Road Trip to Heaven

TheColectivo, a small 17-passenger car, left around 4:00 in morning. A 12-hour trip from Chachapoyas to Cajamarca in north Peru was about to begin. I had read about the stretch of road between Chachapoyas and Celendin: “One of the best road trips one can do in Peru, the landscape is simply stunning!

The only downfall being the terrible road conditions…” Since the guidebook dates from 2010, I completely disregarded the last sentence. As expected, the bus was overloaded: We were 20 sardines in a can for 15; the rooftop carried all passengers luggage and the tires seem to be ready to blow at any given moment.

The early morning hour made me fall asleep instantly. I woke up around 6 AM, my neck crying with pain. I looked left out of the window, the landscape was absolutely wonderful. I looked ahead and I had the first glimpse of the road: Large enough for one car, unpaved and with a 2km cliff on the left side. I asked myself how can the world’s deathliest road be in Bolivia…

The seats had no head rest, which means, each and every single passenger was head banging all the time. Behind me, an old Peruvian man was citing the 10 commandments in a loud strident voice. On my right, another Peruvian man was telling Kathleen “Yo dibujo y te quiero dibujar. Asi.” (I draw and I want to draw you) and then started drawing with his finger on the front seat.

It was a terrible situation for both drivers: there was absolutely no space for maneuvers Kathleen looked at me helplessy “Was sagt er?” (what is he saying?) I told her the man had fallen in love with her and wanted to painted her naked; Kathleen disgusted expression was suddenly interrupted by a harsh break that scared everyone to death: Our bus driver had just avoided a crash with another bus driving in the opposite direction. It was a terrible situation for both drivers: there was absolutely no space for maneuvers, both buses were standing on a tight curve and by the edge of the cliff, one of them had to reverse… Everyone was rumbling, even theMessiahhad stopped reciting the bible…

Luckily for us, the other bus reversed for about 500 meters, until we could resume our trip. TheMessiahresumed his biblical citations. I turned on my ipod, leaned my head against the window and prayed to allgodsknown to men.