Bus Ride to Chacabamba

Our second morning in Cuzco, we packed up to head to the mud huts. We were able to leave some of our luggage locked in the hostel's storage, as we would return after two nights in Chacabamba. We had already done and seen so much, it's hard to believe we were just starting the mission! Navidad, Rosa, and our 3 cooks/drivers, met us at 7:00 am at the hostel. The only parking was down the steep hill from the hostel.

Our Hostel is the back half of the yellow building with the blue windows on the left. It is barely viable from this picture, but you can surely see the busy, steep hill we climbed many times.

We made a few trips up and down this steep, busy street to load our luggage and all of the donations. (Surprisingly quite a workout, as the altitude affects your breathing so much!) The drivers/cooks worked so fast and hard. They stacked many heavy bags on top of each of the vans. I know "the Body" alone weighed 40 pounds and they hoisted it overhead and loaded it with a determined grunt then moved on to the next one. They didn't speak English so we couldn't communicate much with them, but their cooking was good, their driving (albeit sometimes scary,) impressive  and their work ethic was strong. They didn't grumble, complain or share annoyed looks. They worked hard and got us from point to point on schedule and with all the donations and supplies we needed.

We loaded into two vans and set out for a 2 hour 30 minute bus ride. We passed through part of the Sacred Valley and saw many small villages along the way. The road was a standard two lane highway for most of the way. Passing happened at any point, winding road, or not, and many cars came by with 7 men stuffed inside of a car the size of a VW Golf or Geo Metro. I'm not sure what the criteria is to get a license in Peru, but they act like they are practicing for a NASCAR race with the way that they speed up to avoid being passed. 

Again, I was wondering about, 'If there were to be a bus accident, would we have any emergency vehicles to respond?' I'm really not a paranoid traveler, but it was certainly a more vulnerable feeling having my daughter with me. The funny thing is both Rhonda and I had been thinking that if a wreck or collision goes down, we were going to grab the daughters and tuck them under us. "Back into the Womb!" as Rhonda put it.  

During the ride, Mackenzie got in a nap, Rhonda & Abbi took in the sights and I journaled and took pictures. Navidad was in our van and gave us several cultural and history lessons during the drive.  Much of the ride was uphill and it was incredibly winding. The views of the sharp mountain ranges and small isolated villages were like food for my eyes. I was taking it all in. It was hard to converse with the fellow missionaries, as I just loved the view out the window so.

A portion of the Sacred Valley. That river is the Urubamba River.

We stopped here for a "Japanese tourist moment," as Navidad called it.

Tomorrow you'll see our sleeping arrangements in the mud huts!