Speed Bumps Ahead

We made our way from the coast through the mountains and into the Sacred Valley. We sold ice cream for a few days in Cuzco, Pisaq and next to the Incan ruins in Ollantaytambo where we caught the train to Machu Picchu. I never thought I would get to visit Machu Picchu let alone twice in as many years. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let my Machu Poochies into the historic ruins, something about the llamas being spooked by dogs, whatever, they've peed on plenty of ancient ruins already. This time around was different since I wasn't carrying all the emotional baggage of being evacuated and I was with the person I love, sharing this wonderful experience. Due to a strike in Cuzco there were actually not too many tourists at the site since the trains weren't running all morning. We found an Italian couple on a Spanish tour and they agreed to split the price with us. So I learned a lot of new things about the site this time around, like how all the artifacts were carted off to Yale and apparently there's a musuem there. Am I just incredibly ignorant for not knowing that?  I'll have to check it out when I'm back in the states.  It's impossible not to take a million pictures when you visit Machu Picchu, here are a few of the best:

 

            Fly like the condor

Some ruins where the dogs could ruin aroundThe Andean Cross: Condor, Puma, Serpent

Machu Picchu in minature

With Lebo back in the States tending to her organic garden I've finally had to step up and learn how to drive a stick shift for real. David is a great driver with no license and since leaving Bolivia we've had to pay a lot more bribes to Peruvian cops. It seemed like every time there was a stop we were giving 5 soles (see side bar on bribes) and then finally one night we got taken "down to the station" and were gonna have to pay a big fine, no bribes accepted. But we stuck around until the other five people who were pulled over and taken in for not having papers or a license left and another captian was there and we explained to him our situation and he was sympathetic saying that we were tourists and we shouldn't have breen brought in. He let us off and didn't even want any money, just a big bottle of Coke for the office. So for all highway driving where there are potential cop stops I'm behind the wheel, and yes, for those of you who are wondering I can see over it, just as long as I have a blanket behind my back so I can reach the pedals comfortably. I really hated changing gears at first which makes highway driving perfect for me. But when I have to pass through a town that's when the speed bumps would come, literally. Like fifty of them in a stretch of maybe ten kilometers. Speed bumps are my least favorite things because it involves way too many things to think about, breaking, clutching, changing gears, accelerating, clutching and changing gears again. Around speed bump twenty is when I really got the hang of it. After not getting it, not getting it all of a sudden I got it. I was like holy crap I can drive stick shift! I even drove through Lima (bypassing the city on the highway but still a ridiculous amount of cars, detours and traffic.) Lebo can attest it is a nightmare to drive through.

From Cuzco we headed back to Nazca, a sure thing for ice cream sales. We worked for several days and made enough to go on an aereal tour of the Nazca lines. For David it was his first time ever in a plane and it was quite the experience. A tiny six person prop plane, the smallest plane I've ever been on in my life. The pilot dips and turns to show the people on each side of the plane the lines. David and the two English tourists with us were all throwing up. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster and that I might be sick as well...but I wasn't. At least it was only a thirty minute flight and the lines were really impressive, I didn't think you would be able to see them as clearly as you could, I mean they are two thousand year old lines in the desert! In the photos it's a little harder because of the sun glare but they are there.

Smallest plane ever! 

Astronaut, Condor, Humming Bird, Monkey

Besides Nazca we couldn't really work in any other cities because it's "winter" in the Southern half of Peru so after a quick stop to try sandboarding in Huacachina we decided to cross quickly to the North. We stopped in Piura to check on the progress of my title card for the car. We had done the paperwork five months earlier but because in that same month a new Peruvian law went into effect that would change the license plates I had to sign a piece of paper in order for them to start processing my card. So I went to the office to sign and was told it would take ten business days until the card was ready. Two weeks to kill in Piura!

We decided to visit Lebo's old site in Canchaque and were warmly welcomed by her host family. The town happened to be celebrating the festival of San Juan and we got there just in time to see the big burning of the castillo and fireworks display. I've never seen such elaborate fireworks so close before...scary and impressive. They were crazy in Canchaque for our ice cream since they don't have any permanent ice cream vendors around there. We stayed for a few days but didn't want to overstay our welcome since we were camping on Maricella's patio. Plus the machine needed refrigerator gas which we could only get in Piura.

An ice cream cone for Lebo's "abuela"Fireworks!

So we headed back to Piura and tried to sell in some towns around there but it didn't go so well.  So we decided to head to Mancora...small, touristy beach town where it's always summer and ice cream sales are great. They were in the festival of San Pedro and San Pablo which meant more pyrotechnic explosions, fireworks and easy ice cream sales. We got the notary to agree to ship us the card up here on the bus but after a week in Mancora it's still not ready. But who cares? We've made good money, relaxed on the beach and gone swimming in the ocean. I even got to celebrate 4th of July with some PCVs from Peru and some guys we had met in Nazca, among other gringos and Peruvians. We drank Brahmas on the beach and set off a few bottle rockets in celebration, danced to salsa and shared the moment. Still, I would like to be in Ecuador by now as my parents are laying on the guilt trip pretty heavily and I know I have to get back to the states, even if it's just to visit. At least this time around I'm stuck at the beach and not a crappy border town with nothing to do, but why is it that Peru will never let me leave? Ecuador awaits.

Soledad and Fresa love the beach

Never Take a Bolivian Shortcut

After two days of busing through Paraguay and Argentina we made it back to the Bolivian border.  My visa was going to expire soon and so our next move was to go to Santa Cruz to get a new one.  When discussing these plans with Peter's family they all insisted that the road from Tarija to Santa Cruz was terrible and that if we went south through Yucuiba it would be a better road and much faster.  Since five Bolivians were telling me this was the way to go, I figured we should go for it.  I should have remembered from living there that a Bolivian shortcut is always longer and over worse terrain.

The road took us through my old site, where I was happy to see that the plaza and the women's center were both completed.  Although the fountain, where I had always dreamed of creating some kind of mosaic, remained empty and the school garden no longer exists.  It turns out that it had rained pretty heavily in the area and the road is quite muddy.  We're basically sliding all over the place and David is driving like a Nascar pro, I've never seen anything like it.  It's kind of like when you loose control while driving in the snow, except your on a narrow road in between land slide prone mountains.  There are hardly any cars on this road and we can't understand how the other road could be worse.  One of the few cars that does pass us warns that we're going to have to cross a river and that it's quite deep.  It turns out that the road has been blocked since December by a huge landslide.  Any day now they'll clear the road but in the meantime the only way to get by is across the river.  We're not sure what to do because David is pretty convinced that the car won't make it back from whence we came because it's up hill and there were more than a few rough spots.  So we press on, but before we can worry about whether we'll make it across the river or not we get stuck in the mud on the river bank. 

Soon enough a guy with a machete and a rifle comes along, which is a rather welcome site because we've had no luck getting ourselves out.  He tries to help us until it gets dark and we give up hope.  He tells us that in the morning we can look for a guy with a four wheel drive truck who lives across the river who can help us out.  We decide to sleep in the car.  The next day we wade across the river, taking off our pants to do so because the water's up to my crotch.  We amazingly find people who live across the river, which could technically be Argentina.  A lovely woman named Eva gives us tea and bread which is more than welcome since we didn't have any dinner.  The truck is not there however, it's gone off to Tarija and won't be back for a few days.  After wading across the river a couple more times we come across a truck driver trying to get to Bermejo but can't since our truck is blocking the path.  He comes across the river and pulls us out and promptly gets stuck himself.  He's hired a few guys to help him fix the road so he can get across and he tells us that it's much worse on the way to Yacuiba.  So now we know we have to go back but can't until the truck gets out because we'll never get out on our own.  While they're fixing the road David comes across the owner of a fish trap on the river and he offers us some of his fish.  We actually have a few seasonings to flavor it and cook them over a fire we build on the riverbank.  Not a bad lunch for being stuck in the middle of nowhere.  We don't get the car up the hill and onto the road until  after dark so we camp out next to the car for the night.

The next morning we make the executive decision to leave on our own the way we came.  We have to fix the road up ourselves in some places, without any tools, but David's sick driving skills (two wheels up in the air at one point) get us through the toughest spots.  We come to a spot with a ton of rocks in the middle of the road and we heave them out of the way but there's one too big even for the two of us to move.  The path is wide enough for the car to get through but because it's so muddy the back half goes in the other direction and whacks the side of the rock on the back passanger door and makes a huge dent.  Poor Esmeralda is taking a beating but we finally make it back to Bermejo and a paved road until we get to the infamously terrible road to Santa Cruz.  Yes the road is incredibly windy, hugs the mountainside and is dusty but it's an actual commercial road where lots of other cars are traveling and sure you can't see when there's a car kicking up dust in front of you and there are sheer drops off the winding cliffsides but at least we didn't get stuck without food for two days!

We make it to Santa Cruz and I go to the immigration office but can't get a new visa.  They tell me I have to leave and go to a Bolivian consulate in the US.  Well obviously I'm not going to do that and besides it's such a lie because when you fly into La Paz you can get a visa, so I decide that paying the 20 boliviano/day fine will actually be cheaper than getting another $100 visa which they won't give me anyway.  With that out of the way we head to Semaipata, a cute, touristy place with lots of hippies, mysterious ruins and great valley views.  We enjoy the french bakery and sell ice cream for a few days.  Then we head up to Beni, which I was very excited for because I'd never been to the Bolivian Amazon region.  We spent a few days in Trinidad, the capital of the region, mostly watching the motorcycles go round and round all day long.  On the road from Trinidad to Rurrenabaque we saw all sorts of cool wildlife including a kind of pink river dolphin endemic to Bolivia, florescent orange birds, caimans, and rather large snakes. 

In Rurrenabaque we decide to do a three day tour in Madidi National Park with a community run organization.  There are monkies, macaws, exotic birds, herds of wild pigs and lush forrest all around us.  We go on a night hike but while we hear a lot of creatures we only manage to see bats and alligator eyes in the laguna.  We go fishing for our dinner and between the three Bolivians and David, I´m the only one who catches a fish.  I can´t even throw my own line but whatever.  It was only a little bit bigger than one of the fish we brought along as bait and so we had the two of them fried up for dinner.  The eco-lodges we stayed in were beautiful and I loved waking up to the sounds of monkies and parrots.  I could have easily stayed a week but with time and money constrictions we headed back to Rurre where we made a killing selling ice cream over the weekend.  There was a strike going on in La Paz so gasoline was arriving only a few times a week.  We heard on Friday that it was going to arrive so we went to sell ice cream to those who were waiting in line.  When we finished around 5 we put ourselves in the gas line because we were going to need to fill up if we ever wanted to leave Rurre. With all the cars, trucks, motos and people with huge gallon drums and other containers it was madness.  All the tour agencies need gas for their boats and we saw our guide Simon waiting in line as well.  We were in line until exactly 3 in the morning when it was our turn to fill up. 

With the blockade over we took a dusty road to La Paz where we stayed for a couple of days, eating our last salteñas and David´s first sushi.  The car had been through so much that we needed to get the truck bed fixed, badly.  The wooden boards were completely coming apart and the door no longer opened properly.  David figured it would be cheaper to get it fixed in Bolivia and we found a guy in El Alto that would do it for a little over $250, nearly all our sales money from Rurre.  We took off Esmeralda´s rear end and headed for Copacabana since the repairs were going to take til the end of the week.  We got our sad looking truck blessed at the Cathedral in Copacabana.  We paid the church $1.50 for the blessing and the cholitas outside the church $8 for all the decorations to put on the car for the ch´alla.  Soon after the blessing the car wouldn´t start.  But we didn´t need to worry about that, it was in the garage and we were headed with the puppies to Isla del Sol.  We stayed one night and hiked the entire island, visiting the ruins and enjoying the amazing view of the Cordillera Real.  I have to say Lake Titicaca is much more impressive on the Bolivian side.  The water is clear and gorgeous, the Andes are astonishing in their dominance and beauty.  It´s pretty clear why the Incas believed that gods resided in those mountains and why the island held such a religious significance for them. 

Back on the mainland we starting the car with a push...what kind of blessing did we get anyway?  I mean the priest was wearing a baseball cap, how legit could he be...or was it because we didn´t pay the old cholita for her magic herbal blessing?  We may never know.  David poured lemon juice and Coca-Cola on the battery and that seemed to help for some reason.  We headed back to El Alto to see if Esmeralda´s rear end was ready.  Of course in the four days he had the maestro didn´t do much of anything except buy the scrap metal to replace to bed.  He still had a ton of welding to do and we only had three days before we were supposed to be out of the country.  After arguing with the guy for two days we got him to mostly finish everything, put the ice cream machine and fulgon back on and reduce the price by $30 since he didn´t finish.  One thing I´ve certainly learned on this trip is how to bitch someone out in Spanish, I suppose it´s a useful skill.  At the border I almost got stamped through but ended up paying the $60 fine for not having a valid visa...oops.  Totally broke we thought we would be able to head straight for Puno but once again crossing the Peru/Bolivia border in Desaguadero proved to be a hassle.  On top of it all there was a strike going on in Ilave which meant transport between Desaguadero and Puno was more difficult.  Finally the people from our agency arrived and Super Sara who saved our skin before once again helped us out lending me $20 to get to Puno so I could get cash from an ATM to pay the $120 to import the car back into Peru.  Of course, it makes perfect sense to have to import a Peruvian vehicle into Peru.  It took three days this time and with nothing to do in Desaguadero we stuffed ourselves with ceviche, our only consolation.  We made it to Puno where I finally got the puppies fixed (there´s no room for another puppy in our car.)  Ice cream sales over the weekend were good.  Favorite customers: the three Japanese tourists (one with a massive fro) who when they saw the cone did the classic Japanese oooo woooow yea yea yea.  I was even able to ask them if they wanted ice cream in Japanese!

So technically we are on our way back to Ecuador but we detoured to Tacna for cheap electronics and will be heading to Arequipa and then Cuzco once the brake pads are fixed...any minute now. 

Still here! Thats Niiiice.

Waiting for paperwork....

Remember when we spent two weeks at the border and owed our permison to cross to a lady we met randomly in a bar?

I think we spent a night in every possible hostel in Desaguadero. If lonely planet ever needs that much information on the desolate border town between Peru and Bolivia, we could write the chapter, we even know the best ceviche cart and when you can get herbal tea remedies that warmed our bodies and kept us sane.

In the end we paid around $150 to get the car plus machine as personal cargo temporarily exported out of Peru. It took us two weeks. We crossed in to Bolivia paid $1.50 for a stamp and waited 15 minutes for one single piece of paper admitting us into the country for over three months. We love Bolivia, but that’s a given.

Witches Market

Our road led us straight to La Paz where we delighted in markets galore, saltenas till we burst, and David´s first Indian food. We´d forgotten how bad the rice was and how good a cold Pilfrut could be. We left the city headed towards Oruro with dreams of used ropa tormenting our truck naps. We hit the jackpot in Cochabamaba though.

“Um when I closed my eyes last night all I could see was used ropa. I found some good stuff” Michelle after 6 hours of digging through the piles

Soledad and her first bath

We were lucky enough to connect with billxxxgreen in Coch. We played a nice round of caucho and laughed over the good old days and rumored naked crazies while sipping on some Huari. We also went back to good ol’ Cuatro Esquinas (represent represent) Seems like folks are doing pretty well for themselves there, everyone had made improvements on their house and they all remembered us as well. Dona Yoli as enthusiastic as ever opened her house up to us whenever we need a place to stay. Sales in Coch were slow so we headed to Sucre, by way of Totora, over our first cobbled road. Esmerelda took it well.

Yoli loved the ice cream!!!

Sucre, Sugar city ethereal in her stark beauty. We wined and dined with Roxanna, Matt and Jasmani, trekked to Tarabuco for Pujillay were we sold an astronomical amount of ice cream, so Biblioworks was able to get a little cut of the profits. Sucre loved having us there delighting in all her food delicacies and fresh air. We went out to Pitant too. Which was good for Lebo to close that circle, even though only a handful of familiar people remained, her apples trees look healthy and there are hens, lots of them laying lots of eggs. Lebo felt good about leaving this time, on her own terms.

Sucre Splendor

Textile Museum, Sucre

We saw this guy

most awkward reina ever

dancing shoes

Evoooooooooooo!

and then there was this guy....

And finally this guy, tearing out the heart of the Spanish Conquistador

David loving the free Chicha

Pujllay!!!!!!!!!!

Apples

Yo Amo Chuquisaca

Nowhere can hold Las Fresas for too long and our next destination was Potosi. After about two hours of one ways and teeny colonial streets we managed to find our hostal way late, park the car and get some Api into our bellies. The next day we found a nice mirador and looked out over the city before descending 2k into Cerro Rico, miners in the search for silver….

Highest city in the World!

96% pure alcohol, it was tasty

Oh and then we played with dynamite

Silver from Cerro Rico

Entrance to the mine

Tio, the God of the mine

David and Lebo hit their heads way too many times

Seguro y Sano???

We tired of the cold quickly and jumped into the truck headed for Butch and Sundance territory. In Tupiza we made a home for a few days exploring the red rock canyons and venturing into the barren wasteland of Southwestern altiplano Bolivia. Amidst the colored lakes, fauna, tree rocks, llama spitting volcanos, tons and tons of salt and swiss people we listened to Def Leppard at least 3 times a day. Score.

Tuuupiza!

Rough Riders...

This was his second cone

We love when Cholitas love our ice cream!

Altiplano

Someone fell in when we were there!

Just kidding, but can you imagine, bubbling to death in the Altiplano???

Laguna Verde. David is jumping into action to save the lake from drying up!

Michelle Grylls

Tree Rock, this is where the llamas landed after flying out of the volcano.

Llama make out sesh.

David got the Flamingos to fly!

Salt Hotel, preparing for greatness...

Finally, the Salar de Uyuni!

Did not look like such a big jump

Mira looks mad???

How the llamas looked flying out of the volcano

spot of tea anyone???

Expediciones Lazar is the best!

bad ass jumpsuits

meditation in bad ass jumpsuit

last lunch with the Swedes

are not the furs to die for....

rusty train filler stop

From Tupiza we drove to Tarija foraging tunas off roadside cactus as we went. We stopped in a Tarija winery and sampled many sweet, semi sweet and dry local wines, even though elections were that weekend and Ley Seca was in effect. Thinking Bermejo would be a stopover to get papers in order and locate desired jumpsuits we headed there on a whim hoping to get out of Bolivia before the elections. But like always our luck with the customs officers in Argentina failed us and once again we were stuck in a paper scandle promising to last a week at least. So we made the executive decision to leave Esmeralda with Peters´ old host family in Bermejo and bus to Asuncion. It was a sad day as we cleaned the machine and the truck for the last time as Las Fresas (Lebo was going to fly out of Asuncion)

Vino del Diablo

Paraguay though lacking in “sites” was nothing but good to us. It was great to see the Andy, Andrew and Natalie, to hear their stories and share ours. How lucky to have shared Bolivia but also to have shared parts about what we went on to do afterwards.

So then Lebo left, which was devestating to Michelle and David as neither one of them has a sense of direction and Lebo was their living, breathing map. The good-byes were too rushed, one of those awkward hugs when people have backpacks on and the micro is about to take off without you. But the feeling was one of gratitude and one of accomplishment. We vaguely remembered the day our plans to buy a car and drive home were made and though we didn’t go in that direction we certainly went somewhere and that place, those places were filled with all sorts of things we couldn’t have possibly imagined.

One 1995 Emerald Green Chevrolet pickup: $5,000
Ice cream cones sold : 10,000
Time spent driving around South America with your best friend: Priceless