Having some issues with the photos from this bit of the journey which is annoying as the views we amasing - should have them soon.
We got the bus out of Huancayo early in the morning. It was a bit rickety - bags on the roof, what looked like scafolding poles holding up the roof inside and each time the driver changes gear there was a noise half way between a screech and a dog who'd had its tail trodden on. The bus started out pretty quiet but soon picked up passengers along the route, including one who came on and started to talk to his captive audience about cirrosis of the liver and the prostate. It seemed that this could all be cured with the aid of uñas de gato which smelt remarkably like Vicks (and not sure what it has to do with cats).
The views were astounding. I pretty much stared out of the window for 9 hours and never got bored of what I was looking at. The mountains are all different colours and you can see where the different layers of rock have been forced up to make the mountains. The road was entertaining enough as well. After leaving one town we said goodbye to the tarmac and headed of onto rough track which followed the contours of the mountains often with nothing but air between the road and the valley floor. There was a few to many moments when the you could feel the back tyres trying to stay on the road and the driver turned one of the many tight corners.
We passed through many small villages on the way, most of the them were farms with their fields climbing up to impossible heights on the surrounding mountains and shepards herding goats, sheep, cows and pigs. Just as we were coming into one sorry looking place with a restaurant which looked like it could do with a bus load of people visiting, there was a bang and a cloud of smoke. Didn´t seem to be anything too major and after a few minutes of hammering we we back on the road only for a bigger bang and a larger cloud of smoke to happen a few minutes later. This time it was a proper stop to fix two blown tyres. After an hour off the road we were back up and running and arrived at a police check point by a suspension bridge, after all the wooden bridges we had been over it was good to see one that might actually take the weight of the bus. After the police had sorted out some issue with the driver we headed not for the nice safe bridge but down the river bank, across two small rivers and back up the other side - maybe our drivers donation hadn't been big enough! Two hours late, we arrived into Ayacucho.
More thumbnails ...
| 
Ayacucho Hotels
4 votes 
