Major problem. Our 4-month ride in South America might have come to a screeching halt.

We were totally screwed by the Federal Police when we entered Brazil from Uruguay. They stamped us in, gave us a paper and our bike documents back and told us we were clear to enter. We did that.

There was no customs office at the border itself, and we were directed to go to the Federal Police office. They are the ones who took our passports and bike documents and told us we were done. We even asked them if we needed anything else, and they said no.

Now, in Salvador, we find that they didn't do the paper for importing our bikes, and the paper they gave us was just a tourist enty form. We have been told by the customs people here that the bikes are now here illegally and will be seized when they see them. We learned all this at the airport cargo terminal when my buddy tried to arrange to ship his bike back home to the U.S. We had to get out of there before they got more interested.

We are working on a solution, but so far nothing is looking good. The U.S. Consulate was little help, although they put us in touch with the senior Customs official at the airport. He didn't sound hopeful, but I have to call him back again later today to see what he found out.

Worst case is we lose the bikes (and maybe all the gear on them). We might try riding back south to Uruguay (where we crossed into Brazil) and 'sneaking' out there. Once we've gone that far, we might as well go back to Buenos Aires and Don can ship his bike home from there. Getting out of Brazil isn't a guarantee, though.

We have seen border offices where the Immigration and Customs functions were in the same place, and that is what we thought had happened. In fact, that's what happened when we entered and exited Uruguay, so we had no other expectation. We are feeling pretty stupid now.

The Customs official we spoke with does admit that the police at the border made the mistake, but they don't care about addressing that.

We'll try the U.S. Embassy next, I suppose.

Carnivals starts tonight, too, so eveything shuts down for the next several days.

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

__________________
Done with Prudhoe Bay and Ushuaia.

http://www.errant-ronin.com/PrudhoeBayUshuaia.htm