travellers plans for Christmas

Tuesday 26th November 1985

Beautiful high mountain scenery at dawn, wondrous, all sorts of colours in the landscape, blues, reds, purples, greys and browns. Occasional cluster of adobe brick huts, with a cluster of adobe coloured people waiting for a passing truck and a lift. We must have been very high because it is a long descent down to Potosi which is at 4000m. Arrive 9am after all night drive. The roads were part surfaced part gravelled. More comfortable than the bus trip out of Cusco, which was like sitting on a pneumatic drill all night. Muddy suburbs.

Check into Alojamato Ferrocarril, single 2.5 mill. Also book return journey to La Paz for friday morning, 10 mill. There is a daily afternoon flight for 32 mill. Breathless walk up to the plaza major. Plenty of voluminous skirted indian women in bowler hats, men wear knitted woollen hats with ear flaps and faded ponchos. Feet bare and grubby in car tyre sandals. Some of the women also wear pilgrim father type stove top hats, and some are dressed mostly in black. It is cold. Bump into Stephen and Jessica in the street. Cook up some tasty veggies on Steve's benzene stove. Pass on the bottle of local hooch which tastes like benzene and runs the risk of blindness. They plan to go to Sucre tomorrow. Might see Jessica again in Lima. I have to get back to Lima by 6th December for flight home. She wants to borrow my hammock and go down the amazon and get to Columbia for flight home at christmas. Steve is aiming for Salvador then Brazil for christmas.