Fill 'er up...again

Ever run out of gas? We did on our latest excursion. In caravan with two of Daniel's brothers we headed out of Santa Cruz, our city of over one and a half million people to head to the state of Sucre to a small (1,000 inhabitants) town of Huarcarata, the hometown of Graciela. It was a grueling 10 hour drive through mostly dusty (it hasn't rained for a couple of months), rocky road through cliffs and ridges that I don't care to see again for a long time. For those who may know Bolivia's roads, you know what I'm talking about. We traveled the famous Incawasi 'highway', one of Bolivia's worst, yet beautiful , or should I say awesome?

With the rough terrain pounding a beating on our car, our gas line snapped and we lost all of our fuel, luckily near the end of the 10 hour drive. No AAA available here! The boy scouts that the Centellas guys are, Ruben hooked us up with a cable to his car to pull us the last 30 or so miles. But then Daniel remember edthat although his natural gas tank marked empty, maybe, just maybe there was enough natural gas in our bulkly tank to get a bit further along. We did get about 15 miles or so. So we hooked up again. The road was a roller coaster of hills; so we let Ruben pull us up a hill, then disconnect to allow us to coast down the incline, to reconnect us again. Thus, we entered the town of Huacareta connecting and disconnecting.

Of course our first task was to find the one and only mechanic in the town who rather bluntly told us that he was too busy and it was a holiday weekend for the town. So...... the boys scouts got under the car first thing the next morning and fixed it themselves. Don't ask me how.

Next we had to find fuel. With no gas stations in town we purchased fuel from a vender who sold it from barrels. Daniel put in 25 liters at a time until the tank was full again.

We spent 3 days in the small town, walking the streets, fishing in the river, visiting the market, watching a motor-cross the village had as part of its celebration and visiting Graciela's family. Her mom slaughtered and gutted pig on Saturday for our Sunday feast.

The trip was an eye-opener to Bolivia's rural setting where life is hard and yet people plug along the best that they can. I add a few shots, of the village, and Graciela's family if I can get these all in.

We left the town at 5:00 on Sunday afternoon , drove all night to arrive safe and sound at 6:am Monday morning, a holiday here - Santa Cruz Independence Day. Ah, my own bed again!