Left hand drive? No problem

I get into the back of a cab, and the driver is sitting in front on the left hand side of the car, steering wheel in hands. 

So far, so normal. But this is Bolivia — surely there is more to this story? 

And so proves to be the case. This is a conversion — a second hand Japanese import converted to a left hand drive — but the instrument panel, speedo, indicator lights etc, are all still on the right hand side of the car, as they were when it originally left the factory.

The speedo dosen´t appear to be working (not something anyone is going to worry about in this country) but the fuel and temperature gauges register their respective readings, and as the driver turns left and then right I see the indicator lights dutifully recording these actions, despite the fact that he cannot see them. 

We stop at traffic lights, and during the inertia it´s all irrelevant — for a few seconds it´s just another hunk of metal stopped at a red light.

I look out of the side window. On the other side of the road there is a little kid with tattered and dirty clothes. 

He sees a gringo in the back of a taxi, and walks straight toward him, hand outstretched, laughing.