One and a half day on the bus in the Andes

Our long drive from Nazca to Cusco is on its final leg and we’ll arrive there in a few hours time.

Yesterday we left from Nazca at around seven on what ended up as an eleven hour drive. Taking us from Nazca at 600 m above sea level, up to 4300 meters, down to about 2800 and then up again to around 3100 where we made our bush camp.

When we left Nazca the weather was perfect for driving, slightly overcast and not to warm. At our lunch stop the sun came out but we started to feel a chill in the air, and as we moved higher it started raining and eventually we got some slushy rain and we could see snow on the ground. Thankfully it cleared up a bit as we descended. We had diner by the road before the light faded and then we did two more hours of driving in the dark.

Our bush camp was located on a gas station among truckers having some downtime as well, got some strange looks when two pink buses pulled in and started erecting the roof.

Just minutes after the roof was up and I’ve found a place to sleep on the roof it started raining. Heavy rain with lightning and thunder. The roof held up but we got a bit sprayed from water bouncing up under the edge of the tarpaulin. And the mattresses on the edges got a bit wet. Still I guess most of us got a good nights sleep.

The weather forecast for Cusco seems to have a lot of rain for us so it might be a few wet days of trekking ahead of us.

Today we were up again for breakfast at six and departure at seven.

It’s going to be nice to get to Cusco and get a shower. Later tonight we’ll get information on the Inca trail and we’ll meet eight new travellers who will travel with us from Cusco to Rio.

Sadly that also means that some people are going home. From our bus there will bee five who will leave us after we have done the Inca trail.

Next up is our epic adventure walking the Inca trail, in the rain 🙂