Bone shaking all the way to Ayacucho
- 6 Nov 07, 02:11 PM
Posted from: en route to Ayacucho.
So we’ve got the all clear to make our journey into the Red Zone, which means that today will involve another two hour journey in a bumpy vehicle. Today is not Zubin's day as, highly inconveniently, he has the runs - not the best on a long drive like this.
The two of us sit in the back and make efforts to get comfortable by making a nest under our sleeping bags. Over the journey we must have tried every sitting position possible but end up simply accepting that it will be a leg-cramping, bum-numbing, boneshaker of a drive.
Once in a while there is the chance for a leg stretch as the vehicle screeches to a stop and Zubin quickly runs behind a bush. The landscape is absolutely spectacular as we drive down from the Andes. We think we are going down and then find ourselves up another pass at above 4,000 metres.
From experience on this trip we've learnt it's worth avoiding being in the second vehicle as you end up eating the dust of the leading vehicle, so we ask our driver Louis to overtake – a move that he pulls off on a bend with great skill! Then we’re driving in clean air and can have the windows open. As we continue the journey the vertical drops are both spectacular and terrifying. Being sat on the left there always seems to be a 1000 metre drop two feet from my door as we speed around the hairpin tracks fast enough to hopefully arrive at our stopover of Ayacucho before dark.
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