Why are these people so nice?

I was really organised as i knew i had to make a smart getaway to meet Ferries, after a decent gravel road run, to get to Punta Arenas. Putting me back on the mainland but the Chilean side of the continent
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I went to pack the bike and there was a puddle of oil just behind the front wheel. A quick look showed it was the front Damper weeping oil. I made a few compressions on the front forks and it flowed as freely as lemon cello in Imola.

This was depressing, a heavy 6-9 hour riding day ahead and then this!

If it was paved roads i would have risked it but I had to cover a 150 kms + on gravel roads & they are not kind to the bike. There is virtually no traffic either so if it went wrong I could be in trouble.

I sent an email to the Guru of all things mechanical - Steve Richards to see what he thought, Texts are not an exact science where time is concerned.
I noticed I had lost some bolts from the windscreen. not critical but symptomatic of the vibration going thru the bike.Some say i have had a screw loose for some time.
 Rio Grande doesn't have anything to offer in the way of a Moto Mechanic so if i didnt make my way to Punta Arenas I was stuffed for some days. The staff at the hotel were nothing short of brilliant. They saw the mess and got on to the phone. Cecilia phoned everyone she knew to see what could be done. She found a guy Dardo who promptly arrived at the hotel to see what the problem was.
He said he was prepared to take me & the bike in his Aldridge wagon! This is a minimum 6 hour & probably much more journey - each way!!! We agreed a price that was nothing other than very reasonable and he said he would be back in 2 hours (it was 10 am by now - when i had hoped to be thru the border!).

There was nothing to be done for 2 hours so i wandered up to town & got some cash & a baby grow. Cecilia the receptionist, on duty who had done so much for me, is 5 months pregnant so i popped in to an Argentinian version of Mothercare and got her an outfit for the baby. She was so pleased she did the woman's thing of waving an imaginary fan in front of her face! Sweet.

I then received a reply from Steve - he felt it would be ok but would ride like a "Bucking Broncho! I was committed to Dardo & didn't fancy the rough road with this problem anyway. Again it comes back to the point of being very exposed if things go wrong in the hinterland.

Dordo arrived and with an improvised ramp we got the bike on the back of his HiLux pickup (made in Argentina).

It was a perfect day for a ride, fresh but sunny & little wind. The Pick up was rather hot in comparison to being on the bike.
Dardo worked in the oil business and travelled to Punta Arenas 4-6 times a week. Again this is a minimum 6 hour journey! We managed to cobble together a conversation for a while but it wasn't easy.

We arrived at San Sebastian Argentinian border post. He was on first name terms with anyone in a uniform and miraculously we jumped the queue and were dealt with in 10 minutes. The stamps were going down on my documents quicker than was visible to the naked eye.
Then we drove on to the Chilean border (you will remember this from my earlier note).Well the queue was 50 yards long outside the building! This was about 2 hours waiting Minimum.

He asked for my passport & the bit of paper you get given by the previous boarder guards, and wandered off.
Whilst he was away, the bike had attracted the usual attention but for the wrong reasons this time. Tyler, an American riding an Uber cool Ural combination came back down the line to see what the problem was...... we had a chat and he was genuinely upset that i had got to Rio Grande and broken down without making Ushuaia. I was able to tell him that it went bang on the way back so he was relieved.
Funny that as a fellow biker he wanted me to have made my goal.
He must have gone back and talked to another rider Mary, a diminutive American lady with a bike loaded with twice as much as i am carrying!
She came and had a chat and looked in here little black book. She must be an engineer or architect - her book was immaculate with numbers and contacts - she gave me the details of a guy in Punta Arenas who had sorted out here front forks (no tittering at the back).
I love he camaraderie that you get with bikers - it is sincere and given freely.

Thereafter Dordo came back with some official papers "this way" - we marched past the 50 yard queue and the queue inside and went to the Customs - he had another amigo there! What would have taken over 2 hours took 10 minutes.
I dont think it was lost on the rest of the queue what had happened. It probably didnt help that i had a silly smirk on my face!
We drove off leaving the queue in our dust.

When we got to the Ferry we were not so lucky. The low tide had halted the crossings so there was quite a queue here too & even Dordo couldn't swing this one. No matter it was a lovely summers day.

My reputation with the wildlife is so great around here that this fly landed on the lense to get his picture taken by the "great" Delberto!

We got on the 4th ferry and sailed back to the mainland. I saw a dolphin within the first minute but none thereafter so no better pictures of these great creatures. I did manage to hold on to my hot dog this time.

Tyler (a Californian living in Oz) had managed to catch the same Ferry so we had a chat. He was riding a Bolivian plated Ural combination which he hoped to sell in Rio to fund his plane ticket to Australia. Everyone loved his bike, me included. Steve - this has your name all over it. I can just see you riding around S America on it!

After we got off the Ferry we were soon into Punta Arenas. I asked him where he was staying but he said he would go home to Rio Grande! it had taken 7 hours and he was going to turn around and go back! What a guy. That is roughly the same as me driving to Cornwall, home and then back again in a day!!!

When we got in to town & Punta Arenas is a nice, big town. It gives the impression of being a University town judging by the number of young people sitting in the sun chatting (in anoraks admittedly).
He knew my hotel and pulled up outside. I went in to confirm my room & find out where i could park the bike. Yes i had a reservation but no room - the hotel and the receptionist was from the 1950's. He wasn't very complimentary about the Internet for booking rooms!
His matching lilac shirt & purple tie were obviously a Christmas present from the 1970's.

He did get on the phone & after several calls he got me in to the Savoy. I had no option but i was a bit concerned at the sort of bill i was going to run up.I needn't have worried. they will not be holding any "cat swinging competitons in this my room - you can't actually open the door fully as it hits the wardrobe.

Dordo saw me safely down with the bike and made sure i had a room before we said goodbye. I really do appreciate the kindness shown to me this whole trip but today they went beyond the call of duty.
Thank you to him & Cecilia (I wonder if she will call the baby Delberto).
This too is a 1950's hotel - charming but not "new". The waiters in the restaurant all wear white, high collar, jackets with black buttons and black trousers.
 
It comes as a bit of a shock to see your starter costs Pesos 3,000. In Argentina you get 6.5 pesos to the £.
in Chile it is 750. This is going to be one hell of a bill.

I dont think they took kindly to me opening up my laptop on their white linen table cloth, which is perfectly reasonable. They mellowed a bit when i ordered beer, red wine and food!

Then from out of the blue, the Harry Lime Theme came over the restaurant music system & i got the giggles. It will only make sense to those of you that remember the version where the guy was laughing over the music.....
I doubt iTunes has even got it!