We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to be able to travel with our bikes. Something we remind ourselves of, often.

It does however come with its caveats, like most things in life.

One of these caveats is a smothering bureaucracy-the rule of no one. A modern form of despotism which saps one of all civility.

We have encountered this on every trip so, on balance, we should know what to expect!

To comprehend the intricacies of bureaucracies, one must first “embrace” that for bureaucrats, procedure is paramount, while outcomes are of little consequence.

Every country has mastered the art of cultivating the perfect bureaucrat – one who avoids making any decisions and sidesteps all accountability.

It is not uncommon to encounter officials who speak volumes of nothingness with absolute conviction, regardless of the language barriers.

Such individuals have perfected the delicate balance of withholding the truth and resisting any form of change. After all, they have a vested interest in the perpetuation of chaos, which serves as their breeding ground.

Here is a glimpse into the challenges of navigating bureaucracy while traveling.

As a foreigner it is virtually impossible to purchase a bike in South America and cross borders with it- unless you are a citizen of that country.

We are forced to send our SA registered bikes

It starts with finding the best way to get our bikes to South America, Ideally Brazil.

This is a no go as Brazilian customs have been on a strike/go slow since last year.

 

Airfreighting the bikes to Buenos Aires has become extremely expensive – 6 times more expensive than when we sent them to India on a previous trip.

 

These were our bikes when we sent them to India, Strapped and pallet wrapped. And compact.

 

It would seem that Uruguay is the best option. So Montevideo it is.

With a sailing time of only 18 days!
We book our air tickets accordingly to arrive a day or 2 before the ships arrives in Montevideo.

So far so good although not for long as the bureaucracy is waiting to pounce, with glee.

The local co-loader insists that our bikes cannot be palletized and pallet wrapped as above. They require the bikes to have a wooden frame around them, even though pallet wrap is far more secure,

So we are forced to build something from a BMW GS 1300 pallet.

 

A big thanks to the team at the office

 

Every drop of fuel is drained from the tanks

 

Batteries are disconnected and isolated.

 

And a wooden frame that provides minimal protection is added to keep the peace. Adds unwanted volume though which the shipping agents must love.

 

Ready to be taken to the harbour in Port Elizabeth.

 

 

Or so we thought. The entire pallet needs to be ISPM 15 compliant. This requires it to be heat-treated or fumigated and then stamped with a compliance mark before shipping. Only a handful of folk do this in Port Elizabeth, Compounding  matters is that our pallet is a non standard size, shrinking the limited pool of options even further.

 

And it is only valid for 3 months.

 

Finally we get the bikes to the harbour packing depot .

Only to have to open the pallet again so that local customs (SARS) can approve for temporary export.

 

Repacked, again, after SARS inspection.

 

Things are looking good. Bikes customs cleared and a shipping date confirmed.

Or so we thought.

A temporary export of a vehicle out of SA is valid for 6 months where after it needs to be repatriated back to SA.

Any period longer than this requires a Carne de passage , issued by the AA.  Each Carne costs a few thousand  Rand (ZAR) for the actual document as well as a cash deposit to the value of each bike ( minimum AA threshold for a deposit is R 40 000  per bike).

The real kicker is that the Carne is not recognized in any Latin American country, making it a useless document. It is only required by SARS in SA for re-importation after a 6 month period.

Go figure.

 

Only useful in mainly commonwealth countries, certainly not in South America

 

We have come this far and cannot go back. Surely there cannot be any further bureaucracy.

Turns out there is.

The bikes need to be cleared by the South African police ( SAPS) as proof they are not stolen. It takes 2 days.

That’s it for South African bureaucracy.

Now the other sides?

Any foreign vehicle entering South America requires all documents ( Vehicle registration , proof of ownership. owners ID etc.) to be apostilled.

An apostille is an official certificate that authenticates a document for international use, confirming the signature, seal, and authority of the official who signed or issued it. It simplifies the process of legalizing public documents for countries that are members of the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention.

And it turns out the only organ of our glorious state that does this is the Dirco : the Department of International Relations & Cooperation.

A bit of a misnomer as they simply do not answer phones or reply to emails.

You can however  call in at their office in Pretoria, a mere 1300 km away.

Appointments can be booked daily, excluding Wednesdays, starting at 08:30.  A maximum of five (5) walk-in clients can be accommodated daily, and NO walk-in clients will be allowed access to the premises after 11:00.

Ho hum.

 

Te Pragtig. All neatly bound with a seal. Where there is a will…

 

All done and we must be through the thick of it.

Not yet.

Our bikes we are told by our shipping agent have a sailing time of 21 days.

We book our air tickets accordingly to arrive a day or 2 before the ships arrives in Montevideo.

We track the progress of our ship  daily:

Tracking our ship amongst the maritime mess

 

But hold on- why is our ship heading for Europe?

Frantic calls to the shipping agent  reveals they only showed us the sailing schedule to Antwerp, not the full sailing manifest. A human error. Apologies for this.

Our bikes will be offloaded in Antwerp to wait for a ship to Montevideo.

All the way up only to go all the way down again. So much for green credentials.

And effectively adding weeks to the original ETA in Montevideo.

But it gets better. We arrive in Montevideo to find that the ship carrying our bikes from Antwerp decides not to call at Montevideo and drops our bikes of in Rio De Janeiro.

Another delay.

One last hurdle though. Even though we do not have our bikes we still have to get Mercosur insurance ( mandatory 3rd party insurance for vehicles travelling in South America).

The whole process is in Spanish.

But we have the time to do this!

One more for now – Chile has an additional insurance requirement over and above the Mercosur. And their online system to do this is offline. And has been for awhile,

The patience of Job I have not. But things do improve. Our bikes finally arrive in Montevideo weeks late.

All is forgiven.

 

Barbara, our clearing agent in Montevideo and friend Fernando come to give us moral support.

 

Contemplation on unpacking and reassembly of the bikes, notwithstanding my flattering side. This is what weeks of bureaucracy makes you look like, without realizing,

 

That stupid wooden frame again…..

 

Final assembly

 

Re-fueling. We were given permission to bring fuel in to the port with our Fuel cell

 

Jump starting the bikes was easier than push starting in that heat.

 

And a BIG thank you to the depot supervisor who went out f her way to assist!

 

Escorted out of the harbour by the police.

 

And on the road, finally!

 

Most people enjoy a lurid tale.

Regurgitated from another time that we conveniently chose to forget

Same dog, different smell.

 

Suckers for Punishment!