Counting Down

A sastreria is a tailor or a seamstress and thanks to Google we brought two pairs of pants to repair rips at this place (above) as well as a shirt I bought in Florida which needed to be recut; in four hours and for $20 all was done. Meanwhile out in the street the mobile banana seller equipped with a loudspeaker went by…noise pollution:

Potholes? No problem. Eventually someone may fix it.  

Peruvians crowd sidewalks and don’t yield, so it’s a case of shove and live to push another day. 

It’s picturesque but this kind of selling is a sign of poverty too. 

Need socks? 

Time is running out so as we complete our paperwork chores for our next border crossing  I try to record the streets of Arequipa for posterity. This is what it’s like to walk the town. 

Find A Vet

Our last day in Peru can be no later than October 8th and Rusty must be wormed by a veterinarian five days before we cross the border to Chile. The two dates are starting to close in on each other and to add to our complications Layne’s leg wound is healing but still very slowly so we need to stay in Arequipa as long as we can to let the surgeon keep checking on it. It’s a balancing act and I’m starting to lose my mind. 

To make life even more miserable there is some kind of military pageant going on with loud explosions across the city and the explosions are wrecking Rusty, who is reduced to a trembling ball of fur hiding behind the driver’s seat in his safe place.

So far three vets have told us they don’t do health certificates for dogs and we are hoping our fourth query will give us an appointment on Thursday afternoon. He said over the phone he will do the paperwork but we shall see. Chile is very strict and without the proper papers Rusty will be denied entry. 

Then there  is the ongoing problem of Bolivia which could be an alternative route. We had a chat with Alfredo who is from Brazil and is touring South America in a Volkswagen hatchback compact car. He sleeps in it with two cats if you can believe that, and he works online with no plans to stop traveling. His car is the black one behind the nearest van though he does say he is thinking of getting something bigger to live in and I don’t blame him. 

He is from the southern state of Minas Gerais which means “General Mines” in English which is as odd a place name as I suppose you’ll find in Brazil.  However he did waste an hour with us yesterday morning going over possible routes through Brazil when we are driving north back to the US next year and that was hugely helpful as Brazil is vast and we needed some help getting started on planning a possible route. 

His plan right now is to go the Bolivia in the hope he can get in and can keep driving once they let him in. He did say he wasn’t sure he could get in as the country is getting more topsy turvy than ever especially since former President Evo Morales is trying to stage a comeback and get his name on the election rolls for Bolivias next election. Fighting is reported in La Paz -“The Peace” ironically which is also  the highest capital city in the world, which is another strike against it in my opinion as altitude is not my friend it turns out. Alfredo said he too has heard many highways are blocked and fuel is hard to find. Yet he persists though he can easily drop back into Brazil and go south in his home country if needs be. A 35 year old adventurer whom we hope to meet again. 

And with that off he went with his WhatsApp number in Layne’s iPhone.  We got on the phone looking for a vet. Still.

There is no way we would leave Rusty behind but I would never recommend someone get a pet to travel overland. It’s a pain but get this: we’ve had seven cats in the campground this week. 

Three American vehicles appeared in a convoy and we were pleased to see them. They however had no interest in talking to us so that was that. A traveler we last saw in Panama was along with them in a 1987 Toyota van.

Nick and Gus have been back to the States a couple of times as he funds his driving by dancing professionally between his travels. His girlfriend is a professional musician and she joins him when she can but we’ve never yet met her.

Nick’s exhaust broke on the Peruvian roads so he ended up in a shop for a day in town and says his new exhaust system custom built in Arequipa is better than the original. We agreed you can get anything done in Latin America if you need it badly enough. 

Nick and Gus are getting ready to drive to Bolivia as you read this. 

The car owners from Utah aren’t very forthcoming so we don’t know much about them except they have two cats that they insist on letting loose so everyone else has to guard their pets to keep the peace. 

With their arrival I’ve not been impressed by the food in the dish washing sink, toilet paper in the bowl which will lead to clogs and the spread of camp gear into public spaces. I was hoping for better but it’s just the way it is. There are so few of us on the road you’d like to see more collegiality. 

And another couple showed up towing a trailer. A brief good evening, no smiles no introductions so I can tell you nothing more about them! We have invited them to drinks this evening. 

Tuesday

A few pictures from around town. 

Bird watchers I think, last Sunday morning. 

Our Final Week

There was a couple from the Netherlands in the campsite and they found my general irritation with Peru quite amusing. They might mention a power outage when I got back to the campground and then in chorus growl: “But it’s Peru!” Or the food delivery might be down (a real crisis of course) and the chorus would rise up around us. Anytime anything went wrong it was and is a matter of blaming Peru. 

So look at the picture above and ask yourself why has he parked his car in the travel lane? Answer: because it’s Peru! And he gets bonus points because there was plenty of room to pull off the street completely. We’ve been here far too long in this dusty desert town. Look at our windshield: 

I’m not going to post a picture of the hole in Layne’s leg as it is a sight only a surgeon could enjoy but it is taking its sweet time to heal. The frustration level is high as we are running out of time in Peru and will have to save Lake Titicaca and Cusco for our return trip north next year. And there is no new sealant honey to be found around here. It would be quite soothing too for her skin. 

This week, which has to be our last full week in Arequipa will see us start the process of checking Rusty out of Peru, a process that involves getting a vet to de-worm him. Child requires him to take a Nexguard pill (which we give him every month anyway) administered and recorded by a vet between five days before and up to one month before he crosses into Chile. So that we can do this week. He also needs a health certificate and an export certificate which are easier to get closer to the border. When you drive with a pet you don’t get to cross borders spontaneously; not that he cares. 

I’ve also learned to manage 220 volt electricity outlets. I put the fan on the converter box as it was tending to overheat and shut down. It’s a ridiculous looking arrangement but the fan cools the box and we get 110 volt electricity to charge our batteries. Our Starlink internet connection on the roof of the van is a power hog:

Layne has started to refer to the campground as “doing time” so to relieve the tedium we try to get out and have lunch somewhere and on doctors orders we don’t walk but take Uber or a cab. I walk Rusty of course and take a stroll to do shopping or the laundry but we are mostly confined to the campground. I did manage to beat her twice at backgammon which felt like a victory as she is ultra competitive. 

The good is really quite good in Peru but funnily enough a German couple who arrived a couple of days ago in a small Volkswagen van mentioned how grumpy Peruvians are, even before I started my lament, so I know I’m not alone. I’ve heard Chileans are just as bad but I’ve got to give them the benefit of the doubt first. A modest pork chop lunch eaten without electricity on Sunday as the restaurant luckily cooked on gas. 

Layne also found a crepe restaurant and it reminded me of the place in Key Plaza in Key West with a burger in a blue cheese sauce in a crepe. It was pretty damned good actually. 

Such are our amusements as we wait for a week from Tuesday to roll around. We’ll have some van cleaning to do as well to get the dust off. I cleaned the solar panels of accumulated dust and output rose to eleven amps from eight previously.  I had to borrow a campground ladder and boil my brains in the sun but I guess it was worth it. Solar by day and 220 volts by night. They sell this tiny minivan in Latin America, and even though it’s a Chevy 300 ( or 400 for the bigger one) it’s made in China. 

I find them fascinating especially as small vans in the US are so unpopular they don’t sell them anymore. I thought about them when I was in Key West last week and noticed all the huge modern pickup trucks parked in the narrow streets. 

Drywall is I guess a word with no D  equivalent. You’ll see lots of electricians and plumbers and various artisans including healers and snake oil sales advertised on lamp posts around town. 

A fashionable yet abandoned Land Rover: 

A Chinese built truck sold by the “Inca Power” dealership cracked me up.  I am easily amused. 

Rusty doesn’t mind the chaotic garbage situation at all. He came back from one walk holding a bond he found and refused to put it down. He gnawed on it for shes, being a dog I suppose. 

One sunny day after another. What marks the start of Autumn in the northern hemisphere means it’s the beginning of Spring down here. Time to get moving toward Antarctica. And not Bolivia. From

the BBC:

3,600 miles to go to get to the bottom of the continent but I’ll bet we can easily double that distance going back and forth and sideways as we do. We’ve got lots of driving ahead.