Chile Take Two

November 2, 2011

I woke up 5:00 AM so I could watch soccer practice before I left. Hogar Belen has a soccer team in the second division in town. I told the guys I would watch, every year they rise in the rankings and hope to move to the top division someday. At 6:15 AM I took off again on the 2.5 hour trek to Tacna. Ever since Arequipa, I had been seeing signs that said, “Peligro, zona de neblina”. That means “danger, zone for something”. It also said to lower your lights as well. But I could not for the life of me figure out what neblina was. I was in the middle of the desert, with no vegetation, animals, anything! Was it sandstorms? High winds? Locusts?

Well, Wednesday morning I found out. Somehow, in the middle of the desert, there was intense fog. It was so thick in places I had to slow down to 20 mph. My helmet faceguard kept filling up with water, and it was cold. I never would have guessed.

5:00 AM soccer practice

Now that is some fog!

I got to the customs offices but did not go in. I had gotten an email from my guy in Lima saying I should call this agent in Tacna. So I called him and he told me to come to his office. I didn’t understand the directions, so I told him to email me. That is where my electronics saved the day. I have a cell phone, gps, and a USB stick with internet on it for my netbook. I used all three to figure out where to go. If I had been missing one of those, it would have been a long morning. It made me think about when I travel to other countries and have only the gps with subpar maps loaded into it.

Anyway, Oswaldo was INCREDIBLY nice. He dropped everything to help me with the complicated process of exporting my motorcycle. The mistake that the guy in Lima made way back in August was a big one. We filled out papers for a few hours, then his secretary found a hostel for me very close, with a discount! I sat in the internet café while they cleaned a room for me, then unloaded. I really needed a laundromat at this point but there weren’t any nearby. The shower was hot but it was just a stream of water straight down. I did not care. I watched some satellite TV and crashed.

I like to think of it as a hot waterfall...

Thursday morning I headed in for more paperwork. We dropped the bike off at the customs station for an inspection and I sat in his office for 4 or 5 hours. During this time he copied some Latin music on my flash drive, looked at my pictures from the entire trip, and I got a little blogging done. His secretary brought me lunch as well!

At about 2:00 pm, we headed back over to customs and I got the bike. I headed off to the border. Waiting for me was a man named Pachito. He was in the parking lot and helped me through the complicated process of exportation. Everything went smoothly and every agent I dealt with was interested in my story and helpful. With the final few stamps I was off.

Entering Chile wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. You basically just pull up, stop and ask someone what to do. I got the papers filled out and got the Chilean stamp that I am pretty proud of. It was 15 minutes into the town of Arica. WHOA. It was total culture shock. The streets were clean, well marked, traffic laws were being followed, people wore Western clothing, there was even a Shell station! The buildings were nice and there were strip malls and chain stores. I had forgotten what a developed country looked like. But I missed Peru, I missed the girls, and I just wanted to get home. So I drove around for an hour and headed back for the border. Usually, you can’t just go back, but remember Peru thought I left on October 31, so I was all good. Heading back over both borders went smoothly and by 8:00 pm I was back in the hostel. The only problem was that I had to park my bike inside the hostel this time and I lost a chunk of tire driving up the steps into the tiny doorway.

Yes! Made it to Chile!

What? Cars that aren't taxis and a strip mall?

Friday morning we finished the final papers in Oswaldo’s office. I grabbed some wine at the local market and presented it to the entire office. I then paid the bills. This was bittersweet. The people in Lima didn’t tell me I had to hire more agents and customs officials at my expense to rectify their mistake. BUT, customs and Oswaldo charged me way less than usual. Everyone thought that my story and what I am doing down here is great and wanted to help me out. This was huge since I was getting low on money and I didn’t have any way to get cash. Now is a good time to say THANK YOU so much to everyone in Tacna. Without exception, every person I dealt with and talked to there tried their very best to help me.

I headed back to Moquegua for one last goodbye at Hogar Belen. I stayed long enough for some soup made with all the shrimp we caught and goodbye to Arturo. I hope I can return someday. Please visit their website, and maybe you could possibly be interested in a donation as well.

The way back to Arequipa was mostly uneventful, except for the fact that my engine started making a weird noise in 4^th and 5^th gear. Hmmm, not good but I just wanted to get home. I pulled up to the monastery around 5:30 pm and waited for Vanissa to get out of work. We grabbed dinner at a vegetarian restaurant and talked for a long time. It was so interesting to hear her stories about living at a monastery in Lima and about her life in general.

I found a nice hostel in town and crashed. These long riding days really take it out of you.

Military zone with a bunker

Mountains in the distance

They lost the key to the bar, so I had to remove the entire bracket with my screwdriver

I love the random places the bike ends up in at night

Chile Take One

October 31, 2011

Monday was Halloween, my favorite holiday of the year. Usually I have some epic costume ready to go, often teaming up with Jeff. But this year looked a little different, I got up early and headed for another country on a motorcycle. I guess I was dressed as a tough-looking motorcycle guy who was actually quite nervous. It was about 2 ½ hours to the border, and when I saw the “Chile, 10 km” sign my stomach jumped a little. But whatever, people do it all the time so who cares.

Emanuel saying goodbye

The military donated an old bridge used to get to Hogar Belen

Leaving Moquegua

Panoramic of the desert

Valley on the way to Tacna

I knew that every border is a two step process. You have to check yourself in or out, and then you have to check the motorcycle in or out. I checked myself out of Peru first. In line I saw a guy wearing an MSU shirt, he went there and is from Plymouth! He lives in Peru now. I discovered I needed special papers for the bike, so I found those, filled them out, and then got stamped out of Peru. I then went to the customs agent to do the paperwork. I knew I had crazy complicated paperwork, but my guy in Lima didn’t explain what I needed to do. So I just asked. The first few customs agents just looked at me weird and sent me to someone else. Finally, someone told me that they couldn’t process my paperwork and I had to drive 30 minutes back to Tacna and go to the customs office.

So I went. When I arrived, there was a really nice man who tried to help me. But November 1^st is a major holiday in Latin countries, and most people had Monday and Tuesday off. He told me to come back Wednesday. He tried calling the men who could help, but no one could come in. But remember, I was already stamped out of Peru, so I didn’t really exist anywhere. He told me to drive to the border to get stamped back in. So back to the border I went. Basically after talking to a bunch of people including a really nice customs lady for an hour, they sent me off saying it wasn’t really a big deal.

That means I was stuck in Tacna for two days, OR I could drive all the way back to Moquegua and stay at Hogar Belen. I remembered when I said goodbye to Sister Loretta I told her if I had more time I would love to stay. I had more time. Even though my tires were getting low and I was hot and tired at this point, I headed back. I really wanted to spend more time with the kids. So even though I didn’t do a thing to celebrate Halloween, I would consider that a pretty decent day.

They were happy to see me and right away we made plans to catch shrimp in the river the following morning.

The return to Hogar Belen after a LONG morning

Trying out moto gear

Helping peel an orange

So the next morning five of us set off to the river. Essentially, you feel around a rock for the pinchers of a shrimp. If you feel something, you trap it underneath the rock and reach in with both hands and grab it. I didn’t really know how fast shrimp were, but somehow I got lucky and caught 3 of them. It was really fun. The other guys caught about 10 each and soon we had a huge bucket full of shrimp. That lasted into the afternoon, and I asked if the boys wanted to help me work on the bike. It was in dire need of a wash, a clean air filter, and a chain cleaning/tightening. They were happy to help. Everyone pitched in and after a half hour it looked amazing. That was the first wash since I left way back in June. After that, since it was a holy day, everyone at Hogar headed off for 6:00 pm mass. It was a long walk, and Arturo and Carlos asked if we could go there on the motorcycle. So the three of us piled on and headed up the steep hill to San Francisco church.

I sat there on the cross outside the church watching the sun set over the city. The sounds of the pre-mass music floated through the air. It was a moment I wanted to remember. It was a strange yet good feeling to be sitting outside a church with a group of orphans in a strange city far from home with a beautiful view in front of me.

We sat right up front next to Sister Loretta. Even though it was in Spanish, 22 years of Catholic mass is still imprinted in my memory. I knew what they were saying anyway. The church was very nice, and the priest was friendly. After mass we were going to play more soccer, but most of the guys wanted to head back, and I was tired as well. Besides, I was getting up at 5:00 am to watch soccer practice and get back to customs.

View from the river

Catching shrimp

Arturo was the best

Trying to catch those sneaky things

Success!!

That bucket was full

Washing the bike

Dining hall

Playground equipment

Sun setting over Moquegua before Mass