Crossing South American borders with a bike you don't legally own
 

Hey all,

Back in February I purchased a GS1200 in Ushuaia, Argentina, using the Horizons website.

I am Australian, and I bought the US registered bike off an Israeli who rode it down from US.

We had a poder written in Ushuaia saying that the seller gave me the right to ride the bike all over the world.

However, the sale was not officially recognised, or legal.

Since then I have crossed the following borders, with bike paperwork that does not have my name on it:

Chile - Argentina: four times without hassle

Argentina - Bolivia: no hassle

Bolivia - Peru: had to bribe customs USD50.00 because bike not in my name

Peru - Equador: no hassle

Ecuador - Colombia: no hassle

Colombia - Panama: no hassle

Usually the Aduana did not even want to see the Poder. It was only when entering Peru that they asked for it and would not let us pass, so we bribed them.

We still have central america and US/canada to go, but so far so good.

I am not saying it is correct, or a good idea, but it worked for us.

Hope this helps anyone doing the same.

P

Fairly well known that Peru is rarely obliging when it comes to Poders and trouble is there is no easy way of bypassing the country either. You did well to get through

Well done ;)

Where did you cross into peru?

we crossed at Desaguadero. It was on easter weekend so pretty quite. THe first woman just said no and asked us to leave. Then the watchman out front of customs suggested that we pay. He called the main guy in charge and we gave the watchman 50 bucks, then the aduana cleared us.

cheers,

P