The Milky Way

In Leymebamba we had heard of an alternative way to carry on our journey towards the coast. Apparently it was possible to hitch a ride with a milk truck for the strip of road going from Leymebamba to Celendin. This section of the journey was meant to be breathtaking with the ascent of two cordilleras on vertiginous roads.
The figures were the following: 144km for a 7 hours journey going up to pass the first cordillera at 3600m and down to cross the Marañon river at 700m and then up again at 3000m. An exciting ride!
So we enquired in the local shops to get the milk truck schedule. Finally on the friday evening the truck arrived from Celedin. We spoke with the driver who told us, "no problem I leave tomorrow morning at 3 a.m. sharp". The exciting thing was that the milk truck had a sort of platform above the cabin that promised beautiful views and some fresh air, a thing that painfully lacks in the Peruvian busettas.

The ride!

So we setted the alarm for 2 a.m. and went to bed.
We met the sleppy driver nearly on time, not something we are used to in this country and setted off to fill the truck of the precious liquid.

Waiting for the man

We had the chance to sample some fresh milk. Simply delicious. This milk is the product of the small farmers up in the mountain whom each have a couple of cows and milk them manually. No machines or big farms here.

Filling up

Around 4 a.m. we left for good. We started the ascencion of the cordillera in the cold night. We could feel the presence of these huge mountains and imagine the views as we were winding up the narrow road in the dark. The driver offered us to stay in his cabin for the first leg as it was freezing cold outside. We had a nice chat. As we reached the top of the cordillera we could start to see a faint light and make out the shape of the deep valleys. So we asked the driver to climb up on the roof. There he had installed a few benches. The perfect balcony!

At the crack of dawn

The spectacle that followed was just magic. Little by little we started to see everything and to realise how high we were. Difficult not to think of paragliding down...

Morning view

Passing through little villages we picked up a few more people. The truck started to fill up.

At around 6 a.m. we stopped to get some lunch. Huge portion of rice with beans and plantain bananas, accompanied with porridge, the typical breakfast. The floor was crawling with guinea pigs, surely the next lunch.

After the pit stop we carried on getting more and more people and more and more stuff as we were going down the cordillera.

People started to speak more as the air was getting warmer. The milk truck turned into a terrace with a view. We got asked tons of questions on our country and our continent. It was pretty hard for them to accept the fact that where we come from the days are not always the same length. It was funny to compare our ways of life

At the top of this truck we discovered the melting pot that Peru is. There was all type of faces: asiatic, indians (native people), spanish decent.... It was quite funny to hear a man with slanted eyes say " I don't see what you are talking about" when I mentionned a connexion between Peru and Asia.

Going down the landscape started to be more and more arid. We could see Oasis down in the valley.

Getting to the oasis was an other world all together. The valley was baking hot and full of cultures that they managed with the help of an ingenious irrigation network. The exotic fruit variety was ubelievable, we tried some that we had never seen before.

After crossing the river we started another long climb with stunning views. 

River Marañon

At around 10 a.m. we retreated inside the truck in a sort of wooden box. Perfect spot to read protected from the sun.

Finally we arrived in Celedin close to 1 p.m. after an unusual trip. It is rare to be able to really enjoy one of these long rides, usually it is either crowded bussetas or long hold night buses. And after all the journey is part of the experience!

Arriving in Celedin we decided that it was time for a trim and change our look radically opting for the footballer look. A must under these latitudes.