Today we left Cusco to start our drive back to Lima. We drove along the coast to get here but are driving back through the mountains. On the map, it looks like a good, major road, but the research we've done at the South American Explorers' Club indicates that the road is often impassable and very rough. We've driven on one-lane dirt roads all over the world and feel confident that this one can't be much worse (Hah!) It does include the highest navigable road in the world and I can imagine that the landscape will be beautiful. The red line on the map shows our route here and the blue one is our planned route back:
We had traveled on the road as far as Abancay before so that wasn't a problem. Then we turned north toward Andahuaylas and the road immediately turned to dirt - a surprise since the map showed it as "all-weather surfaced". I guess it was, but the surface was dirt!
We stopped on the side of the road for a lunch of our leftovers from the apartment. The road climbed up through beautiful countryside but it's very narrow with sheer drop-offs on each side. The GPS shows 13,900 feet.
There's almost no traffic but quite a few beautiful Quechua women and children herding sheep and goats along the road. I'm glad we carried candy in the car as gifts!
We stopped at an overlook with a public toilet in the middle of nowhere!
As it gets later, it's obvious that we won't make Andahuaylas before dark. We met several double-decker buses on the narrow road and had to back up to find a place wide enough for both of us! We finally arrived in San Jeronimo and found a hotel with a car park and a restaurant across the street. It wasn't four star, but was fine for the night.
We drove 345 kilometers today in 10 hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment