Day 49 Monday 12th November 2018: No Presidential Send Off

Mike writes:

Our last evening in Peru was spent in a very acceptable restaurant in Puno called Mosja , where some of us (OK, so just John and I) were emboldened to try the national speciality – the potato! As Peru boasts over 3,000 varieties of potato, our hopes were high. Sadly the small black undercooked  stones which arrived were a little disappointing. Still, the accompanying guinea pig was very nice.

Following our presidential send off from neighbouring Ecuador last week and our meeting with La Presidente enorme on her floating island yesterday, we had high hopes of another high profile farewell.   She failed to show and even the local weight watchers dance troupe was being herded out of town.

Despite the Peruvians failure to put on an appropriate leaving ceremony, we have concluded we liked much about Peru. Sure Lima outside of Miraflores and San Isidro was a bit of a toilet (photos deleted) and there are plenty of bleak desert areas.

And Peruvian architectural flair seems to have evaporated shortly after the conquistadors arrived. Endless mud or redbrick shacks, often windowless or with reinforcing rods sticking out the top (as a tax mitigation measure) dot the countryside. They are only enlivened by spray painted political adverts for the recently concluded mayoral and gubernatorial elections which cover every blank wall in the country. If they start now they may be able to overpaint them by the time the next election is held. We rather liked the British Gas advert party and were also encouraged to find Eusebio standing for election despite being dead for 4 years.

On the plus side much of the driving was through spectacular scenery and we particularly enjoyed the Nazca lines, the Colca Canyon and the Uros Islands of Lake Titicaca.

Today’s challenge was our first land border crossing. I had done extensive research about this border crossing before leaving the UK and we had a selection of navigation apps to direct us. What could possibly go wrong? After following Waze’s directions we reached a man who helpfully relieved of some cash before telling us we’d missed the brand new integrated Migracion and Aduana complex which confusingly is at least a kilometre from the actual border. It is in fact entirely possible to cross the border in either direction without even seeing the building. It’s a great set up spoiled by the total absence of any signage either on the road, telling you where it is, or within the complex, indication passport control or customs.  We did several circuits before finding the right place. Chris attempted to explain to the customs man that our paperwork was definitely in order by threatening to clamber through the window. Meanwhile John and Doug were kettled in the “control sanitaria”. Eventually Chris pointed out the vital missing piece of information (namely that he was not the fabled Juan Carlos whose name is on the paperwork) and we continued on our way.

We planned to stop at Tiwanaku where allegedly there is a pre Columbian archaeological site worth visiting. However we had no local currency, the attached one horse town had no bank and the ticket vendor wouldn’t accept a credit card so we passed on that delight. There was little else to detain us so we continued towards La Paz.

Drivers in La Paz are enthusiastic and the driving standards Neapolitan. We saw few private cars but countless minibuses, whose habit of stopping suddenly in any or all of the lanes to offload or uplift passengers or driving down the wrong side of a dual carriageway made life interesting.

At last we arrived at the optimistically named Hotel Espectacular. Optimistic? It is positively Panglossian. However tomorrow we escape to Oruro, a hard bitten mining town which Lonely Planet claims offers an atavistic charm.