CHAPTER FIVE
Full Steam Ahead
The border with Peru was their next stop! Morning came with a large breakfast and the rush to catch the transport to the border crossing known as Frontera. The strange part of the process was having to cross a large pit while the bus chassis was checked over for contraband. Everyone was unloaded and herded inside the Customs Office.
Passports in hand, they crossed in front of the desk of the immigration officer, with no more then a formality. Fresh ink from new two stamps, added to the others that littered the soon to be filled pages of both Passports. They got back on the bus and headed to a small town with an interprovincial bus terminal, which was very busy inside the waiting area.
Unbeknownst to the two of them, while traveling the next leg, was the fact that TJ’s father in Panama, had experienced a second robbery on his property. They came to the front gate and climbed the wrought iron with ease. They walked into the backyard where Joe was sleeping in his hammock. An abrupt slap to his face and Joe came slowly to his senses. They wanted money and items they could trade for cash. They seemed to know the general layout of the house and the routines Joe followed every day.
This time Joe fought back and received a severe blow to the back of his head for his trouble. He went limp, stopped fighting back and gave them his wallet full of dollar bills and his expensive jewelry, laptop, and cell phone. They in turn walked out and laughed at the frail old man, then closed the gate behind them.
His gold chain and watch were valued at a large sum in Canadian dollars. The replacement value was around $10,000. They seemed to know that it was the jewelry and not the other items that held a high value and pursued those items. Joe was left to clean the blood off the back of his head with a wash towel while wondering where the housekeeper and her daughter had spent the day. Normally one or the other was always around him.
He was extremely angry and spent weeks after making the police report, wondering if this was normal for the people in Panama. Something was not adding up when he thought about these random robberies. Teresa, the live-in housekeeper, meanwhile was keeping an ultra low profile around Joe, all the while avoiding too many questions on her where abouts on the day of the robbery.
Back in Canada TJ’s brother Peter was going about the business of trying to find a way to release the kid’s bank accounts in Germany, now that his children had come of age. The bank was demanding all rules of the courts be followed and documented, giving a monumental task to the paperwork.
The kids wanted to spend some of the money on new cars and trips and were putting off decisions on their careers, which showed a lack of their ambitions at the time. Thoughts of money and an easy life ahead were at the fore front and took away any focus or interest in achievements other young adults of similar age were having to make. Income wasted from simple jobs worked during the day and evenings spent drinking and partying with friends showed in their faces but was alarming to their parent’s dreams for them.
On the same day many thousands of miles away, the bus was headed toward the city of Tacna, Peru. A modest size city and generally like other areas they would drive through with one exception. There was an antique railroad museum being constructed and worth a visit. The railroad had even gone all the way to the mines in northern Chile in the 1930; s and 1940’s until more modern transportation was introduced during the 1950’s.
The museum was worth the time to visit, and many pictures were taken of the old cars and tools necessary for hauling ore and goods around the country economically. They made a day of it and returned exhausted to the cheap hostel. The museum showed a time when young men worked hard physical jobs to melt steel into parts needed for the trains and cars. Worn out metal wheels were heated, shaped, and returned to a reusable state. The giant furnace and hand tools used in an extremely hot climate would almost make the men drop to their knees from exhaustion. Work not realized or wanted by the soft hands of today’s youth up north.
Taking a taxi to the main bus station after breakfast, they found the ticket window and bought tickets for two seats. With their backpacks in tow, they took a large bus to the city of Arequipa. After arriving the two of them, found the area to be a remarkably interesting place to explore, and ended up staying around the area for nearly a week.
Towering churches spires stood amid the chaos of narrow streets and small shops selling handmade saddles made with well-tanned leather were to be found. There were people walking in all directions, such as happens during the hustle and bustle in most cities.
The traditional clothing and culture of Peru was everywhere, and included the beautiful, colorful, Aboriginal hand-crafted dresses and lama-wool jackets that were needed during the cold nights, especially in the higher elevations.
Street side venders selling a drink made of corn juice and sugar were popular. Others sold sugary treats known as little bags of Dulce to the tourists and locals, while other stalls sold small flower arrangements or hand-crafted items.
One could not travel through Peru without visiting Machu Picchu. Hiking around the ancient site was a truly breath-taking experience, but it was the trivial things that stood out in TJ’s and Athena’s minds. TJ and Athena decided that rather than waiting for the last train back to Cuzco, that they would take the small shuttle bus back. They were crammed into the back bench seat of the bus with two elderly people. The fresh, thin air in the high elevation had made them all very tired. TJ sat near the window and quickly dosed off, half leaning against Athena’s right shoulder. The little old lady, who Athena had guessed was in her mid-80’s, also quickly fell asleep and had her head against Athena’s left shoulder. Her face was deeply wrinkled with the passage of time and weather. She had walked down the mountain on her thin legs still strong enough to keep the pace with the younger members of her family. She wore a fleece knitted sweater, pants and head covering spun and produced in her own village. She had the appearance of someone in a photograph found in an old National Geographic magazine.
Bright curious eyes had smiled at us in a silent greeting before the bus departed. It was a rather uncomfortable ride being squished between two people, but the fact that this little elderly Peruvian woman felt comfortable enough to just rest her head on Athena’s shoulder for nearly the entire hour back was such a unique feeling. These are the things that memories are made of. Athena smiled each time the memory came back to her.
The travels through Ecuador were equally incredible. TJ and Athena took many photos and had literally escaped their old lives and daily routines that they had grown to live by for so many years. The months had gone by quickly and it all felt like a dream. It was a time of deep reflection. Their reality had changed without them realizing it. The coffee plantations, the lamas, the little museums with odd looking skulls and other interesting ancient artifacts and people they met along the way, were all things that each carried with them in their memories. While riding the buses through many mountain passes, TJ and Athena would joke about all the stories they would be able to share when they got old and could no longer travel.