The pilot and I are chums now I'm a regular, so this morning I got a kiss and the co-pilot's seat for the flight from Porvenir to Punta Arenas.Let me explain.

I went to the post office in Porvenir yesterday, to be told that I can only pay the import duty in Punta Arenas. Now, the usual thing is that they give you the bank account number and you pay in locally then fax the receipt through, upon which the parcel is released. Not here. So having missed yesterday afternoon's flight I came over this morning, went to the post office, then to the customs office. And for once I managed to persuade them not to charge duty as the bike's being exported again. Back to the post office where they released the parcel to me; it's supposed to be delivered to me in Porvenir, but once I had my hands on it I decided that I was better off keeping it in my sight.

Now, of course, I can't go back until tomorrow night as both this afternoon's and tomorrow morning's flights are full. Never mind, I'm spending most of today with Horacio who's been very helpful.

Let me introduce you to Horacio. He has six fully-Tourateched R1150GSs in his garage, and is starting an adventure tour company called Moto Adventure Rider (http://www.motoadventurerider.com). We met by chance, and as a quid pro quo I've translated the English part of his website into better English (I believe) as he understands the need for it to be as good as possible. We met by accident at the internet caff when he asked me if "Adventures and Rentals" is correct English as he wants to add these words to his company sticker. He's coming across to Porvenir on his bike to help me do the biz to The Old Dear.

So, a day's work (or less) to sort the bike, then pray my shoulder's good enough. My neck's still stiff so I can't do rear observations to the right (it's literally a pain in the neck), but I'll Do My Best.