Brazillian Customs, Rio de Janeiro
 

Dear Scott, I sent a message about 10 days ago, but no show on HUBB. Here goes again.
At mate and I, from London, decided to ship our BMW 1150 GS bikes from London to Brazil, and from there, tour South, Central, and North America, and Canada then Anchorage and finally New York. Our problems started at Rio, where, after a month of waiting, we were finaly given our bikes. The cost thus far (not counting the wasted days waiting) is in excess of 4,000.00 UK sterling. My advice to anyone contermplating the same trip and starting point is: don´t do it. You can enter Brazil by land, no problem we are told. Simply do not consider shipping (or flying) the bikes in. The Brazillians are very sensitive to allowing temporary import passes, and we have heard some real horror stories. Now headed for Praguay, then Argentina (Ushaia) before heading north. Anyone en-route who wants us to cry in their beer and cheer themselves up in the process please give us a call. Jimmy, London