Report of 25 and 26 July
Report by Karin en Simon
Before we leave the car gets some regular every day’s maintenance.
Maintenance
After departure to Cusco it starts to rain. The cap is put on the car and going higher in the mountains there is more fog. The whole day there will be some rain and sun.
rain
Despite of the rain it is a beautiful drive, with a lot of hair-pin bends and even snow on the mountain tops. We are crossing a few mountain-passes of more than 4000 meter, and it feels like we are “on top of the world “.
Crew on the top
At the end of the morning we arrive at a roadblock. There is maintenance on the road, and eventually we have to wait for almost 2 hours. By change Dirk discoverers that a bolt is broken of the triangle. This has to get fixed, so we have to go looking for a garage.
Bolt
If we drive on, the road is still bad for a while, and we drive in the dust and between a lot of busses and trucks.
road
We won’t make Cusco today, and after asking around we find a hotel in Izouchaca- Anta, with on the opposite of the street a garage for the cars. Absolutely splendid!
After a simple meal in a kind of family restaurant we go to bed. Tomorrow we go on looking for a new bolt.
The next morning Dirk and Simon go with the owner of the garage to a shop, with no result. Than we go and after one hour we see a big factory: “Caterpillar”. Dirk goes to the entrance and after legitimating he and Simon go into the factory. After a search someone finds the wright bolt, and while everybody is looking Dirk puts the new bolt in place. End well all well!
Bolt 1
Bolt 2
At the end of the morning we finally arrive in Cusco, where there is a lot to do on the streets.
Cusco
Market
From Caterpiller we got an address of a shop where we can buy some spare bolts. With the Garmin we find the shop and the correct bolts.
New Bolts
With help of a taxi we find the SOS Childrens village in Cusco and after some phone calls we speak the director. We can stay here for a few days, we get two nice rooms and even the use of a kitchen.
SOS village Cusco
At the end of the day we go to Cusco, to arrange the trip to the Machu Picchu. It is very busy because of a national celebration day Monday, and fortunately we can arrange to go to Machu Picchu on Sunday and go back on Monday.
