Our visa was granted for 90 days and that seems like a long, long time ago.....( it will be 110 days ago tomorrow)....guess we overstayed our welcome in this country.
Our last village in Peru is called Yunguyo and it is quite the nice border town...in fact, the nicest one yet. Right at the south end of Lake Titicaca. We need to stay overnight, because we need to pay our penalty for overstaying - one dollar a day and it can only be payed at the bank in town and then we go with our receipt back to the border to show them we payed. Seems like this procedure was installed because the border personal had taken their own creative idea of the sum of the penalty in the past and put the extra money in their own pockets.
Today is Sunday and the banks are closed they will be open tomorrow, Monday, but I don't mind spending another day in Peru!
We rode two or three km to the border and then back to Yunguyo because of the above mentioned issue. Back in town we were greeted by one of those parades, festivals....don't know the back ground for this one, but it doesn't matter...these people seem to always find a reason to party and dress up (and drink) Usually it is a mix of old traditions and religions.
James and I were surrounded by masked, drunk, but very entertaining Peruvians. We got to wear their hats, shake their hands and laugh ourselves silly. They laughed about us as much as we laughed about them...bystanders included.
It is sad to leave this amazing country. We endured the hardest most difficult cycling I could possibly imagine......with the most diverted and stunning landscape I could imagine....spiced up with super friendly and welcoming people who share their culture and ideas of living - just being who they are. All through Peru I have seen women and men dressed in different traditional clothing. It sure differs from north to south Peru, but I could never get enough looking at the colors and all those amazing layers of fabric in all creative combinations. Head wear included! Bolivia - I heard- doesn't differ much from what I am used to in Peru, so I can wean myself slowly. I can see being "homesick" for Peru not too long from now....
