Jungle Book: Tingo Maria to Huanuco & Huanuco to Lima

Waking up the next morning Sophia was definitely the happiest J Although we had slept well, it just hadn’t been long enough and Adam and I truly felt like we had been hit by a huge dump truck full of sand. You would never know that Sophia had been on the same eventful filled trip as us the day before – she was spry and full of life, excited to be able to run about and be outdoors … oh the joys of being 1 year old!

We ate a leisurely breakfast and then headed out towards Huanuco. It should take about 4 hours to reach Huanuco from Tingo and we were looking forward to a slow easy drive. Amazingly enough, we had just that – a restful drive with beautiful scenery as we left the jungle and headed towards the mountains. We arrived in Huanuco in time for lunch and decided to relax and finish the drive to Lima the following day. Even though the trip had been short and sweet we were still exhausted from the trying day before – plus we still had one day left before we needed to be in Lima.

We ended up sleeping most of the day and left bright and early the next morning, ready to get back in the truck again. The last part of our journey was to take 8 hours going mostly over the Andes Mountains. The first two hours were totally uneventful J Then we came to a fork in the road (a really nice paved road – which is slightly unusual in the mountains). If you went right, then it was 240 km to Lima. However, if you went left – it was 280 km to Lima…. Seriously – that’s what the signs said!! So obviously we went right.

It was a really nice road for another 2 hours, but all of a sudden as we entered a small mountain town – the road ended. By ended – I literally mean that we were surround by little mud brick houses, mud roads, mud stores --- and a really nice mud goat trail (at least that’s what it looked like to us) as it so happened – that was the ROAD. Oh yes. Yes it was. The dilemma now is that we have already driven 2 hours down this road – if we turn around we will add 2 more hours of backtracking to our trip, so we took the plunge and headed straight up the muddy goat trail … well we tried anyways – but until Adam had the very heavily weighed down truck in 4 wheel drive and first gear – we didn’t even budge … the truck moaned and groaned and we got up the first hill… oh dear me.

I will have to admit that the next hour was breathtaking!! We were climbing higher and higher into the mountains and you could see the snow-caped peaks. Llamas and goats were everywhere --- so far we hadn’t seen a single person or vehicle on this road… after the second hour it was still breathtaking but concern was starting to addle our brains as we climbed higher and higher into the mountains with no end in sight…. As we wove through the mountains we began to wonder if we were going the right way – if we were even heading towards Lima or if we were just driving around in circles through the mountains … (I personally was envisioning that story of the soccer team whose plane crashes in the Andes and they begin to eat each other because no one can find them….) That’s about the time when the fog began to settle in ….

We are now driving about 10 km an hour because Adam can’t see anything but fog … the narrow mountain pass is now growing more precarious especially since we really have no idea where we are going – and that’s when we rounded a curve at the exact moment a giant truck was from the other direction!!! The truck quickly swerved and went around us without stopping – in order to keep from being hit – Adam swerved right, practically into the rock face of the mountain - instantly propelling our front tire straight into a deep narrow ditch… not good. We are now tilted in an unfortunate angle and completely freaked out …. We are relieved that we are still alive, but at the same time wondering how we are going to get out of this situation … mostly because the only option is for Adam to gun it while turning left (left would be the ‘cliff-side’ of the mountain … so basically if he doesn’t do it perfect – down down down we would go) oh goodie. There was complete silence in the car – I grab onto the door and my seat and Adam hit the gas … the truck raises up in the air and lurches left and forward and I screamed bloody murder … envisioning us plunging down the side of the mountain, and instead of my life flashing before my eyes I was thinking of how if we crashed, no one would ever find us!!! Miraculously enough though – Adam managed to keep the truck on the road and we were completely fine … hysterical, but fine.

We drove slowly onward trying to collect ourselves – my heart was finally starting to beat normally when I heard Sophia start coughing in the backseat. I turned around and her face was all red so Adam immediately stopped the truck and I turned around to get her out of the car seat… I picked her up and turned back around holding her in my arms when she threw her guts up all over me … unbelievable. At this point I was so unstable emotionally that when Adam looked over said, oh my word she is throwing up all over you – I just started laughing, then crying … it was hilarious. He came around the side of the car and tried to figure out how to help me … throw up was everywhere L Fortunately though – we were traveling so we had clean clothes in the back. We changed and wiped ourselves off – tied up the nasty clothes in a plastic bag and got back in the car. What a day we were having!

It is now about 2:30 or 3pm and we are still uncertain if we are even going the right way… the fog began to dissipate and we saw some llama/goat herders up ahead, so Adam stopped and asked if we were on the road to Lima… they honestly looked at us like we had lost our minds – as though Lima was a galaxy far far away….. NOT GOOD. But we pressed on – mostly because there was no way to turn around on this lovely path we were on. We kept seeing mile markers though and that gave us just a slight glimmer of hope until at last we saw a hut on a hillside that had a car parked next to it – we were so excited, we thought – if they have a car surely they will know where we are and where we need to be!!! We turned and drove up the hillside to the house… they were home! Adam got out and asked if we were on the road to Lima… WE WERE!! What a miracle – the man said that we just needed to go about 30-40 more kilometers and we would get to a town called Canta – Lima was just about an hour or so past that!

What a relief – we were grinning from ear to ear, so glad that we were going the right way – that we would be able to shower and get rid of the vomit smell - sleep in a bed that night and that the journey would soon be over!! Besides a little bit more fog – the rest of the journey was fairly uneventful and we arrived safe and sound in Lima in time for dinner J