First full day on the road in the rental 4x4 Suzuki and I must say that it beats the bus all to pieces...(not that the bus needs such treatment). Quarters are a bit on the vacuum-packed side of things though. We're pretty much canned in here. Nothing like riding sardine style. But it's all good. If we had more breathing room we'd probably die from inhaling the stench! But at least this can has air condition...which means we get spared the cooking part of the canning process! It's a good deal to be able to travel with friends in our own rig. We sang songs, told jokes, stopped wherever and whenever we pleased,offroaded and indulged in other such obnoxious behavior that we probably wouldn't have done in a tourist bus (with the exception of the off-roading)...not that we couldn't have. I just hate to think of what might happen. Maybe I should try it some time. After all, we sang a little ditty to the toll booth official and got away with it. What could he do? We put in some quarters and gave him a song. Usually its the other way around! We sang John Jacob Jingle Himer Schmitt. I dare say he was entertained...just not enough to give us our money back. But we were entertained at any rate. Speaking of entertainment, the road signs here in Peru have put on a brilliant performance. Or more likely its merely my translation/interpretation skills, or I should say lack thereof. Either way, the four academy award winners are: (drum roll)
#4 "Don't burn your tires." Surely the Peruvian government means to say we can't make bonfires out of shredded retreads and not that we can't scream around the corners at 100 km/hr leaving tracks of melted rubber! Whatever their intent, we all know that burning rubber is bad for the environment.
#3 "Caution: sandment area." Sand dunes drifting accross the road can create problems if you're not a South American bus driver or don't own a four wheel drive.
#2 "Don't leave rocks on the road." While it may seem strange, this sign is actually necessary. No, it is not intended for wind, rain, gravity or avalanch...I hope. My best guess is that it serves to remind hitch-hikers and protestors that putting rocks in the road to block traffic is not an appropriate or legal method for trying to get their own way.
And finally my favorite..#1 "Respect the signs." As if to say "oh yeah, by the way...those other signs we put up...we were serious." The ironic thing is, if we're already NOT respecting the signs, what good is one more going to do? Makes me laugh. Now if it were possible for it to always be the first sign on the road, it might make sense, but coming as it did after a procession of signs like the above mentioned, it was a little late. Obviously it didn't do me any good!

So we stopped to see these seals. Cute aren't they? Turned out they were merely clumps of seaweed drapped over the rocks (left). But the breakers made for some nice shots anyway.
  ¶ 9:47 PM