Leaving Peru....

My last days in Cuzco were made harder as there was a national holiday (Peruvian Independence (from Spain) Day) stretching over 4 days !. Very few shops or restaurants open and then the road to Puno was blockaded by villagers protesting about the price of gas (apparently...), so I was stuck for a couple of days in Cuzco.

Floating Islands in Lake Titicaca

Eventually I got back to Puno, but was not feeling too well (again), I was sure I had picked up parasites again. I decided to self medicate with the same prescription I had kept from Ecuador, but I could not read the doctor´s scrawly writing, neither could anyone else !! (Doctors, the same the world over !). Eventually I guessed the letters, but they were Ecuador drug "trade names", no use in Peru, so with help from the internet I worked out what to take again and bought the drugs from a chemist (Albendazole and Secnazole) and took them (hoping for the best).

I left Puno the next day and rode down the length of Lake Titicaca, heading for the Bolivian border, a very scenic and enjoyable ride. UNTIL the handling went all wobbly, why? a puncture on the back wheel. I got out my improvised "Puncture Repair Kit" and found the "screwdriver-tyre levers" where hopelessly inadequate !  I could not get close to getting the tyre off the rim. Oh Dear !  Fortunately, several helpful Peruvian campesinos had gathered around, I flagged down an "agricultural trike" (a 3 wheeled moto with a cargo back end) they helped load the bike onto it and I got a ride back to the last town, where there was a "moto mechanico" who got the back wheel off  (not without denting the exhaust pipe badly, I had to grit my teeth). It turned out that the orginal wheel fitter had poorly fitted the inner tube, there was a pinch in it and it had just given way (no damage to the tyre at all !). The original inner tube was of lousy quality, I´ve seen thicker balloons ! I asked him to replace it with a new, better one.

I made it to the border by 4pm. I was stamped out by Immigration, then to Customs. Straight away the customs guy said "No puede salir Peru con moto". My heart nearly stopped beating, WHAT ??? I stayed for another 3 hours, until it got dark, the guy would not budge !  As a foreigner I am not able to leave Peru on a Peruvian plated bike, I have to visit the customs office (Aduana) in Puno (150km back up the road !). I have to report to the office there at 9 o´clock on Monday morning, but it´s now a Saturday ! I´m looking all the time for a sign that I can pay some dosh and ride through, but none is given. To add insult to injury, 3 young Germans in a (German plated) Land Rover Discovery are waived through with "red carpet treatment". I could have bought a foreign plated bike with dodgy paperwork. I´d gone out of my way to get all the right paperwork (and genuine, original, log book) but instead, I´d fallen into a bureaucratic trap.

At the Aduana offices, back in Puno, on the Monday morning, I speak to a very helpful english speaking lady customs officer. It seems I CAN leave Peru but I will have to post a US$300 "non- returnable bond"   huh?. This bond is the same for all vehicles, whether a $60,000 camper or a $670 moto ! crazy !  I asked about "alternatives" as paying that much for a piece of paper I´d never need is not an option. She disappears for a while, comes back and says I CAN cross but can never bring the bike back to Peru and "winks" !!, then disappears for the final time.  I take this as a very strong hint that I can bribe my way over the border ! and decide to ride back and risk it !

In the afternoon I visit the YAVARI, a beautiful iron hulled ship that was built in the Clyde in the 1860´s, made of "mule sized" chunks (max 400lb each) she was carried over the Andes by mule train, it took 6 years !! The first proper ship on Lake Titicaca, her boiler was fired on dried Llama Dung ! no wood, no coal. She featured in Michael Palins "Around the World in 80 Days", but, sadly, the restoration is on hold 20 years later, they have run out of money, and so close to completion.

Lake Titicaca

So I ride the 150km back up the length of Lake Titicaca on the Tuesday morning. With massive trepidation I approach the border again. This time the Chief Customs Officer shepards me into his office, a good sign, he makes the "International Sign of DINERO", even better ! He turns up his nose at 50 soles, so I offer another 50 soles (this is quite a bit, about $38) and then he disappears. I am sweating at this point as the office walls are covered in "anti-corrupcion" posters and I feel the stakes are rather high, the police outside have already recognised me from before (I had to lie that I had the correct paperwork, just to get near the Aduanas). In fact, one of the vendadores says, "4 days !!! you have not crossed border !" he is quite incredulous. The Chief returns and places the "vehicle release note" in my hand !!  as fast as I can I pack up the bike and zoom past the queued traffic and into BOLIVIA !