Tuesday 18 June 2013

NEW RULES FOR THE TEMPORARY PERMIT IN BRAZIL

The brazilian Customs(Receita Federal) issued a new normative instruction saying that the  TEMPORARY PERMIT IS NOT NECESSARY ANYMORE, yes, it seems strange but that´s how it is from now on.

Foreigners bikers or drivers are not the focus of the brazilian customs, it´s necessary a massive structure to control the borders against foreigners drivers and as "most of times"  foreigners bikers or drivers don´t cause to much trouble, they decided to trust the you´ll definetly leave the country with your bike, car, truck, etc.


Another reason is that, selling a bike in Brazil is impossible once you can´t register it, of course you´re still able to sell to someone who will buy it to use in a farm or in a privae land, also you could leave your bike in Brazil for indeterminated period of time. But leaving the bike in Brazil still can be tricky, I say this because when you enter in brazil, they stamp your passport and give you a piece of paper with some details and there´s a space for the plate number, so I´m worried that when you leave the country they ask where´s the vehicle.


But in this case without the temporary permit the situation is much easier if you want to leave your bike for some reason in Brazil, you may  have hundreds of excuses, you can say you came into Brazil in someone else´s  car or in a bus once there´s no register of this vehicle, only the plate, it could be a bike, car, truck, bus, etc and now you´re leaving by without vechicle you came in. I even don´t think they will ask how you got in.

I still need to do some research about the possible consequences and I would be glad if you have questions so I can get the legal information straight from the customs and avoid problems to everyone. At the moment I´m storing some bikes at our hostel for people who will come back and others who left it for sale.


All the best


Monday 1 October 2012

IGUASSU TRAVELLERS HOSTEL

It's great gather the overlanders community. So we settled a hostel specially for overlanders, no matter you're coming on a bicycle, motorcycle or even in a big truck, everyone is welcome and you can expect a good place to enjoy your time at Iguassu Falls and get all the information needed to keep on the journey in South America.



The Iguassu travellers hostel provides:

- Rooms with single and doubles
-Air conditioning
- bathrooms with hot shower
- Free Wi-Fi
- Community kitchen
- BBQ area
- Camping area
- Safe parking for motorcycles, cars and trucks
- Storage of vehicles



                 
BBQ area




We also provide assistance for shipping your bike in and out of South America

The hostel is situated outside the central area, but it doesn't means that you won't find any shops around. The area is full of good restaurants, there's a laundry, supermarket, bakery and pizza shops two blocks from the hostel. 

Contact us in advance for availability!!!
iguassutravellershostel@gmail.com
Phone: 00 55 45 9956-1091
Skype: rodolfo.datsch


IGUASSU TRAVELLERS HOSTEL
Rua Nilópolis, 666
Jardim Lancaster
Foz do Iguaçu - Paraná
Brazil



Monday 20 August 2012

Sending a bike home

Everything that's good comes to an end, that wasn't different with Mr. Conor, an Irish fellow who lives in USA, and after spending 10 months on a trip trough North, Central and South America with his impecable Suzuki DL 650 V Strom, he decided to send it back home. He contact me trough Horizons Unlimited.com and then came to Iguassu. I got surprised with the quote of sending a bike by air from Brazil to Miami, total of 1.600 US$, a reasonable price if compared with the prices of shipping in Buenos Aires that are easily more than 2.000US$.

But there was an important issue,  the load should have the maximum of 210kg, that's because the bike goes in a passenger plane to Sao Paulo and from there it goes in a cargo plane to USA, but the bike, panniers and accessories were more than 250kg. The solution was simple, bring the weight down taking every single part easy enough to put it back when arriving in Miami.
I assumed the problem and took it personal when the air company told us that would be impossible to bring the weight to 210kg. After a long time taking parts off and putting in a different box and arguing with the air company, eventually we made it, the paperwork was the simple part as I arranged a reliable company that does it and Conor was free to go and pick up his bike in Miami. After we finished with the bike, I took him to the airport in Paraguay and the day after he contacted me from Miami.

Although the stress we had during the process, I believe Conor had a good time in Iguassu, barbecues, dinners, a fews boxes of beers, uncontable packs of cigarrets and loads of fun.






Definetly was an incredible experience and I was sure that the next bike would be much easier as many questions were answered during that process.


Monday 25 June 2012

Fellow of the week!!

Once upon a time a backpacker, who wasn't satisfied with the rubish and stinking buses of SA, then he came to a brave decision, get rid of buses and starting a motorcycle trip, but what's so brave on that??? Nothing, apart from he wanted to get a new Star 250, most known as "chinese bike".  Inspired by the "mototaxis" at the border of Brazil and Paraguay, he was insistent enough to convince me to help him to get it in Paraguay. As I promised him, I took it to the last consequences, we got it and now you can follow the adventures of Russel and his chinese fellow on his blog, https://makingituponamotorbike.wordpress.com/.
I'm sure it will be a proper drama that may result as a good book or even a documentary from BBC. All the best my friend!!!


Most common problems we're used to solve:


  • Mechanical problems
  • Getting Tyres and parts
  • Help on Selling bikes in Paraguay(as it's the only country you can do it legally) from bikers who are finishing their trip
  • Help on buying a bike in Paraguay for a backpacker who wants to make and upgrade
  • storage of the bike for as long as you need
  • Shipping bikes out of SA
  • Acommodation
  • Support on expired permits and visas
If you don't see the situation you are above, we would pleased to try to help you on that, in case you lucky enough, just come around for chat. 

Why supporting such a crazy trip??

Well, it all started as everyone starts a trip. A lot of planning, maps, checking costs and hoping that nothing wrong happens on the way, although I believe unexpected events are always what makes a trip interesting, of course no one likes to loose total control of your acts, but everyone would agree that a corrupt police officer or meeting great people are the highlights of a trip. My trip took me a few months and at the end I was desperate because just didn't want to finish it, so what do I do??? Well, as I can't be on the road all the time due the inconvinient social function that we'got such as working, family, etc, decided not to loose contact with the bike comunity.
For some time, Horizonts unlimited and adv riders were a good way to pay back what people did for me on my trip, but that wasn't enough, so had to surrender to starting a blog to continue my plans.
Taking advantage of the geographical location of my town, Foz do Iguaçu(Iguassu Falls), where we'got 3 countries within a circle of 10 km (Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay) and one of the biggest atractions of South of Brazil, the "Catataras do Iguaçu", me and some fellow bikers started giving support to every 2wheeled crazy fellow going around the globe and passing through our town.
But why the heck someone would do that??? I still don't know, the thing is that it has been so interesting to do, that we decided to expand our contacts and now we even turned our HQ used before for barbecues, into a hostel with all the facilities you would find in any hotel.
We've solved so many common problems, that sometimes become so hard when you're in a foreign country, from smugling tyres and parts from Paraguay, shipping bikes out of SA, expired bike permits, selling and buying bikes from people who are starting or finishing your own "long way round".


Everyone is welcome, from backpackers to crazy bikers(ok, no that crazy), if you need any help, information or just want to meet for a chat with cold beer give us a shall ok.