159. To Peru!!

Thursday 5/16/13

Brrrrrrito it’s cold! Woke up and wanted to jump in a fire. So I jumped in the warm shower instead.

The beginning of the protestors

We walked for what seemed a million times a million miles up hill in the 2-mile-high air to buy our bus tickets for Cusco. On the way we witnessed the enormous blockade by the teachers and other workers of Bolivia. The line lasted a good 2 miles and was proceeded by a cute little car. The protesters were crazy and shot fire crackers at their opponents. Literally, if you looked at them with a frown they would shoot fire at you!! Chad and I made sure to look the other way at the stores with knock-off Rolexes.

The line that never ends

We bought the tickets for a decent price after I haggled them down a bit.. We returned on the 2 hour trek back to the safety of our room. We stopped for pastries and fruit juice at a nice coffee shop before packing for Peru.

The vast Altiplano

We boarded the bus and took off. The comfort level of this modest bus was 100 times better than that metal can we took up to and back from Brazil! After 3 hours we came to the border of Peru and Bolivia. We had to go through customs…and of course, there were surprise costs.

Because we are officially residents of Bolivia, we were charged 100 Bolivianos to leave the country. Chad and I were not surprised and jokingly rolled our eyes at the situation. To make things interesting we joked with the customs officers as we took about 15 minutes to be processed.

It started like this:

Customs: Americans!!

Us: No…we are Bolivians. Look, we are officially residents. See my skin color? I’m a native!

Customs: (Laughter!!) Oh, your residents, eh? Then pay up! 100 Bolivianos!

Us: What? No, we’re not residents anymore!

Customs: (More laughter!)

Then we talked about Rurre with them and how they were ripping us off. They were surprisingly friendly, but took our money anyways.

With taxis like these, Peru is officially cool

I am going to try to sleep. Chad has not had any luck so let’s see how I fare.

**Keep adventurizing!...I know I will!**