Raindrops all night - at times real heavy and threatening on the thin tin roof of our dumpy little hosbitaje in Ocros - made me feel like staying in spite of the dumpiness..
James got up and argued we need to go...can't be that bad...look, the rain eased off already (which it had done all through the night....from heavy to easy rain, but never stopped). I wasn't convinced, but I could also not convince myself to stay put in this grey world of wet and misty, muddy uncozyness. We left into this unpredictable huge cloud of heavy fog...rain...down the muddy unpaved road into nothingness....
Until we hit a road block about eight km out and down out of the village and the orange woman told us we wouldn't be able to pass
until tomorrow afternoon due to a mud/mountain slide....the mountain was coming down onto the street and apparently it was still moving at times..We couldn't see much, but a couple of stopped vans and busses, some cars and the orange road people. A little shelter off the side and a crowed of Peruvians underneath waving us to join them....Really? I wasn't in the mood for a party, but you've got to leave it to the locals to keep smiling in a situation like that....Shortly before the rude interruption of our descend, James had discovered that his rack was coming apart. Finally the bumpy dirt road was taking it's toll. A screw had broken off and left the whole thing rattling and too loose for comfort. I was wondering why everybody was still waiting around when the road was supposed to be closed until tomorrow....I, myself, couldn't imagine making my way back up the mountain to the village. Nobody seem to mind waiting ....so, we waited too and James took the time to take his panniers off the rack, repairing what was broken...in the middle of the cold rain on the side of a muddy road, deep in the Andes halfway up or down (which ever way you want to look at it) some wet crazy, steep mountain that was falling apart in the rain in the dry season. I'd rather not be here.....I wish I could blink myself away like Barbara Eden in "I dream of Jeanie". Sigh.....
But, here I am making conversation with the friendly locals who almost all piled out from under the wimpy little shelter to look what was wrong with James' bike and see if they can help......They held the bike steady, nodded, smiled ...seemingly understood what was going on and kept smiling....I couldn't win with my attitude - I'd rather take on theirs.
The rack was fixed faster than expected....and so was the road. Before a half of an hour had passed the backhoe came and removed the spilled rocks from above and gave green light to pass through the dangerous section. You just never know how things change for better or worse....
I couldn't ride the messy part and was pushed by the many bystanders and road workers....they hurried me along worrying about the moody mountain ...pointing along the steep side up into the clouds, telling me to watch that monster at every step. I was too busy hurrying and left the watching to the others...I know I could trust them.
