned to meet Lisa and Simon at our hotel around 5 but there seemed to be some confusion and we finally met in the main Square around 7pm. Lisa and Simon also met Ralf and Katrin at their campsite along with three other German bikers. After intros we all went to dinner. We both had a good night so hopefully the others did as well. :beerjug:

The next day we continued in our quest for bike insurance but, the office we were directed to by the police, was the immigration office! They said the police were wrong and directed us to Customs, which was closed (it was only 12:30) but it would open again at 6 pm!

Our plans to leave were thwarted, so we headed to the campsite to meet the guys. After chatting for too long and being tempted by a barbeque on the campsite we decided to camp the night.
Tents pitched, we went as instructed to customs at 6pm which was closed. The guard at the door said they would be open at eight tomorrow! :banghead:

To calm our frustrations, we hit the supermarket for some beers and big steaks for the barbie. The evening with everyone calmed us down and we could forget our South American administrations woes. Much later than planned we hit the tents for a nights sleep. This was the first time I've camped since Canada and how I've missed it...

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Later in the evening. The camera shake is the lack of light... Honest...

Next morning we went to customs and were told they do not provide insurance and we were directed to one of the larger insurance firms it town! To cut a boring story short, on the third attempt found company who would insure foreigners. By now it was lunch time!

With insurance in hand we headed back to camp, packed up, and had a big photo shoot with all the bikes. The campsite had a huge outdoor swimming pool that was currently empty. And we do mean huge! With the owners permission we positioned our bikes in the pool...

Bikes in the pool!...

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And what everyone looks like off the bikes...

Now it was time too head off towards Buenos Aires as we only had a few days left before our flight and we still had the bike shipping to be arranged.

The road south was fairly good and reached San Miguel de Tucuman by night fall. We were up fairly early the next day and in Cordoba by evening.
As we reached Cordoba the driving standards decreased and the number of suicidal overtaking manoeuvres increased exponentially as it got darker. The hotel couldn't come soon enough and with assistance of a friendly cab driver, who was also a biker, we were safely in the hotel before it was too dark!

We had planned to spend a day here to recharge and take in the sights of the town. We had a pleasant day with long Gentleman’s breakfast and a short stroll around the town followed by dinner... That was it for the day!

Back on the road again, the next day, for Buenos Aires. The drive was uneventful apart from the diminishing driving standards. Argentineans are definitely the worst so far!

Our first day in BA we had arranged to meet the brokers, Delfino, who were shipping our bikes. The broker had been recommended by Malaysian Cargo.
The meeting seemed OK, but we were a little surprised that the broker, Sol, had not shipped a bike before but seemed to know enough of the process. We went away feeling OK about it but not 100% happy. After a couple of day s to-ing a fro-ing with the odd piece of information for shipping the bikes and us wandering around town looking for odds and ends and a new camera for Mike, we had an E-mail requesting the bikes be taken down to airport cargo area for tomorrow (Thursday) with list of papers. It was about 10pm at night when we checked our e-mails so there was not a lot we could do!
The next day we were up early and after a call to Sol we started rushing around!
Mike was on filling in forms and photocopying and I was off to see Javier and Sandra at Dakar Motors too pick up the Carnets de Passages and some replacement credit and bank cards, which they were kindly holding for us.

Although the shop is registered in Buenos Aires it was in the suburbs and it was a good hour in the taxi before I was there!
A quick hello and promise we would come and see them before we left, I was off. Javier said that the train was quicker and cheaper. (It was! It cost 10GBP in the taxi and 10 pence on the train). I was back in town and with Mike by 14:30. He had got all the papers ready but it was now too late to clear customs etc in one day and Sol advised us to leave it until the morning.

The next day we were at the airport by 8 am. It took us another 30 minutes to find the cargo area which had to be entered by driving around the un-man'd security barrier. :nenau Once inside we quickly found the Delfino Office and the process started. We quickly got our bikes into the inspection and crating area.
We had not paid for the customs broker service because we were told it was not a complicated process, so Delfino took us to customs and left us too it, but to come and see them if there were any problems .
The first customs office sent us to another office and there the problems started. Most of the issue was language. Our poor Spanish was not enough for the customs process. Although we had all the papers on us, we were never asked by each customs official what they wanted. They assumed that as we did not arrive with the right papers in hand, we did not have them and kept asking for the brokers!

Anyway after a couple of visits to the Delfino Office they came up trumps and sorted out the customs for us!
Then as if my magic the bikes were weighed, put on a pallet.
Whilst waiting for the customs inspection, one of the directors of the cargo handling company came down to see us. Another BMW rider! After a brief chat he instructed his guys to give us any assistance we needed and to call him if anything else cropped up he could help with! Fortunately all was smooth after that and we did not need to take up his kind offer. The bikes were inspected by customs, wrapped in Clingfilm and by late afternoon the bikes were ready to go and we were exhausted.

The next morning we were still on the move some how! Mike had found a camera shop with an OK price to replace his camera and we called Javier to say we would be there later in the day.

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The train timetable for Buenos Aires...

The Camera purchased we took the train to Dakar Motors. When we arrived, the workshop was fairly full including the familiar face of Pete who we had last seen in Cusco and should have been back in the UK by now! Pete was staying at the hostel attached to Dakar Motors and had been delayed to problems with his girlfriend's bike (Blown clutch) and being told that the return flight prices to the UK would drop if he waited a week (Unfortunately the prices didn't. A Brazilian airline went bust in the meantime and the others took up the slack along with the prices!!!)

Sandra and Javier were having a barbeque that afternoon and we were invited to stay. So we settled down and talked with Sandra, Javier and Pete all afternoon and ate meat with the odd piece of salad!

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Barbeque at the back of Dakar Motors...

That evening we arranged with Pete to meet up in town. Buenos Aires is famous for being the home of the tango and it is still the dance of the town. Pete recommended a restaurant that had a tango cabaret. Both of us could do with a bit of Argentinean culture and we decided to go.
It was a good evening. The tango dancing was impressive but the biggest shock was that the guys have a set facial expression for the dance as well. The have a half smile on their face and raise their eye brows as high as they can. No idea how this ever started or why! Anyway we left late but really enjoyed the night out.

The next morning was Sunday, our day for departure to Cape Town and the next continent. The flight wasn't until the evening. The first leisurely start to the day for a while, although we had to be out of our rooms by 10 am. The day seemed to go quickly and we arrived in the airport with plenty of time.

When we arrived there was already a queue forming, so we quickly joined it. It moved fairly quickly but when we reached the pre-boarding checks a problem arose. We only had a one way ticket! Apparently as we weren't South African nationals, we needed a flight ticket out as proof we were leaving!
After being removed from the queue and much discussion around we fact we were riding out and we had proof that our bikes were on the same flight and a passport full of stamps of where we had been and Mikes crash helmet with 'exploringrtw.com' and 'Round the World' on it, the official was still having none of it and was refusing to let us board. We were constantly being told it was not her fault theses are the rules!!! :nono Arggghhh.

After going round and round for a while Mike remembered we had flight tickets leaving Cairo, Egypt in December was that any good? She said yes if we could prove it. The flight was an E-ticket booking! We told her this and she asked which airline. I remembered this was Austrian Airways. She went away and came back to say Austrian Airways do not fly from Cairo!!! After more discussions I found an internet cafe in the airportand printed the e-ticket from Austrian Airways. :D

This was enough for her but she then wanted me to go back and get another copy for her. Politely I told her if she wanted a copy she should use her own facilities.
She then disappeared and came back with the additional copy and asked us to join the back of the queue. We refused, as the queue was now longer and we had already queued once. We shown to the front, with her leaving comment being these were the rules and she was just doing her job.

The infamous phrase came to mind ' Rules are for the obedience of fools and guidance to the wise'.

Now safely thorough the checking in process we could relax and wait for take off!

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The link to the next leg...

John
 


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