Hell on the Road to Heaven

Short Version:
Soldiers are nicer than police officers, but we get to Playa Bueneventuras eventually

Long Version:
Leaving the air-conditioned luxury that is Wal-Mart La Paz for the incredible heat of the Wal-Mart La Paz parking lot was bad. Leaping into the oven-like Reaper was much, much worse. Luckily, some smarty-pants had bought a big bag of ice, and separated it out into four smaller bags, which went to live in hats, around necks, and down shirts. And pants. We'd assumed the extra attention paid to us by the soldiers at the military checkpoints was because we're now heading north, but in retrospect the soaking wet clothes, hair, and van seats might also have been contributing factors.

No problemo with the army though - unlike the Police in Ciudad de Constitucion, who pulled us over, told me I'd been breaking the 40km/hr speed limit (I hadn't, at that particular point, having just pulled away from a traffic light), and took my driver's licence off me. "A guarantee," the older oficer with the large moustache told me. "You collect in the morning." Hindsight says I should have agreed, and left the thing there*, but the amount he wanted as payment for my "small infraction" wasn't high enough to justify the hassle, and the chance of incurring further, more serious untrue-but-prove-it charges meant we handed him the money. We think it was a tourist-fleecing lesson from older, more experienced (bigger moustachioed) cop for younger, less corrupt cop. With big gun.

Onwards, out of Ciudad de Constitucion**, through Ciudad de Insurgentes, and north-east, past Restaurant Miriam (Hi Miriam!), and back to Loreto, where last week's policia encounter had been much more pleasant, less scary, and less costly than this week's, despite having been based on an actual infringement (driving on the wrong side of the road) carried out in plain view of the policeman (Hi Officer Luis!).

No police action for us this time around, although we did hear a siren just after pulling a U-turn across a dual-carriageway. Not for us though, which was nice. Stopped for beer and ice at Nick's Mini-Mart (Hi me!), then back on the road for the last 93km to Playa Buenaventuras, for another two days of beer in the sea, tequila, scrabble, kayaking, and reading books. Heaven.


* = Assuming, of course, that he was actually prepared to do the paperwork and make the false charge official. Suspect not, but not entirely displeased to have not put that to the test

** = Now renamed, intra-Reaper at least, to Ciudad de Cagar