Day 41 (Aduana in Lima) "Praying for Miracles"
It is morning and we had better get out to the airport and get our motos. We have to assemble them today (and solve Luke's fuel filter problem) so we can get on the road tomorrow to meet up with the others on Saturday.....
At the airport we find that the motos have been "consignado" (meaning that there is something wrong) and it doesn't sound good. We have to go get the aduana (pix) (national customs) agent to see what the problem is.... Finally he comes, looks at all the papers (photocopies of my passport, titles, rental contracts, etc) and says: " We have a problem". Evidently we should never have taken the motos out of the jungle area (Pucallpa) without special permissions as it is a "duty-free" zone in Peru. We now will have to pay a fine of $1,800 and then will need a letter of guarantee of $6,000 until the
motos return to Pucallpa. I am just praying that they don't notice the stamps of the Bolivian Consul at the bottom of the rental agreement AND the lack of immigration stamps in our passports!
The aduana agent calls SUNAT (like our IRS) and an agent finally comes. In the meantime I have had a long friendly chat with the customs guy, hoping he will ease up a little. I just want to get these motos back to their owners. The SUNAT agent looks at ALL the paperwork twice ("Lord, blind him too please!"), then at the dusty, worn motos tied up in old mattresses, and says: "It's OK, they can go."
WOW!! Thankyou God!! We are non-chalant as we load the motos in an old '71 Dodge pickup driven by a most friendly black guy "Oscar", and we are off! All afternoon we put the pieces back together and fix Luke's fuel filter (remember Cochabamba?) with some laquer thinner and a high pressure air hose. We do have to find other lodging for the night as the mission house has a large group coming in this night.
We find a little hotel in the middle of the casino district, go out to eat at "Chilli's" and go to bed early. We have to climb over the 15,800 ft pass tomorrow......
NEXT DAY: day41limatohuanuco.htm
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