Thanks for all your advice guys....for a while it was looking real doom and gloom. But just a couple of days ago we managed somehow to talk them into releasing our package and got to the bottom of the various problems they were having.

One of the bigest issues they had was that the seat for Simon's 1100 was sponsored by Touratech and was therefore supplied with a zero invoice. This immediately caught their attention as did a few other zero-rated items in the box! We heard however from many Rio DJ business people that the crux of the matter however is that customs in Brazil are after a pay-rise and their strategy is simple.....they are being meticulous and doing everything 'by the book' and intentionally backing-up the system until eventually the 'powers-that-be' give them the extra dosh.

Another lesson we learnt is that irrespective of whether you are importing items as personal items or commercially , if you import into the country using a courier (Fedex, UPS etc.) then you will pay 100% of the value of the items. And if the items are not valued then they will value them for you... end of story!

In the end however, this did not happen to us...we just got the right help from the right people and came away relativley unscathed....we were just lucky.

Thanks again. We are now on our way again up to Salvador.
Lisa Thomas
www.2ridetheworld.com

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Lisa
www.2ridetheworld.com