Journey to the other San Francisco
- 8 Nov 07, 02:18 PM
Posted from: En route to San Francisco
We leave early to hopefully avoid the roadblocks of the strike in a strict three-car convoy and within minutes each vehicle has been separated from the others. Today will be another long day with a 14-hour drive ahead of us. With no sign of barricades we escape the city for another day of careering around hairpin bends with epic drops.
The lower Andes from a helicopter
Halfway along we stop at a tiny group of houses and a café for lunch where we are greeted by a local man who goes by the name of ‘Mr Big’. He is actually only four foot tall and takes the opportunity of a proud photo call with his visitors, involving himself with all of us in every combination possible. Then his wife joins the party for even more posing combinations. I make sure that I have my picture taken on my mobile phone with my arms around both of them - just in case I’m later kidnapped and then I can say that he’s my uncle.
Also travelling with us is Pepe, a lovely man in his 70s who is returning to his old hacienda for the first time in 20 years after the Shining Path burnt it down and he was forced to flee in the 1980s. After lunch we sit him in the back seat of a vehicle next to Bruce and film him chatting, via Almu as translator. Matt B and Zubin have the short straw - having to lie down on the back of the pickup recording the sound and listening to what’s going on. It’s a bumpy drive but it suits the mood of the elderly man as he makes an emotional return.
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