Coffee to Mate - Seattle 3 Ride South America

[rockydog]

miss O, thanks for the info, cheers

[PDX Alamo]

Originally Posted by MissOrganized

I'm still waiting on the final quote for Air Shipping but it won't be more than $1900, possibly a bit less. However, the shipper told me today that we managed to make our crates the most "compact" that he's seen so that will save us money. We aren't shipping our panniers on the bikes (we will carry them with us as checked baggage when we fly) and we removed the handlebars which decreased the overall volume of the crate. (see pictures in one of the other posts on this thread). You pay mostly by volume so the more compact the crate, the better. You also are responsible for providing/making the crate for shipping. This can be a big pain and stressor. Thankfully my husband knows how to do some metal work so we were able to manage it ourselves. (wood creates are not the best idea because some customs agents will turn away wood product entering their country)

Boat shipping is going to be around $1500 because there will be 7 bikes sharing a 40 ft. container. Cost completely boat shipping is likely the most economical and easiest way to get it done because you also don't need crates if you're doing RORO (Roll on Roll off). You'll just need to provide a few good straps.

Thank you so much for all the info, it will be helpful for lots of folks. Just to clarify $1900 per bike? Yikes

[MissOrganized]

Originally Posted by MissOrganized

Today I hear from an unrelated source that Chile requires proof that "Thermal Fogging with Pyrocide 100" has been done on used vehicles that enter the country.

Hopefully it doesn't delay us clearing customs by too much time or cost a ton of money. Anyone have prior experience with this? I'll update after we arrive with how we work it out.

I learned today that Air Canada often fumigates before they leave Vancouver, and if they don't then the cargo haul is fumigated when the plane lands in Santiago so I guess this is no big deal. That's good.

[MissOrganized]

Originally Posted by PDX Alamo

Thank you so much for all the info, it will be helpful for lots of folks. Just to clarify $1900 per bike? Yikes

Yes, that is per bike, one way. Pricey! As my husband keeps reminding me "We are not going on this trip to save money. Would your rather save the money and not have this adventure? Of course not!"

[lukeman]

Looking forward to the adventure. I'm sure you'll have a great time! Patagonia is so amazingly beautiful.

[huzar]

DirtyPoodle and MissOrganized,

I find myself contemplating a similar trip -- I would appreciate you sharing your crate plans, as well as anything else you can tell me about using Air Canada for shipping. I'd be shipping my TE610 to Bogota or Lima in the next few weeks, so I would appreciate any other prep info you can share out

[rcroese]

Congratulations on your well-planned trip and I wish you "buen viaje" to a couple of my favorite countries. I used to live in Temuco, Chile and my wife is from Córdoba, Argentina. You will be in a couple of well-organized counties, with good roads and other tourism infrastucture. Camping is defininately an option in Chile and Argentina, but the campings are generally outside of town and the life of the Latino culture, in terms of hotels, restaurants and other fun places are generally in the center of town. When it rains and camping is less comfortable, the campings usually have inexpensive cabins as well.

You will do well to stick fairly close to the speed limit (around 100 km/h), as the police use speed guns and step out in the road to stop you. Police in Chile are called carabineros (nickname Paco(s) and they are courteous, polite and will throw you in jail if you even try to bribe them. In Argentina, the Policía Federal is a bit more flexible in that respect.

Try to get off the Panamericana when you have a chance, especially on the Pacific coast below Concepción, and other circle tours in the southern lakes district of Chile. Rather than going from Osorno directly to Bariloche, Argentina, you may want to go to Puerto Montt and make a circle around Lago Llanquihue and (hopefully) see the Osorno volcano from all sides. Another nice side trip would be to Villarrica, Pucón, Lican Ray, Collipulli, etc.

Parts of Ruta 40 in Patagonia are now paved, but the wind is still a big factor. I hope you plan to go back into Chile at Esquel/Trevelin/Futaleufu and ride the carretera Austral (Southern highway), formerly known as carretera Pinochet. This area is a micro-climate with citrus trees and begonia-type vegetation along the road (expect rain). You can stay overnight in Puyuhuapi, a lovely German settlement on the shores of the Pacific inland waters. Then you go back into Argentina at Coihayque and on to Ruta 40. In the Patagonia heart land you want to stay at an Estancia (Ranch), rather than camping, because of the wind, cold and lack of infrastructure.

I will stop here with me comments and advice, but please feel free to ask questions at any point of your trip, I know the Southern Cone quite well. One final point - expect to pay a reciprocity visa fee of about US$150.00 at the Santiago airport on arrival. They staple a stamped receipt into your passport and the fee is good for 10 years or the remaining life of your passport. I know this is a lot of money, but Chileans have to pay a similar amount to obtain a US visa.

Finally, you mentioned communication with the US. I always use Skype for calling landlines and cell phones in the US from anywhere in the world, for which I pay an annual fee of (I believe) $50 to Skype and the calls are free.

Enjoy your trip!!

[MissOrganized]

Originally Posted by rcroese

Congratulations on your well-planned trip and I wish you "buen viaje" to a couple of my favorite countries. I used to live in Temuco, Chile and my wife is from Córdoba, Argentina. Enjoy your trip!!

Thank you so much for the tips. I greatly appreciate it and will take note of it all. I hope you are following our Ride Report and please feel encouraged to pipe-up with more suggestions as we go. We leave in 48 hours!

[MissOrganized]

Originally Posted by huzar

DirtyPoodle and MissOrganized,

I find myself contemplating a similar trip -- I would appreciate you sharing your crate plans, as well as anything else you can tell me about using Air Canada for shipping. I'd be shipping my TE610 to Bogota or Lima in the next few weeks, so I would appreciate any other prep info you can share out

[QUOTE=huzar;20195028]

I'll let DirtyPoodle respond about crate details but I can tell you more about shipping.

First of all, I have asked my contact at the freight shipper in Canada if I can share his info here on this forum and he has agreed. If you are interested in shipping out of Vancouver, B.C contact Tim Whitting from Schenker of Canada at Tim.Whitting@dbschenker.com.

A few notes on air shipping: We couldn't find a freight shipper who would help us ship via air out of Seattle but I think it might depend on who answers the phone the day you call. Even though we lucked out I would recommend doing some research and calling some freight shippers at your local port authority and see if you get someone helpful. Tim was awesome and I recommend working with him; however, if you don't live in Vancouver you do have the pain of figuring out how to get your bike up there. Local would be easier.

Preparing the bike: We disconnected the handlebars because it made the overall volume of the crate smaller which saves money. We left the brake attached but disconnected the clutch and any farkles that were in the way. You need to empty your gas tank to at least a 1/4 tank. You need to disconnect the battery and tape the terminals.
Included in the crate: Don't include personal items. So that means we also removed our panniers and top cases. We will put them in cardboard boxes that are the exact upper limit of what checked baggage allows and will bring them with us on our flight. All that we included in the crate was the motorcycle, spare tires, a few tools, empty (and brand new) 2gal gas cans, and any farkles we'll add before we start riding (such as the windshield). We zip tied everything down to the crate/bike and then the crate was wrapped in plastic.

Getting the bikes to Vancouver: I looked into renting a UHaul and it would have worked, but would have been expensive due to the $.79/mile charge. Worst case, that's what we would have done. Luckily Nivs has a truck with a tow hitch and he also has a friend with a 18 foot flat bed trailer who let is borrow it. We loaded the crates on to the trailer, then rolled the bikes into their crates and finished putting the crates together on the trailer. This way, when we arrived in Vancouver Schenker folks could use their forklifts to lift them off the trailer and we didn't need to do anything more besides zip tie in the gas cans, tires, farkles etc. It worked like a charm and the Schenker guys are awesomely helpful and skilled at what they do.

Crossing the border from Washington to Canada was no big deal: we went through the trucker border crossing, we had all kinds of documentation ready to prove we owned the bikes and that we were shipping them for a personal adventure ( in addition to title, registration, passports we also had the Waybill from Schenker and proof that we had airline tickets to get to Santiago the following week). However, we didn't actually need to show any of these document. I would still recommend being prepared since you never know who you'll get at a border crossing.
Cost: It's expensive. It just is. Budget between $1800 and $2100 depending on how compact you can get your crate.

Shipping insurance: Schenker and Air Canada don't provide comprehensive shipping insurance. If you want it, buy it separately. We didn't. Hopefully we don't regret it.

Getting the bikes out of customs at destination: More to come on this. Schenker service gets the bike to the destination but does not provide assistance after that. I did find a guy who lives in Santiago who regularly does Boat shipping and customs to meet us at the airport and help us out. We'll post on how well that worked after it happens.
Shipping home: We're doing slow boat shipping. More to come on that after it happens.

I think that covers it. Ask any other questions if you think of them.

[Lion BR]

[QUOTE=MissOrganized;20198771]

Originally Posted by huzar

I'll let DirtyPoodle respond about crate details but I can tell you more about shipping.

First of all, I have asked my contact at the freight shipper in Canada if I can share his info here on this forum and he has agreed. If you are interested in shipping out of Vancouver, B.C contact Tim Whitting from Schenker of Canada at Tim.Whitting@dbschenker.com.

A few notes on air shipping: We couldn't find a freight shipper who would help us ship via air out of Seattle but I think it might depend on who answers the phone the day you call. Even though we lucked out I would recommend doing some research and calling some freight shippers at your local port authority and see if you get someone helpful. Tim was awesome and I recommend working with him; however, if you don't live in Vancouver you do have the pain of figuring out how to get your bike up there. Local would be easier.

Preparing the bike: We disconnected the handlebars because it made the overall volume of the crate smaller which saves money. We left the brake attached but disconnected the clutch and any farkles that were in the way. You need to empty your gas tank to at least a 1/4 tank. You need to disconnect the battery and tape the terminals.
Included in the crate: Don't include personal items. So that means we also removed our panniers and top cases. We will put them in cardboard boxes that are the exact upper limit of what checked baggage allows and will bring them with us on our flight. All that we included in the crate was the motorcycle, spare tires, a few tools, empty (and brand new) 2gal gas cans, and any farkles we'll add before we start riding (such as the windshield). We zip tied everything down to the crate/bike and then the crate was wrapped in plastic.

Getting the bikes to Vancouver: I looked into renting a UHaul and it would have worked, but would have been expensive due to the $.79/mile charge. Worst case, that's what we would have done. Luckily Nivs has a truck with a tow hitch and he also has a friend with a 18 foot flat bed trailer who let is borrow it. We loaded the crates on to the trailer, then rolled the bikes into their crates and finished putting the crates together on the trailer. This way, when we arrived in Vancouver Schenker folks could use their forklifts to lift them off the trailer and we didn't need to do anything more besides zip tie in the gas cans, tires, farkles etc. It worked like a charm and the Schenker guys are awesomely helpful and skilled at what they do.

Crossing the border from Washington to Canada was no big deal: we went through the trucker border crossing, we had all kinds of documentation ready to prove we owned the bikes and that we were shipping them for a personal adventure ( in addition to title, registration, passports we also had the Waybill from Schenker and proof that we had airline tickets to get to Santiago the following week). However, we didn't actually need to show any of these document. I would still recommend being prepared since you never know who you'll get at a border crossing.
Cost: It's expensive. It just is. Budget between $1800 and $2100 depending on how compact you can get your crate.

Shipping insurance: Schenker and Air Canada don't provide comprehensive shipping insurance. If you want it, buy it separately. We didn't. Hopefully we don't regret it.

Getting the bikes out of customs at destination: More to come on this. Schenker service gets the bike to the destination but does not provide assistance after that. I did find a guy who lives in Santiago who regularly does Boat shipping and customs to meet us at the airport and help us out. We'll post on how well that worked after it happens.
Shipping home: We're doing slow boat shipping. More to come on that after it happens.

I think that covers it. Ask any other questions if you think of them.

Because I eventually want to do the same thing, I'm taking notes and I have a question: where will you store your crate once in Santiago. Or will you dispose of it since you won't need it on the slow boat for shipping the bikes home? Thanks! Lion.

[MissOrganized]

[QUOTE=Lion BR;20203707]

Originally Posted by MissOrganized

Because I eventually want to do the same thing, I'm taking notes and I have a question: where will you store your crate once in Santiago. Or will you dispose of it since you won't need it on the slow boat for shipping the bikes home? Thanks! Lion.

That is certainly an issue we wrestled with for a while and I think we got got lucky in how we've resolved it. Because we are doing "slow boat" shipping to return home, also out of Santiago, I have been talking to the shippers for that part of the trip and learned that when it's time to ship home there's a guy and a warehouse in Santiago where we will drop off our bikes for return shipping at the end of the trip. I called that guy and asked him if he would a) Be with us through customs--just in case it helps to have a Chilean national present. b) bring us gas for our bikes c) bring a truck to cart away our crates and d) in our case, store our crates for us and ship them home on the container with our bikes. We don't need the bikes to be in crates when on the boat, but we spent a fair bit of money on materials to build crates and a lot of time to build them. We'd like to have them back if possible.

Hopefully this solution works well for us.

Our flight departs on 22 hours -- we will soon know.

[Lion BR]

[QUOTE=MissOrganized;20205954]

Originally Posted by Lion BR

That is certainly an issue we wrestled with for a while and I think we got got lucky in how we've resolved it. Because we are doing "slow boat" shipping to return home, also out of Santiago, I have been talking to the shippers for that part of the trip and learned that when it's time to ship home there's a guy and a warehouse in Santiago where we will drop off our bikes for return shipping at the end of the trip. I called that guy and asked him if he would a) Be with us through customs--just in case it helps to have a Chilean national present. b) bring us gas for our bikes c) bring a truck to cart away our crates and d) in our case, store our crates for us and ship them home on the container with our bikes. We don't need the bikes to be in crates when on the boat, but we spent a fair bit of money on materials to build crates and a lot of time to build them. We'd like to have them back if possible.

Hopefully this solution works well for us.

Our flight departs on 22 hours -- we will soon know.

Thank you! And I wish you a great trip. I'll be following your reports here.

[Adv Grifter]

Originally Posted by MissOrganized

Getting the bikes out of customs at destination: More to come on this. Schenker service gets the bike to the destination but does not provide assistance after that. I did find a guy who lives in Santiago who regularly does Boat shipping and customs to meet us at the airport and help us out. We'll post on how well that worked after it happens.
Shipping home: We're doing slow boat shipping. More to come on that after it happens.
I think that covers it. Ask any other questions if you think of them.

I hope they don't knick you too bad in Santiago at Aduana. They are famous for this, as I'm sure you read over on Horizon's Unlimited when you did your research. Can be tough getting bikes "Free", usually lots of "hidden" fees at every step ... everyone wants their cut.

It might have been a good idea to get your Chilean friend involved earlier ... before handing over money in USA ... to guarantee what fees at the Chile end would be or might be demanded. Ah well ...

That's a lot of money to invest for the 6 week trip. And you still have to get them home! Renting ain't cheap either ... but there are some cheaper options.
Chile has several good rental outfits renting F650 BMW's, Transalps and I think even XR250's or XR400's (or something like that).

Much as I love my own DR650 ... no way I'd pay $2000 to get it to Chile. Also, if you were to stay only in Argentina, then you could have maybe bought or rented a bike by contacting Javier at Dakar motors. Many travelers pass through ... many are selling or renting. CHEAP! KLR's, DR's,
BMW's. If you stay in Argentina, then this is possible. Argentina is a HUGE country ... and the North is more interesting than the South!

Anyway ... as a DR650 fan I'll be following along. All the best and hope you can get on the road quickly and without too much red tape and cash.
Hope you get a chance to explore the Southern Lake District in and around
Puerto Mont and San Martin De Los Andes.
Take your time, enjoy ... and ride safe!

[rcroese]

Originally Posted by Adv Grifter

That's a lot of money to invest for the 6 week trip. And you still have to get them home! Renting ain't cheap either ... but there are some cheaper options.
Chile has several good rental outfits renting F650 BMW's, Transalps and I think even XR250's or XR400's (or something like that).

Ah, yes, renting vs, shipping your own bike, that is a good question. I would say that for a 6-week event it may be a break-even or you would be slightly ahead by shipping your own bike. There is really only one viable rental/tour agency in Chile - Motoaventura. Their main office is located in Osorno, but they now also have an office in Santiago. Their bikes are $150/day on average, plus insurance, plus a hefty deposit up front. The advantage of renting is that the owner would try to provide you with repairs, bike replacement or send a mechanic with parts to your location, if reasonably reachable. Another advantage is that they prepare the border crossing papers for you and many of the bikes are already registered at the Argentine and Chilean borders. I have both toured and rented from Motoaventura. Their (BMW) bikes are good, but they have become quite costly over the years.

Another viable option is to rent a motorcycle in Cuzco or Arequipa, Peru. Their rentals are about half the cost that I mentioned above, but you need to add a couple of weeks, at least, to make to trip to TDF from southern Peru.

But there are other issues besides pure cost. On a rented bike you always have to be very careful about tip-overs, scratches, broken (or rattled off) mirrors (at $100 a pop), and all of these little things come out of the deductible, while the insurance basically takes over in case of theft (which never happens), a total loss or major damage.

In addition, there is also something to be said for riding you own bike, being on your own seat and having your own familiar luggage (I put up with some panniers on a rented bike one time that must have transported dead fish, and the smell permeated my clothes for the entire trip). Also, you know how to repair and maintain your own bike better than a rented bike.

If I were going to make a 6-week trip, I would definitely ship it. Anything less than a month might be a different matter. But better yet, when shipping your bike to South America, leave it there for three years or so and make multiple trips to see more of that most magnificent continent. I have made about 10 motorcycle trips in the Andes, from top to bottom and left to right, and if I go another 10 times I will still not see all of it.

[Marine By Choice]

Hoping you great weather, no delays and fond memories. Be safe.