Goodbye to our Noble Steeds

Date: 03/06
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46531
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny / warm

Originally we had planned to arrange a visa for me.  Sigrid doesn’t need one because Germans don’t need a visa for Brazil, only US, Canadian and Australian Citizens.  First we realised that the consulate was closed on Sunday, and today, Monday, we realised that I didn’t bring my passport photos. I had left them on the bike… darn. So we decided that Sigrid would do a money run to Brazil and after some difficulties Sigrid returned from the Brazilian side with some US dollars. It took much longer and was not as profitable as we thought. After that we just sat back and waited for the airport pickup.

We arrived in Buenos Aires that night and went back to our hostel.

 

Date: 04/06
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46531
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny / warm

Most of the day we repacked everything as we were told that we shouldn’t send personal items or camping equipment with the bikes. We fitted everything onto the bikes to make the start tomorrow morning a bit easier for us.


After the work was done, we strolled to the refurbished dock area. On the way we passed the Casa Rosada (workplace of the Argentinian President), this time at night. Unfortunatelly my water tight photo camera refused to show anything on the monitor, so all pictures we took  tonight were taken with a bit of guesswork.

Over the water was a newly built area with high-rise buildings and a nice restaurant area.


We noticed that this area was particular clean, and we heard later that for whatever reason the army was in charge of this area. Anyway it reminded us of Berlin again, this place could be somewhere on the Spree.

Tomorrow is the day where we say goodbye to our bikes, well, until we pick them up again in the USA.

Date: 05/06
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 72
Cumulative kilometre: 46603
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny / cool

When I got up in the morning, I was a bit nervous. It was the first time that Sigrid would ride her bike again after breaking her leg – and it was also the first time that we shipped our bikes. So we went two up to Dakar Motos. Luckily we left a bit earlier as we got stuck in the morning traffic jam for about an hour. When we arrived, we repacked everything as planned . Then I found out that Sigrid’s bike wouldn’t start…  @#$%.

I should have tried it when we were there last time, as we could have charged the battery. Sandra was her usual calm and collected self and said ‘No problem the guys from the workshop next to us will give you a push start’. And so it went, the guys were pushing like crazy and I was sitting on the bike. After the third attempt the bike started. So we hopped on our bikes and I hoped that Sigrid’s bike wouldn’t stall before the battery was charged again. We arrived at the airport after an hour, spending a bit of time in traffic jams again, but luckily without stalling the bike. Sigrid didn’t have any problems with the frequent starting and stopping of the bike, her leg was holding up nicely.

From here on in it was a no brainer, Sandra’s description were so easy to follow. So first got our paper work to enter the cargo area, then we drove the bikes onto the scale. Sitting on the bike and seeing the weight of the bike with and without me indicated that I need a diet after we get home 😛


Next step was putting the bikes onto the two wooden pallets. After driving the bikes onto it, we disconnected the battery, removed the front screen and that’s it. The guys tied the bikes down in no time and after their lunch break they fixed the luggage and the other stuff.


Here they are, our noble steeds tied down.


Then they X-Rayed the bikes and wrapped them. And here is a short view how the whole story was wrapped up.

After the bikes were wrapped we took the bus back to the hostel, now we have to us public transport to travel in Buenos Aires, which is a strange new feeling….

Date: 06/06
City: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kilometres ridden: 0
Cumulative kilometre: 46603
Street: City roads
Weather: Sunny / warm

Today there was not much on our to-do list. We got the price for shipping the bike from the Cargo Company,

Then went to the bank to pay the money into their bank account

and received the shipping documents.

That’s it; we are now without bikes until we arrive in the USA. It is a strange feeling to finish our South American part of the trip. Well, we still have a couple of days in Buenos Aires before we leave for the US, so let’s discover Buenos Aires.

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