Here We Are In Sunny Chile!!

Fri. Jan. 2, 2009

Arrived in Santiago, Chile this morning at 8:40am, local time, after a very long ten hour direct flight from New York’s JFK International. First thing was to go thru customs and then to baggage claim where the drug dogs where checking everyone’s luggage as they went from bag to bag. Then as we where exiting the baggage claim, Sharon got nabbed by customs officials for smuggling and falsifying a customs document. Seems she was trying to enter the country with a bag of salted peanuts. Looks like she will be doing some hard time in a South American jail. JUST KIDDING!! The customs official was quite pleasant as he explained why even an innocuous thing like a small bag of peanuts could carry contaminants into the country effecting the agricultural industry here. Chile is a very agricultural country, so they take this very seriously. After the explanation the customs official wished us a nice day, and sent us on our way.

Arriving at my Aunt’s house we where greeted by the house keeper and informed that my Aunt was still in the shower, so I took the opportunity to remove the cocoon that I wrapped my motorcycle in for it’s eleven month hibernation period. After removing the plastic sheet and the cover under that, I stuck the key in and turned it. The Beemer sprang to life almost immediately, although with a few grunts and groans from the lack of oil cursing thru its veins. After a few quick starts and stops to get the oil moving, I let the engine run and the noises went away.

After replacing the rear tire, that I had removed to make it harder for thieves to steal the bike, Sharon and I took a ride to the BMW dealer to let them know I was back in town. They where very glad to see me again. Actually, I went there to discus the recalls on the bike that they had informed me about by mail.

Then, we took a ride around town ending up at Ruby Tuesdays for some refreshments. One thing I noticed is that after just a couple of hours out in the sun today, I am already visibly sunburned. Apparently the Ozone layer here in the Southern Hemisphere is quite thin, and consequently you do not have much protection from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. It’s highly recommended that you apply sun block to exposed skin to protect from skin cancer. We don’t have to worry too much about that in western New York.