19.1.10

We've been flying down the highway Ruta 5 for four days now, stopping at various little ordinary places to sleep . Los Angeles, Chile had a place called Hotel Monserrat, one star, (maybe) for 31,000 pesos. The current exchange rate is about 450 pesos to a $1 AUS. That’s about $68 including breakfast. As it turned out, it was a Sunday when we turned up for breakfast at 7:30am, and the staff were not coming in till 9am, so they only charged us 28,000 pesos for the room. $62.

Hotel Olimpo in Rengo had the nicest dinner and dessert.
It was Election Day and the new President Pinera had just gained power, and the streets were wild with people blowing horns and cheering. They even set up a big band on a flat bed truck right outside our window, which faced out into the square. The Concierge asked us if we’d like to change rooms so we could get some sleep. From the new room we could look down on our bikes which were parked on a grassed area behind a massive gate with spikes on top.

On the 18th January, we motored into Santiago, Chile’s capital and tried hard, without success, to buy a map of the city, so we could ride to the BMW service centre . At one Copec Service Station, we were given quite comprehensive instructions by the owner Filipe. Unfortunately there was one major turn off which he couldn’t remember, which we were to take, and that would get us to Kennedy Highway and straight to the BMW service centre. Naturally, we never found that turn off and we were already 15 kilometers through the centre of Santiago, when we decided to turn back and try to find the Kennedy Highway.

At one point, the day was heating up to over 30 degrees, and we had exhausted all our reserves of energy, our helmets felt hot and heavy and we were well and truly sick of back tracking and not getting anywhere. We pulled over on the ring route around Santiago, and I suggested to Des that we hire a taxi to lead us to the BMW place.

It was then that a bolt of bright lightening came with a crash from the sky, and a tall, brave, knight in shining armour, on a magnificent white steed, approached our bikes . Honestly, If I wasn’t already happily married, I could have fallen for him then and there. The Brave knight, in perfect English, asked if we needed help, so I suggested he call us a taxi to lead us to the BMW service centre to get our bikes serviced. He said, 'What’s wrong with me?"

"Oh”, I said “You’ll do”

He explained that he is a motor bike enthusiast and would recommend another place to service the bikes, one which is used by many Brazilian riders to service their BMW’s in Santiago. He said the other BMW service centre focused mainly on cars. He asked us to follow his steed, which had magically turned into a 4WD Jeep.

The brave knight, Miguel, maybe not so tall, took us to ProMoto to speak with Luis, who suggested it would take 2 days to work on the bikes and change the 4 tyres. It was a clean modern workshop, with a well stocked motorbike apparel and accessories shop attached to it, we felt comfortable leaving our bikes here to be serviced .

Miguel offered to take us and our luggage to a motel as close to the ProMoto as possible. This guy was really going the full 9 yards for us. After the second attempt, (many of the hotels are full because of the Dakar race and the elections, plus its holiday season) we settled in the Rio Bidasoa Hotel on the same street as the bikes.

In the evening Miguel took us to dinner at the Eladio Restaurant, where we tried the Chilean national drink Pisco sour, a mixture of lemon, egg white, sugar and alcohol. Des said he could get to like it. The food was delicious and the restaurant full. Acting as tour guide, Miguel took us around his city, of which he was obviously very proud. There are loads of shopping malls in Santiago, and the city looks prosperous and clean.

January 19th was a rest day for us, however we did go to the Mall Parque Arauco to checkout some shopfittings and change our Argentine money to Chilean . They have some polymer money in Chile, as we have.

In the afternoon Miguel picked us up and took us to a sporting mall in Santiago, which sells and promotes all sorts of sporting equipment. It’s a try before you buy mall, and even had boats in a small lake that you can go onto to see how your future craft will sit in the water. There’s a wave pool, complete with instructor and many huge climbing walls and skate ramps, so you can try all the equipment from the shops. It’s a very sociable area, with all the kids having fun. We had pizza with Miguel before he took us for a drive through the hills of Santiago and some of the different types of neighbourhoods. One new area had been built up around an artificial lake, it was enormous and must have cost a lot to create. But it was beautiful too.

The nightlights coming into the city were brilliant and because Santiago is surrounded by many mountains, there are many good vantage points.

Miguel has been researching some places in Chile for our further travels and emailing them to us. He’s been a little Godsend for us.

We're texting Lynn and Lou daily on the phone and will probably catch up in La Serena.