Deane's Motorcycle Trip In SOUTH AMERICA
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Deane's Motorcycle Trip In SOUTH AMERICA |
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April 17, 18 - Puno, Peru 195 miles, La Paz to Puno |
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Today was the day to cross over the border from Bolivia to Peru. This will also meet one of my goals for the trip. - To arrive at Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world, at about 11,000 ft. elevation!
I have long wanted to visit this lake, which is very large, about 180 miles long, and up to 50 miles wide. More about the lake later. We made a rocky start at La Paz, taking the wrong turn and having to back track, but it turned out fine. We are finding that there are very few signs in South America, either highway signs or signs showing where to turn to head for other cities. You have to guess a lot, and then adjust if you guessed wrong. However, the day was a beautiful one, with clear blue skies after yesterday's afternoon light rain. On our way to the border, the scenery got greener than it has been for days of riding, so this northern part of Bolivia and the southern part of Peru apparently get more rain than the parts we have been riding through. Incidentally, we have had marvelous weather since we started the trip. The border crossing was quite an interesting one. First we had to check our motorcycles out of Bolivia. That was fast, with a competent Bolivian border man. Then we had to check ourselves out of Bolivia, by passport. Again, it was easy, and when I chatted with the border passport man, he was affable and friendly. Then, we had to check ourselves into Peru by passport - no problem. Next was to check in our motorcycles with appropriate paper - some problems with the rental motorcycles of some of the riders, but not big problems. Then came the interesting one. After the Peru passport and motorcycle papers, we had to go to the "National Police" office for them to "check all paperwork". Well, what they wanted was bribe money to allow us into Peru. It took some doing by our tour leader to finally meet their demands and not let them hold up each one of us for a bribe. We'd all heard of crooked border people, and here they were - Peru "National Police". With that over, the next interesting thing was to cross a small straight of the lake by ferry. The two ferries we used were "rickety" as could be. Each one had planks of a large tree as the floor, but the cracks between the planks were so big you could throw a pig through them. (OK, a small pig.)
The ferry only had one end open to drive in and out, so one had to either turn the motorcycle around on this terrible floor or back it off. We did some of each. Arriving at our hotel, we had to buck heavy street traffic to ride right into and though the hotel office to get into a tiny courtyard in which to park the motorcycles for security. It's all part of the adventure!
To educate their children, they take them by rowboat each day to the island which has a school for their particular grade. We saw pre-kindergartners on one island we stopped at, and maybe second and third graders on another island. The pre-kindergartners were really cute, in their "school uniforms" - little girls in very colorful skirts and jackets, and boys in black pants and black and white jackets.
The 2nd and 3rd graders on another island were dressed in similar school uniforms. Then we took a ride on one of the traditional reed boats of Lake Titicaca, and had a nice slow cruise, rowed by two of the native men.
What a great day!! |
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