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Published: January 11th 2009
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On the Road to Andahuaylas
This was taken when our bus had to stop because of the truck that broke down. It turned out to be a 12 hour bus ride from Ayacucho to Andahuaylas, but totally worth the backache for the beautiful views. John´s pretty sure we witnessed at least 5 different temperate zones as we zigzagged up and down and through the Andes. Miraculously no music was being blared and we could escape into our mp3 players and let our minds wander. It was great to look up at the top of a mountain and then, an hour or so later, be up there looking down on where we had just been.
We also met Hyuk Hur (Ray), a South Korean guy currently studying in New York. We exchanged stereotypes. We commented on his huge camera and he said that everyone his age in S. Korea IS into camera equipment. He said that he´s heard that Americans only speak English, but has found this to be untrue. Score one for ´mericans!
Luckily a truck broke down and we couldn´t pass for about an hour because that was one of only two bathroom breaks we got. The indigenous ladies helped Josie find an appropriate bush to hide behind. We kinda wanted to hug the bus driver once we arrived
On the Road to Andahuaylas
I wish we could have taken better photos of how rocky this part of the trip was. in Andahuaylas for getting us through all of those switchbacks and hairpin turns. These are not small buses, not chicken buses and not like Guatemalan or Indian buses. They are kinda fancy. Well, at least they´re quite big.
We caught only one glimpse of another tourist here in Andahuaylas. Andean people are pretty shy so they don´t really talk directly to us, but will blurt out ¨Gringos!´or ¨Alemanes!¨ (Germans!) as they pass us. They can´t help themselves, it´s so rare. The guidebook highly underestimated this place. The Sunday market was huge and phenomenal. It was the least touristy market we had ever been to and kept going and going. There were whole cooked pigs splayed out and people eating right out of them. We were on a quest for leg warmers as the ancient indigenous woman who sat next to us on the bus was wearing some. There was cooking equipment, clothes, shoes, tarps, etc as well as a full animal market across the river where people brought their cows, sheep and goats to be sold. Frustratingly, they appear to have all the ingredients (cilantro, multiple types of peppers, 3 different types of onions, avocados everywhere you look) for
excellent Mexican food but do nothing of the sort.
We stayed 3 nights in Andahuaylas and visited the Aguas Medicinales (like hot springs, but cold!). This was a neighborhood pool like any other with teenagers preening and throwing each other in. One of the 15 year old guys definitely had the same camera as us. This is the Peruvian paradox, it seems. In the same town where people were selling their cow at the Sunday feria (market), we saw the i Phone advertised and everyone seemed to have a cell phone cooler than ours (can I get a shout out to Megan for an upgrade?).
We got in to Abancay at 1:30am, took a nap at the hotel and took off for Cusco the next morning on another beautiful bus ride following the Apurinac valley.
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s. lee
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i love your mt. pics!!