Planning my first solo trip with the destination being Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. I'm trying to sort some basic things out in order to proceed:

1. I've heard that personal vehicles from Peru have a hard time crossing into Bolivia. How accurate is this? Am I better off getting a bike in Bolivia then riding down or is that rumor mostly just a myth? Which brings me to my next question...

2. I'm in somewhat of an interesting position at the place I'm staying at in Peru. The owner has a Honda XR600 (gotta check the year) that hasn't been used because he's too busy renovating the hostel where he also lives. He just needs to finish doing some maintenance on the front forks and he says it runs great. The good thing is that he's a mechanic and I can test ride it whenever he's done. His starting price is $2,500. He mainly used it two or three times a year to go riding around the region with his buddies and an off-road club. If the bike rides well with no problems, should I be able to bring the price down?

3. If it turns out not to be a good deal, are prices better in Peru or Bolivia for a Japanese bike? I looked into renting a DR650 in Peru but the guy wants $100/day and that doesn't include the required insurance or deposit. I don't plan on having a set itinerary so I'm not sure that route would be smart financially.


The picture is what the Honda usually looks like since it doesn't have the forks mounted at the moment.

Of course prices are higher when there are not many alternatives. Latin America is 125ccm terretory. In Paraguay you can get new chinesse 125ccm bike for less then 500 Dollars. Most of the people buy in Chile. Bikes there are cheap as well and registering on a forreigners name is possible (with some restrictions as written many many many times here before). To enter Bolivia with a power of authority of the owner was no problem for me. If is would have been, im shore 10 Dollars would have helped a lot. For me it was hard to enter Peru but as you are allready there and wil have a peru plate you might be fine

http://motorradtouren-suedamerika.de..._bolivien-peru

When you say "power of authority of the owner", I'm assuming you're referring to a legal document from the owner saying you had permission to use his bike?