Arrival

Tony met me early at the airport after an uneventful flight.  We got a hotel room and unpacked the bike.  The box was completely demolished, but everything seems to have survived the trip.  Myself included.

There is a curious fee one pays when entering Chile, the so-called reciprocity tax.  It seems that the US charges Chileans a visa fee, so they charge us one back.  Not as a visa fee, but as a one-time tax when you first enter the country.  You pay US$20, in cash mind you -- no cash is as bad as not having a passport -- and you get a receipt stapled into your passport which is good for the life of that passport.

(I should point out that in 2008, the reciprocity tax has gone up to $100. Alas, my passport with my reciprocity tax receipt has long since expired).

We stayed at the Hotel Nippon.  The proprietor is a half-Japanese, half-Chilean woman who, when she learned I am half-Japanese as well, was determined to speak Japanese with me.  Unfortunately, my Japanese even worse than my Spanish and I was unable to satisfy her.  When she learned just how bad my Spanish is (while planning on traveling here for four month), she was agast.

Better start working on that Spanish phrase book...