A JOURNEY IN BOLIVIA 1988

EXIT

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30

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SORTIE

accosted us arrived. After an hour, the price had  dropped to $ 30, but we kept bidding for $ 20.

Tuesday, August 16th

Today we were ready to score a big hit. With the four wheel drive costing $ 50 per day (!) I didn't know where we could end up.

First we witnessed the "day for the dog". We had already noticed that people were very friendly with their animals. This day the dog of the alogamiento got a decorated collar and he was warmly congratulated by all those present. A week later we still saw decorated dogs, but decorated with glue and crepe paper. In that case, a congratulation would be more appropriate when the paper comes off.

We arrived at the car rental company with great expectations. To our surprise, a front wheel had been taken off the car. One small thing: it was ready in an hour. We were fortunate that the boss was so considerate that he did not want to send us out with a defective car. Kik took care of the food and I went to pick up the car after an hour. Now two wheels were off. An hour later the drive shaft was disassembled. But the car would be ready by noon.

We went to Entel to call home. For Bs 22, one can call for three minutes without any problems. At two o'clock we made another attempt to collect the car. There was no progress whatsoever and the mechanic suspected that it would take until the next morning before the car would be ready for use. This way our days  went down the drain!

We decided to hail a taxi. The taxi driver was willing to drive us for Bs 40 for three hours, up to a maximum distance of about 15 km. We took a seat in an old American car, which had front-wheel drive. In the bends, the rear seat shifted automatically in the right direction. We went in the direction of Ravelo. After all, so many sulcos had been found there that we would undoubtedly be successful and it was time for that again.

Immediately after the airport, we found L. cinnabarina on a stony hill. About eight kilometers further on a hill of limestone, we found a small group of sulcos at an altitude of 3400 m. Despite further searching, it stayed with this one group. We drove on and stopped twice more. Both times we now had immediate success.

The driver was as enthusiastic as we were. He had never seen such plants and never met gringos who were looking for them.

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