All Over Town

By the time you read this we should be leaving Arequipa to arrive Friday night in Tacna with a border crossing on the weekend sometime. However Chile is preparing for our arrival. 

We are hoping the landslide created by an earthquake will be cleared before we get there early next week. If not we are stuck once again as there is only one through road across the desert of northern Chile. 

Until then some last pictures of Arequipa as we pack up and go. 

Chinese electric car doing some publicity: 

Peru has a wine industry: 

Ever had Peruvian freeze dried potatoes? Me neither. 

A birthday celebration for Florian’s 33rd involved a seafood lunch at a restaurant called Manta, like the ray. 

Surf and turf noodles: 

A mild teriyaki type sauce over potato and tuna: 

That appetizer also got a flame treatment table side: 

Below this is a Peruvian classic called causa. It’s a pile of potato and seafood with avocado and peppers with in this case, crispy fried onions on top. This one was surrounded by fried fish bites. 

A clever menu with pages of descriptions linked to photos: 

Good bye Arequipa after six long weeks: 

An unusual way to serve a salad but it worked: 

The sidewalk below ran out suddenly and ended in a wall. One of those special Arequipa grotesque moments. 

So you descend to street level and walk along the busy road. 

Then back up yo the sidewalk past the wall. 

I’m sorry but it’s an idiotic way to build a sidewalk. 

Water rushing to greet you on the sidewalk Arequipa style. They know how to waste water in this desert. 

Safety first: 

The government agricultural office is lost in a suburb near the airport. 

They checked Rusty’s papers for me and we should be good to go to Chile. Fingers crossed as this is a strict border. 

The vet had done is best to follow their instructions. 

I have no idea what was going on here: 

I sometimes wonder if I have a clue what’s going on along the way. 

Arequipa Streets

Today is our last full day in Arequipa. Friday morning Layne sees the surgeon and then we drive for Tacna with a rough idea to cross the border into Chile this weekend. 

I’ve run out of things to say about our six week stay in this campground but Layne’s leg wound seems to be improving and we have an appointment Tuesday with a doctor in the Chilean city of Iquique.

We have bought medicines are getting GANNET2 ready for the road.  I am excited to get driving. 

The clean dumpster outside our campground. 

And twenty four hours later. We humans do generate trash. 

These tiny Daihatsu cabs are everywhere bulging with Peruvians when they aren’t broken down. 

The cardiologist writing up notes about Layne and her heart after the operation. They are very thorough. 

Check out the random u turn with oncoming traffic. This is how taxis turn to drop us off at the campground. Fun driving.  

Europeans do laundry by hand. We decadent Americans find laundromats. These guys were Swiss  and stayed two days and preferred to keep to themselves so I have no stories. 

By the way if ever you are in Peru and need to cross a busy street snuggle up to a parent with a baby carriage. Traffic even here stops for babies. 

No idea what this is:

“Fujimori No More.” Peru had three days of national mourning while I was in Florida to mark the death of the dictator who fled to exile in Japan when he was charged with corruption. Not a man I’d want to honor. 

Overlanders

If you buy a motorcycle in Latin American using your ride to deliver food is one way to help pay for it. The delivery system is well established and we’ve been in Arequipa long enough we’ve learned to enjoy getting Indian lamb curry delivered on two wheels. 

And don’t be surprised to see women riding either. 

Along with Chinese cars and phones you will see other products outlawed by the US sold on store shelves. I can’t say Havana Club rum tastes particularly good ($18) and we stuck with Flor de Caña from Nicaragua which we find smoother. But around here you can at least make your own mind up. 

If you like Kellogg products you’ll find them in supermarkets all the way down (not Post) but I also spotted chocolate flavored nonsense produced locally that the llama ( pronounced “yah-mah”) promises has reduced sugar content with cinnamon and stevia. Very modern. If you think it’s all tortillas and rice and beans like the 1950s you’d be amazed. 

So I’ve heard a desire for more traveler stories so here’s a round up. And don’t be surprised that they all speak German. Above is Paul and Andrea in a four wheel drive Sprinter conversion. They are going south so don’t be surprised to see them again. Paul admits to getting stressed on the road and he hates dirt roads especially as his big rig sways a lot on uneven surfaces. Andrea wants to go to Bolivia to see pink flamingos and salt flats but Paul really didn’t want to go, as he knows Bolivia will be a hassle. I hope we’ll see them in Patagonia and find out how it was.

Jurg and Anya are below. Always smiling Jurg is on his second tour of South America in a Ford pick up truck. They are going to tour Peru but  with a shipping date in December back to Germany they are running out of time. His best friend owns a company that builds Unimog four wheel drive expedition trucks and he has begged Jurg to come back for a few more years to help. Jurg really likes the work so he’s off home again. That’s another couple we would love to see if or when we take GANNET2 to Europe (after Rusty). 

Herman the manager going to open the big gate for Jurg and Anya to leave. You can imagine Layne has everyone’s WhatsApp and is communicating with them. 

A rental camper truck from Chile turned up in the night apparently occupied by…Germans of course. You can rent and tour for a few weeks or months and save yourself the hassle of getting here. 

There you go, check their website if you are so inclined: 

Cora and Florian last seen in northern Peru at the beach. First seen at Sommerwind campground in northern Ecuador. Florian is a cog train engineer and helped Sean repair the diesel fuel pump in his Volkswagen Eurovan. Cora is an operating theater nurse and is taking a keen interest in Layne and her leg wound. She inspects it and doesn’t throw up…

Sean and Nina on their way to Alaska in a Volkswagen camper van with lots of mechanical issues. His gearbox is popping out of gear and his glow plugs are worn out, problems he hopes to solve in Lima. 

Nina had her 35th birthday and we drank Pisco and ate cake at the potluck with the American family hunkered grumpily in their Sprinter van. Sean is a social worker and Nina is a physical therapist and they have no deadline to reach Alaska with their adopted Chilean kitten rescued from a log pile on a farm. You can see Layne getting their WhatsApp.

Their drone followed them out much to my amazement. 

The Americans have left too, apparently going south unfortunately. I feel sorry for their kids who sit around silently, hooded, with none of the joy of childhood I have come to expect from travelers’ offspring. After their stupid fight with Sean over the ridiculous cat situation they actually did as he had asked politely in the first place and everyone exercised their animals on a separate schedule. They missed out on meeting some really nice people. 

I somehow got on a history-mail list and I have come to enjoy the daily odd facts. I’ve reproduced here a column about some illustrious van lifers from the past just to prove there’s nothing new under the sun: 

I wonder how long the powers will allow us to wander at will on public lands in the US camping in glorious wilderness. We get to see so many wonders at home that the places Europeans crave to visit in South America are a reminder of how few natural wonders there are in their overpopulated corner of the planet. I’ve seen pink flamingoes and alligators in south Florida, salt flats in Utah and canyons and mountains all over the western US. Europeans aren’t so lucky. 

Above you see an innovation we embraced years ago sailing through Central America- solid dish soap. It doesn’t spill and it works. Highly recommended next time you are in Mexico eating tacos pick up some tubs of dish detergent. You’ll thank me. 

In the era of instant communication above you see someone totally left behind. And below internet banking has yet to arrive for most working people. I snuck a picture at Banco de la Nacion of people lining up in crowds to speak to a teller. I was in line thirty minutes to deposit 25 bucks into the government account for Rusty, the little darling, to leave the country.  

And if the road through Big Sur in California remains closed due to landslides don’t forget there’s three hundred miles of empty coast road here in Peru for you to enjoy. 

Come on down and mix it up with a bunch of Germans. It’s what we do.