Day 5 Mayocc to Huancayo

The day of the breakdowns. Our convoy had already been reduced from 3 to 2 mototaxis, and today everything seemed to break.

The chains came off or snapped 4 times, we suffered ignition problems, both our spare fuel cans fell off, one breaking (resulting in a comedic chuckle-brothers type scene where we all had our fingers plugging the leaks as we tried to direct the spurting fuel towards our fuel tanks). Our wheel jammed (making climbing hills impossible). Our speedo control until came off, an exhaust snapped and we lost 18 of 32 spokes on our wheel, because of the bumpy roads.

After a gruelling morning of drive, break, repair, drive, break repair, we hobbled into the town of La Esmerelda where we pretty much took the place over, handed out gifts, got our vehicles repaired, ate, stocked up on drinks before heading on our way.

Honestly it was the most unbelievable day of carnage. Which only got worse when Jon&Meg found themselves leaving the road and trying to drive down a sewer.

We towed them to a town, where their now ovular wheel was bent back into shape - before we blasted through the darkness to Huancayo - where we are now. We've bought some new bits for the vehicles, had a latte (!) and are now off northwards.

Finally we pressed on, again through the night, reaching our desired destination (Huancayo) for the evening. The plan had been to have a good rest and get a full service at Huancayo - though having spent much of the day doing repairs already, this seemed like a bit of a repetetive idea.