ATV Trip Back in Time
9.9.2006

Nothing reminds me of the passage of time like this trip to Irupana and Chulumani. On the way I passed and old cement bridge Denis (my brother) and I used to drive the old Ford F250 pickup truck under, and up the river. Suzanne Tucker – boy she was hot! This was around 1978 and I was about 17. Who would think then, that now, Im 45, have two kids and have returned to these places? Now, with Evo as Bolivian president the roads in this area are surrounded with Coca fields. This would have been unthinkable back then. These very fields that hurt my brother, his family, and his life.

As I approached Chulumani I wondered what the hotel San Bartolome would look like. That hotel of many an adventure back then. Pool chairs in the water, Loco vomiting in a local prom dance floor-we didn’t even know the people! A mother giving him a couple bottles of booze so he would leave. The hotel was still there but quite run down with the passage of time. Its amazing what humidity and years do to a place. Chulumani lay ahead and I wondered about Vicenta, Eliza, and Nano-nano. These were the ladies that brought me up when I was three and heart-sick. The three women were still there as if unchanged by time. Don Carlos and Vicenta long dead. I felt guilty for not having kept up with them for so long. My ambivalent feelings gave way to a wonderful reunion. I had been driving my quad through the rain for the last 4 hours and was soaked to the bone. My boots were swimming pools full of water. We talked about the past and they served me coffee. They told me of who had died – Don Carlos who we used to call “Viejo Petacudo” because of his big belly. Vicenta was also gone and so was Nano-nano. I still remember their faces.
Helen Keller once said "Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."

The three ladies of my babyhood

Hotel San Bartolome in Chulumani

My Kawasaki Brute Force 650i - Been everywhere in Bolivia

Roads in Yungas with Evo - One big Coca field

Truth in advertising? - I was drenched to the bone!

The old bridge Denis used to drive the truck under

Entrance to Chulumani - I always remeber the wet cobblestone