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  #1  
Old 10 May 2011
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mika View Post
Hola,

well done. so, the cops bought the bikes?

make sure the money is not fake, make sure you take it out of Bolivia, or spend it before leaving.

Pls keep us posted about leaving without entry stamp.

Yes, all is possible in South America, just do it

Mika from Salta
spend $10,000 before leaving Bolivia? I'm not sure I could do that if I tried.

Relax, its Latin America. It will all get worked out. "My passport? Well a stray dog ate it, but the vehicle permit was stolen by a roving band of armed transsexual chollas."

ì do agree that its a bit strange that two cops can spend 5 grand each on motos. There is more to that story for sure.
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Old 10 May 2011
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Originally Posted by crashmaster View Post
spend $10,000 before leaving Bolivia? I'm not sure I could do that if I tried.

Its funny how people on the board get so wrapped around the axle and call people stupid when they dont have entry stamps are a vehicle permit. Relax, its Latin America. It will all get worked out. "My passport? Well a stray dog ate it, but the vehicle permit was stolen by a roving band of armed transsexual chollas."
It's all "manana manana" until you're sitting in a Bolivian police station with all the cops sharing out your possessions or when they fine you whatever they feel like for not having the right papers... It happens all the time !!

You said so yourself about the "armed robbery". I've done similar things myself with paperwork and it just leads to moments such as:

"I had a minor panic attack when I woke up this morning to the hotel receptionist telling me two cops were in the lobby looking at the bikes. I greeted them groggily. They looked at me sternly and asked if they were my bikes. I thought "shit, this is it. someone tipped them off and they are going to take them away and theres nothing i can do"


Your words mate !!

Or were you just being dramatic lol
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  #3  
Old 10 May 2011
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All depends on your tolerance for that kind of stuff I guess. Normally, I at least try to get the right paperwork to be legal, but if the system makes it ridiculously complex or difficult to get the right papers, I generally will push on and figure out a plan B, well, in Latin America anyway.

It does sound to me like there is more to this story because the guys were obviously nervous that they didnt have the right papers.

I've been confronted by cops twice when I didnt have the right papers and it was not a big deal, I was cool and explained my situation, and I had them show me exactly what I needed to do to be legal and that was that. Some of these cops actually do understand that you could mistakenly cross a border where one of the offices was closed, non existent, etc, it happens and is not unusual ìmo, especially in the altiplano.
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  #4  
Old 10 May 2011
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Quote:
spend $10,000 before leaving Bolivia? I'm not sure I could do that if I tried.
at crashmaster:

As I dont know lifecycles, maybe he wants to buy a plot of land, or a camper van, or donate the money to someone .... I dont know. To spend it all on will take some time, even if he drinks as much as I do at the moment.

I agree with you, it is a bit strange for two cops to have this amount of money.

Hope we will hear the rest of the story from Lifecycles one day.

Saludos
Mika
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  #5  
Old 12 May 2011
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In all villages where i stayed in Bolivia, i was offered to buy my bike. It started right at the border with the custom officer, then the chief police officer in Padcaya, an hotel manager, a taxi driver, an internet café manager. In Venezuela as well, i was offered 4 times to buy my other 600 XTE.

There are indeed controls tho. In a village 25 km south of Tarija, police targeted motorcycles and impounded 10 in one day. But it seems that everything got back to normal after a while, and, i guess, a few bribes.

You guys took a risk and got rewarded. It could have gone wrong as well, it s all a question of luck.
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  #6  
Old 13 May 2011
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Always an adventure. Thats what makes it so much fun IMO.
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