SA 2011....closer to becoming reality. Your views Please
 

Guys,

Looking for and more likely that my trip will now be taking place.

My brief plan is to fly Glasgow to Santiago in early Sept. Find a bike there and make my way to Ushuaia for hogmany (new year to you non-scots!!!)

Then north eventually to Rio then across to Bolivia/ Chile.

Any advice, hints ?? I plan to go alone, but confident of joining other riders for parts of the journey. Would you advise staying in santiago for a good few weeks to get my bairing, bike search, short rides etc etc before moving off permanetly??

Cheers

David

Santiago
 

David,

I have been in Santiago now since Oct last year and have used it as a base for rides North, South and East. I shipped my bike here from the UK (a KTM990 Adventure) and am looking to sell it to a traveller but it needs sorting well before your trip unfortunately, as I have now become a resident rather than a tourist, imports of used bikes are not allowed and it only has 60 days of stay remaining. £7000 with 36K miles on it, excellent condition never dropped, serviced meticulously, lots of additions.

I would suggest that you will need a few weeks at least in Santiago if you are going to buy a bike here. Bear in mind they are not cheap, and the paperwork will take you a while. I may be able to help you with that as I have a Chilean id card and RUT which you need to transact legally.

You will have no problems finding folks to ride along with, you bump into a lot out there.

By all means keep in touch, as I will still be here when you come down and you can use my place as a launch pad as it were.

Cheers - Martyn

Hi David, I have had 3 friends buy bikes in Argentina "without" doing the official paperwork. This is what I recommend that you do also. It is rediculous to pay 2X the price for a bike that you will not be able to sell legally at the end of your trip anyway.

Email me for details on how to do it. There are plenty of U.S. travelers trying to get rid of there bikes in Argentina.

Do not make the mistake of spending too much time in Chile. Argentina is less expensive and had more to see.

Make sure to see Valdivia in Chile though.