Our last day of riding continued without mishap, we crossed the border together and lined up for a final picture with the bikes.
We got to the hotel, I unloaded all my stuff off the bike, I had quite a bit to carry. I looked at the distance from reception to the rooms and decided I would walk it once and only once, so, loaded down like a packhorse off I set through the hotel grounds
What felt like hours later, I was still looking for my room
Having reached the sanctuary of my room the call went out that all the bikes needed to be taken to a rendezvous with a lorry at a truck stop.
We gathered at the front entrance and checked our paperwork, whoops
someone had "lost" their registration documents, it was decided that the offending document must be at the Customs office. He, who will remain nameless and I set off re-tracing our steps to the border. With me doing the translating, whilst masquerading as his wife (sometimes it makes life easier) we searched and asked at every office at the border post but all in vain.
We then had to find the others and rode off across town in search of the truckstop. We arrived to find all the bikes were loaded, and had to rush to get our bikes on, this being South America, there was no formal loading ramp, just a sandy bank which the lorry had reversed up to. Our final few minutes on the bikes involved some fun in the sand.
With the bikes on the lorry, we squeezed into taxis, heading to our hotel, and more importantly the hotel bar
Straight to the Bar, do not pass Go
The weariness was there, but celebrations over mojitos and martinis brought a smile to faces
The moon had risen, glimpsed between the canvas tarps above our heads
and we were still sharing riding stories
Until the call went out, the final bike had to be loaded onto the pick up truck, so several of us trooped outside and got to grips
Attempting to be careful after a few
s
Almost there
A cigar to finish off with and a flamethrower disguised as a Peruvian lighter to light it!
And there you have it folks, My short sojourn in South America with a great group of riders.
Early the next morning I waved them off, we were in the town of Arica, Surf Capital of Chile and I had arranged to stay on for an extra day...
unfortunately the camera with the photos from my surf escapades is in the cupboard at GlobeBusters HQ, so you'll have to take my word for it.
I hope you've enjoyed this RR, I had a lot of fun riding it. I'll finish with a picture from one of my favourite days of riding