Arriving in Santiago

my next blog – going north in Chile

When boarding the flight to San Francisco in Singapore I thought, is this trip really a good idea and was I really up to it. But it’s too late to change my mind now when all preparations were completed.

I had a bulkhead seat and it looked like there might be an empty seat beside me, but it was a full flight and sure enough, a guy being wheeled down the aisle in a wheel chair, was lifted to the seat beside me. He was a big guy and seemed barely conscious. His partner rearranged seats so she could sit beside him.

I asked the lady what was wrong with him and was told he had cancer and was in severe pain and was given strong pain medication. He spread his legs leaving me with limited space and I was not looking forward to the 15 hour flight. Of course I pitied the guy but I couldn’t help thinking about my own comfort for the long flight.

However, I survived and arrived in San Fran their morning time and had the pleasure of queuing up for immigration into the US, when I finally saw the officer he let me in without much questioning. Then getting the luggage, dropping it off again, and make my way to security for the flight to Houston. Everything went smoothly and I was soon seated in the airplane.

Arriving Houston at 5pm I had time for a quick dinner of fish and chips before getting on the last flight.

Fish and chips Texas size portion.

Santiago next morning there were no problems getting through immigration and getting my luggage.

I used Uber for transport and the driver told me to go to the basement of the parking garage which seemed strange, and he later explained that Uber had not yet been given the permission to pick up travelers from the airport, so it had to appear like I was riding in a regular, private car.

I soon arrived at Hostal casa matte where I had booked a room.

Hostal casa matte

It’s a bikers place and there are quite a few bikes inside the property. It was nice with a shower after the long trip. I arrived on the 9th of January and I would pick up my bike the next day.

I had arranged with a local company to do the paperwork and purchase the bike so it would be ready when I arrived. Martijn had done a splendid job in organizing the whole thing so on the 10th I met him at the bike shop and picked up the machine.

I’m picking up the Royal Enfield Himalayan at the dealer.

I can’t recommend Martin and his company Andes Adventure Bikes enough. They took care of all the paperwork (and there’s quite a lot) as well as purchasing the motorcycle and even got the luggage racks installed. Please consider them if you have the same idea as me to travel on a motorcycle in south America.

https://andesadventurebikes.com/

After a further day of getting over 11 hours of jetlag I set off for a ride up the Andes to a vinter ski resort. Santiago is at 800m while the ski resort is at 3000m altitude so the road was very twisty with more than 50 switch backs with very narrow turns. A challenge to ride and a good workout for the machine testing most aspects like engine, gearbox, brakes etc. We both managed well! Although at 3000m I felt a bit light headed after the fast ascent.

Valle Nevado ski resort

3000m above MSL!

Coastal trip

The new motorcycle needs to be run for 500kms before first service so I decided to ride to the coast and a small town called Cartagena. On last year’s trip I stayed there for a few days while recuperating from covid and I remember the seaside town fondly. Santiago gets very hot in the afternoons, 35C, while the coast is much cooler, another reason for going.

It’s a 150km trip each way so not very far. I’ve been warned about going on toll roads that do not have toll boots but use automatic charging. As a foreigner you can’t obtain the necessary device so when you go on these roads you will be fined and payment of this is not easy because foreign credit cards are not accepted.

Soo, of course, I got on the wrong road and will get a fine 😩, it’s only about 10000 pesos ($10), so no big deal if it was easy to settle.

After all that I arrived at Cartagena and had a nice lunch.

For the trip back I chose another route avoiding the automatic toll road.

After the trips I have enough kms on the bike to do the first service which is being done now.

Local prepaid sim cards are very cheap but when trying to install one in my phone I could not get it to work. After many tries I talked to another hostal guest and figured out why. If you don’t register your phone after the first month it will be blacklisted(!) and you won’t be able to use local operators until you do register it. Well, I used the same phone last year and didn’t do the registration, so that explains it. So I now use an esim which works fine.

The trials and tribulations of traveling! 😂

Follow along next part of the trip