My Side of the Mountain

The sound of squeeling brakes sent me into an immediate panic as I woke from fragmented dreams. The bus seemed to be sliding downward; I fought the urge to scream. Where was I, and what was happening? As the driver skillfully righted the large tour bus, I sat up and looked around. It was still dark. 2 AM. Twelve hours down and who knows how many more to go before we reach the small mountain village of Huacrachuco, Peru. The winding road's many turns scared me as I looked over the abyss. Looking around me, I noticed that everyone else was being reasonable and sleeping. I joined the for a few more hours.

Watching the sun rise on the mountain is truly spectacular. The shadows slowly disappear as the rays of light seem to warm my very soul. The bus paid no heed to this wonder, however, and continued its trecherous climb until it stopped suddenly. The driver said something about the truck ahead not being able to make the turn. I followed everyone off the bus to find out what was going on ahead. We cheered as the buses finally made it around the corner, racing up the mountain and almost missing our bus afterward. By 7:30 we had reached the bus stop.

I'll have to be honest here, Caldo de Cabeza (head soup) was about the most awful thing I have ever attempted to eat and definitely not a good idea for breakfast. Fruit from the market never tasted so good!

Yikes!! I need to go pack!! This epic will have to be continued...

Coming ahead...
The endless hike
Missing (and the subsequent search)
Sleeping with the pigs (well, almost)
The wedding
Penguin huddle...Should we build a cave out of our luggage?
Saved!
Back to Lima

Will Cuzco be this exciting?