Jan Weitner riding his XT from Terra del Fuego to Vancouver

Libertad Amigo

Well, we are finally on the move!! La moto is driving like a dream and the landscape is beautiful... but getting the motor through customs was quite a pain.. Let me just briefly explain how to temporarily import a motor into Argentina - just a warning for all of you that think of doing the same.......

The shipping agent in the Netherlands had said that customs would be no more than 100 US dollars. That was all they could tell me about the Buenos Aires side of things. As I had said before the moto was late because of a strike in the harbour of Rotterdam, but had finally arrived last Tuesday. I love waiting con un liquado frutilla con leche.

We had to go to the Agency in Buenos Aires, lets say the counter part of our shipping agent in the Netherlands. Quality Freight it was called... we should have known then that for quality you always have to pay.... and we did. All this company had to do is take the container from the boat and put it in a warehouse and from there to the "deposito fiscal", another warehouse. Remarkebly the handling costs in Buenos Aires were more than the whole shipping including handling costs on the Dutch side... but we should have known of course that the harbour people here get paid a lot more than they get paid in the netherlands! Although complaining about the costs does help a bit, you got to pay anyway in order to get the moto. Besides, you cant use another agent because the shipping agent in the Netherlands chooses the contact in Buenos Aires... So, after paying this party we in all our innocence thought that that would be it and that we would soon get the moto.

But nooooooooooooooooooo, after this we still had to deal with customs. This is were the real pain started. You can do two things: do it yourself or go to a "despachante de aduana". Doing it yourself is of course not recomended, and it really is difficult because you have to get a form here, and a stamp there and you have to pay certain guys to do some things that they say is very important, etc, etc, etc.... We wanted to have the moto soon, so we went to this despachante... here we really paid the Jackpot.... the first thing this guy says is that there is a lot of corruption among customs officers in Argentina and they all want to get paid. But they will take the utmost care with our money of course and try not to bribe to many people.

The main reason the customs is so very expensive (fees plus bribes costs around 1000 EUR) is that the "deposito fiscal" is run by a private party and not by the government. The customs "rent" an office there to check the goods. But anyway, we paid on the thursday and we would get the moto on the friday at the latest... Its funny how the problems always start after you have paid.. So, on the friday we were all ready with our helmets,etc and suddenly the container had not yet arrived at the "deposito fiscal".... Quality Freight has not done its job right... but when you call them, there is of course nothing they could do (you have already paid, so they dont give a shit). To help speed things up we were sent to the deposito fiscal to get the people to bring in the container pronto.

We arrived there at 11.00 am and the first thing we heard was that the moto would probably not get there before the afternoon and we would almost certainly not get the moto today.. Because Argentinian men dont like crying women Liselot cried her eyes out for every guy that could do anything to speed things up... and it worked.... after a lot of pleeding, crying, waiting and more waiting we got the moto at the end of the day. The guys at the deposito fiscal were really great because even though customs close at 1800 hours, they were still there helping us get the moto after hours..

Some guys opened the crate and the moto was in great condition!!! no damage and ready to go... but then I saw the keyhole and a thought crossed my mind ------ now were was the key??? OOPS, the key was left at Matias parents house, a small 60 kms from were the moto was....... Anyhow, taxis are always a help and we got the moto safely through customs!! We would like to thank all the customs people for spending our money so well and so fast... I hope you will enjoy it.

When we left the customs the guy at the exit smiled and said: Libertad Amigo!