Day 15 – Bonding on BMWs

Inevitably day 15 arrived, representing the final riding day.  To me, this always feels much like getting down to the last scoop in the ice cream cone.  Hoping for a border dispute between Peru and Chile, thereby prolonging our stay, proved fruitless.  So we departed the “enchanted little hamlet” of Moquegua and headed south, fully anticipating a lengthy border crossing and customs delay.  A total elapsed time of 2 hours of paperwork and inspections was not nearly as bad as it could have been and we departed the land of soles and entered the land of the peso.

This day required 135 miles to get us back to Arica, Chile.  This meant that we easily arrived in time for lunch and we took Ben up on his offer of hot dogs and beer at his secret restaurant hideaway.  After refueling, we headed to the local Cambio and exchanged our Peruvian soles for enough Chilean pesos to get us through the next day and a half.

Ben hosted a wonderful farewell dinner later in the evening, forcing us all to dig deep for clean clothing prior to attending.  Once there, the alcohol flowed and the toasts began.  Now with loosened tongues, the humorous anecdotes, nicknames and “Jimmy Fallon-style thank you notes” were all shared.  The bond had been formed.  Those that had arrived as strangers, had now become riding buddies.  As for me… I’d ride with this group anywhere, anytime.