Christmas... almost

Well, the last fewdays have been exciting to say the least.

Two days ago we left Cuenca and started our drive to Peru. It was planned as a 10 hour drive but as per south american standards things didn´t go that way at all.

First we encountered a local road block/detour as some of the road we were to be travelling was being re sealed so that meant we had to detour an extra hour onto the trip. We got about an hour further into the driver after the detour and encountered a local government protesting about not having enough money or something and they had blocked the road too...

So after about 30 more minutes with the maps out we realised that the only way to the border from there was to turn around and go all the way back to the first detour point and try driving through the mountains instead of along the coast.

...

So, we had already been on the road for about 4 hours andwe hadn´t been more than 100km from Cuenca. Bugger.

Anyways, we headed for the hills and all was looking peachy until it was pissing down with rain and there was fog so thick we literally could only see 4m infront of the truck. Think the most windy west coast roads and then make them dirt and then add ruts in every direction and a 200m drop on one side and on the other side a 100m cliff. Then to top it all off, imagine the road is really only one lane wide... Thats what we endured for the next 4 hours until we hit a town somewhere between splitsville and bumfuck and were told that the road we wanted to take had been closed due to landslides... i´m not kidding. So we took our only option other than to turn around and drove on in the fog down a road that has probably never seen a 17 tonne truck crease its dirt. It was 8:30 at night and dark and foggy and worryingly wet when we set up camp on a small clearing on the side of the road for the night. We all got ready for an early start the next day.

5am - Up and at´em adam ant. Everyone slept like shit and felt not much better... General concensus was that the drinking of rum (USD$5 a bottle) and cokes last night wasn´t our finest decision.

We ended up driving for maybe another 4 hours and set up for some breakfast in a small town. There was a small cafe type thing that made us some scambled eggs and toast and black coffee (not that i drink it) for about USD$1 each. Not bad i reckon.

Either way we had another 2 hours or so until we got out of the mountains and close to the border. Clear sailing from there was much appreciated by all. Including Phil our driver.

40min after the border we hit Punta Sal. Our 10 hour drive turned into 19 hours and a night in the middle of nowhere. Thus half a day lost in Punta Sal.

Punta Sal is fantastic. It´s piss ant small and has an amazing beach. Perfect for holidaying. I would be more than happy to stay there for weeks but unfortunately we only have two days and two nights.

Last night was our first night and we had a fantastic meal of fish and chicken and salads etc. after playing beach volleyball with some young Peruvians holidaying down the beach. It was great fun and everyone had an awesome time.

It´s so hot here in Punta Sal that i was sweating at 6am. Right now its almost 11am and it must be in the region of 35 degrees already.

Some of the others are going to take a surfing lesson in Mancura (a small town about 15min drive from Punta Sal) around lunch time. I think there will be some sunburnt souls coming back later on.

We leave Punta Sal tomorrow morning and are aiming for a place called Huanchaco (sp?) for xmas. Apparently it´s a beach as well but not as nice as Punta Sal. Either way we´ll be drinking and being as merry as we can.

After that we´ll be back in the mountains and cold. There is optional ice climbing up there though so that should be fantastic.

Then it´s Lima and the halfway point of my trip and the end of the trip for 4 others in the truck. 12 more people will be joining us remaining 4 though so some new faces will be appreciated.

Well thats definately enough from me for now. As always i don´t know when i´ll next get to an internet cafe so i hope you all have a merry xmas and all that other stuff.

Paolo