An Anchorman inspired quote still doesn’t emphasise how substandard
Santiago has been for me. Firstly I was pretty damn sick the 1st
week I was here and now I have just had US$1000 stolen from me. Bad
timing, I don’t usually have that amount in cash floating around but I
was getting ready to buy the bike. Long story that can’t be changed, so
I won’t waste it on here.
Luckily I have my plastic fantastic credit card so used that to pay
the shortfall. So anyway after arriving in Santiago 2 weeks ago I am
now the proud owner of a sickly red Euromot GXT200. Its made in the
same factory as the Suzuki DL200 except has different labels, cheap
plastics and to add to the fun factor a well documented weakness in the
transmission and spokes, all of which I will carry spares and a
spanner….maybe a hammer for those more delicate jobs.
With the sale all done, one thing I hadn’t really thought about until
that point was how I was going to get it back to the hostel. I hadn’t
ridden a real bike since passing my test 4 years ago except for one
afternoon on a little Honda in Kenya last year, and that ended with my
friend on the gravel road with the bike on top of him and not the other
way round as it is supposed to be. So when I’d signed all the papers
and was ready to leave I was well aware what was about to happen may not
be the smoothest thing I’ve ever done.
To make this worse my first obstacle upon leaving the dealership was
an 8 lane road which I’d have to immediately turn on to. It was busier
than I feel was fair, especially when you know in South America people
drive on the right (wrong) side of the road. Still after getting help
with adjusting the helmet (muy embarrassing), and another guy helping
start the damn bike as I didn’t realise it had a choke, I felt as ready
as I would be. Which was just as well as by then 5 of the dealership
workers were pretending not to watch me through the big showroom window.
Still considering the massive amount of time it took me to move off –
I was waiting for a gap that never came – when I eventually moved off
it actually went really smoothly. I managed to cross 3 lanes with no
bother and then immediately went into a tunnel. Unfortunately this was
where a bit of a problem started as I couldn’t turn off with all the
traffic so I kept going but was funnelled into a toll road where you are
supposed to have a device in your vehicle that logs the roads you use
and charges you automatically. I didn’t have this device so I had to
keep going on knowing that my picture was being taken. I had heard that
if do this you can have problems when you try to leave the country so
was a bit concerned. But then I realised that I didn’t even have number
plates yet, they arrive next week, so I decided to keep smiling for the
cameras and go back to my hostel along all the toll roads as they are
quieter and easier. Pretty easy in the end. Even had time to go buy
some saddle bags and other items for the bike. Job done! I think I
might keep the plates in my backpack when they arrive so that I can get
away with this until I leave Chile.
And here she is...
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