Claus the owner of Kuporo Lodge cane down the hill promptly at seven to let us out. He’s spent most of his life in Peru but still English riding his bicycle every morning. He warned us to be careful as the government is going after the illegal mining and logging and tensions are high.
We got going and I have to admit there was some trepidation in my mind. Layne and I have driven some odd spots in our thirty years of marriage, Bosnia after the war as well as Albania in the Balkans. I’ve seen war up close when violence was in Central America and I was threatened by a youngster with a knife once in St Petersburg, Florida actually. I got a black eye that time so I guess I was lucky. This time I had Layne and Rusty to worry about. The countryside nevertheless started out beautiful. 
But there were roadworks of course. 
The area we had to pass through was about an hours drive and my plan was not to stop no matter what. Strip mining is how they make money but the government won’t recognize their right to mine. Thats why they were striking across Peru a few weeks ago shutting roads down. 
And now here we were driving through their front yard. iOverlander:
It was obviously a very poor part of the world, few cars and lots of motorcycles and tricycles and trash and people stacking around.
The countryside had changed completely by now as we descended to less than a thousand feet. We turned a corner avid could see treetops to the horizon, the flatlands were there. Temperatures rose from a perfect 73 degrees at Claus’s lodge to 95 degrees in the flatlands. 
There were signs along the road advising businesses that buy cacao seeds and then those that sell rice by the sack. It’s all agriculture in this part of Peru where 5% of the population lives in more than half of the land in the Amazon jungle.
The countryside reminds me a bit of Florida, road on a levee, lots of water and miles of big leafed trees and thick grass.
I have to most of this area is trash free but in the area of the illegal mines it was a different story:
Open face mines visible from the highway. I can’t imagine what’s going on out of sight.
Gasoline sold by the jug surprised me as there are a great many gas stations, too many in our opinion. Layne the lawyer thought the gas stations looked like money laundering operations. And here they are selling gas at the side of the road.
A Peruvian postal clerk moonlighting by selling ice sorbet sticks of some mysterious fruit we’d never heard of. She and her husband work in Cusco but will be retiring to her village where she was born, San Lorenzo on the highway north of Puerto Maldonado. We enjoyed her ices, she enjoyed a tour of our home and we got back on her way.
Florida or Peru?
We arrived safely and without incident at the regional capital, Puerto Maldonado. The idea was to find a campground and we had a look at one which had no room to park which I thought was weird.
The town didn’t hold much appeal so I said let’s go for the border which was three hours away. We got lost in town when Google sent us astray and got jammed in a dead end. A live cop helped us out and we took north out of town toward Iñapari at the border. 
The yellow jackets are motorcycle taxis; you hire one for the ride of your life.
The more motorcycles the poorer the community is in my observation.
Over the Billinshurst Bridge and north to Brazil 150 miles away. It’s the second longest bridge in Peru at about 750 yards and it was named for a Peruvian President (Billinghurst? Who knew?) and it was completed in 2011 at a cost of 26 million dollars.
The highway to the border at Iñapari was in great condition and there was hardly any traffic so we should have made excellent time. But every time we got to 60 mph we seemed to come across a speed bump. There were dozens of them, well marked with these damned white stripes.
But we got to the campground an hour before dark around five o’clock on Wednesday. I was exhausted and we all were. Rusty had a huge dinner and passed out. We had a cooks night off. 
Dinner with a view over the lake hence came the paco fish:
Our spot for the night. Free with dinner. A little warm but very quiet and peaceful. Good night.
