The brave teams taking on the mighty first first junket found their way out of Huancayo and, often on two wheels, were finally heading south.
The mood over these first days was summed up by Another Cup of Tea: “we have really entered into the Halloween spirit by scaring the living crap out of ourselves on a daily basis.”
The mototaxis proved entertainingly inappropriate, as promised: “it is hilarious, I can only describe it as rally biking on lawn mowers” [One Man and His Dog], whilst the scenery smacked everyone’s gob: “We’ve been over countless passes over the last few days each one colder than the last, each one followed by a scorching valley complete with cactus, heat ripples and awesome views.” [Pirate’s Rest]
Inundated with dramatic updates, it was hard to keep track. A typical example was sent in by Karma Kola: “We're in Chincheros - a tiny village at the head of an enormous river valley. Drove from 6 'til 6 yesterday, topping out at a vertiginous 4150m then dropping into the hot, jungly pampas. The last two hours were wild and wonderful - climbing back out of the pampas with wind, rain, sun and sand in our faces (and up our noses). Home for the night was a village full of intoxicated Peruvians following the 24hrs Day of the Dead festival - an Andean Halloween which involves hanging out at the cemetery and lots of Pisco, the local firewater.”
Making up for the delayed start to the junket, every team put in long hours and worked brilliantly together to try to cover as much ground as possible. Almost all junketeers made impressively early starts, though we did wonder if some of the techniques employed were a little harsh “Our hotel room overlooks lake titicaca, its a blue sky morning and Hugh has just been electrocuted by the shower” cheerily reported Ms. Desaguadero. Others got their jolts on the road… “Met some gold prospectors at the top of a mountain pass and drank whiskey with them at 9am - nice!” [Toucan Two Can, clearly getting an early start]
We were hoping that all this hard work would be rewarded by a smooth crossing into Bolivia. Alas Peruvian bureaucracy had a surprise in store for us and more delays ensued for the hardy Junketeers.... More updates coming soon.