Yesterday was my bike prep day. It was difficult to find a place to wash my bike on a Sunday but with enough asking around I eventually did. I took the clean Tiggrr back to the parking garage where I applied my last two flags (Brazil and Uruguay) to the pannier, making it 17 in total. Steve helped me syphon five gallons of gasoline out of my tank which he was able to put directly into his bike. I had to go through all of my gear and get rid of anything liquid (flammable or not) and dispose of a few remaining food items.
Feeling that the bike and my gear was ready, Steve and I went to a big sports bar to watch more Argentine soccer. It was a really big game and the bar was packed.
This morning, Steve and I had breakfast together before we said goodbye and he rode off headed for Santiago. I fired up Tiggrr for our last ride together in South America and we headed for the airport. It was a very wet, hour long ride through heavy Monday morning traffic to get to the cargo terminal. When I arrived I was met by Sandra and Javier who are my shipping agents from Dakarmotors Argentina. There were also three other riders from New Zealand, England and Canada who were also shipping their bikes today.
After some initial paperwork we rode to a secure warehouse where one at a time we loaded the bikes onto pallets. I had to disconnect Tiggrr's battery and lower the tire pressure before the bike was strapped to the pallet. All of the bikes had to be unloaded for the customs inspection. We stacked our belongings at the end of our respective pallets and the customs agents brought two different sniffer dogs to nose through our gear. Once they certified that we were not smuggling any elicit materials we reloaded the bikes. I secured my riding gear, boots and helmet on the bike and then it was wrapped in plastic wrap. It was at this point that I felt very sad as suddenly I knew that the adventure was over. Tiggrr had been my trusty companion for the last 5 months and was now going on its own journey without me. The other riders had similar feelings and we were all a little reluctant to leave the warehouse.
On my Uber ride back to my hostel I had to remind myself that I still had some riding to do once reaching the United States. That made me feel better.
The whole process took most of the day by the time I had final documents in my hands. I arrived back to my hostel after 6PM hungry and ready for a shower. I have been so impressed with what I have seen of Buenos Aires and I'm looking forward to doing some dedicated exploration of the city tomorrow.