Well I’m into my second week of Spanish classes and as much as I wish it was getting easier, it isn’t! Lots of study required and those that know me well know that study aint my strongest suit. Hopefully a private one on one session that I’ve booked for tomorrow will get me up to play with the rest of my classmates.The 8.30 starts have not helped us with socialising in BA either. Its completely normal to eat at midnight or later or to not even go out until 2 or 3am. We’ve been slowly building up to staying out this late but have yet to master the art of the siesta.

Last Wednesday was a big day for us, we got the bikes out of the port and back to Dakar Motos. There’s a load of paperwork to do and money to pay, luckily we had the help of super Sandra from Dakar Motos doing it for us and any problems that cropped up (for future reference, 2 bikes on 1 bill of lading is not recommended!) were swiftly dealt with. How you’d run the gauntlet of customs officials/import papers and warehouse workers by yourself I do not know.

I managed to flatten my battery trying to start the bike which caused a minor sense of humor failure but I’m slowly learning to chill out again after 8 years pent up in London! Javier charged it up for me and on Saturday it started up for the first time on Argentinian soil, woo hoo!!! Now we have the bikes we can’t wait to get on the road, alas the Spanish is keeping us here for a few weeks more but what a great place to hang out.

The Argentines we’ve met so far have been a great bunch, from the crew at Dakar Motos to shop keepers to commuters jammed into an early morning subte (BA equivalent of the tube, though a Jubilee Line tube in rush hour is a picnic by comparison) everyone appears friendly and happy to help out and have a laugh with you (or in my case, at you, when trying to use my disjointed Spanish).

There have been plenty of other overlanders coming through here too. They all seem to make it out to DM to check in and either stay for a few days, as we did, or get their bikes seen to by Javier. So far we’ve met Germans, Cypriates, Austrailians and Luna, an Austrian on an Enfield who’s ridden from the States over the last 18 months or so. Having spent a fair while on Enfields in India my hat is well and truly off to her. All have a tale to tell and an experience to share which is going to be invaluable to us on our way north.

So for now its more Spanish lessons and hoping to get a handle on the art of staying out late, like really late…

Take it easy,
Pete

Photos are of me at the warehouse picking up the bikes and then at Dakar Motos getting it back together again – I really need to take some more pics of this place!