Day 1 - Sat, June 7, 2025

 I left Denver yesterday at 2p, and first stop was Mexico City.  I had an 8 hour layover, which actually went by pretty quick since I had to go through Mexican customs, leave the airport, and then come back in.  Don't ask me why.  And Mexico has a new tax of $50 on foreigners just to step foot in their airport, don't ask me why ... Though I can probably guess.

 Then off to Lima for a quick 6 hour flight.  I really, really wanted to sleep on this flight, cause it was about my only chance to sleep, so I took a "sleeping aid" about a half hour before the flight.  Nothing.  So I took another.  Then another.  I stopped at 4 but never did sleep, though I was feeling pretty good at that point.

There was another 8 hour layover in Lima, which also wasn't so bad because they have a really nice airport.  It reminded me more of a shopping mall in the old days ... Lots of nice places to eat and shop.

Finally, the last flight was to Puculpa, which is a tiny little town in the middle of the Amazon, and yet I was on a 727 that was nearly full.  I can't imagine where all those people were going...

This is about where the adventure portion of the trip began.  They said they'd send a driver, and the driver was a guy named Adolfo in a Camry from the 70's.  No a/c, but it didn't really matter because the windows didn't roll up. There was inexplicably a large decal that went right across the middle of the front window.  And it's a 5 hour drive to where I was going.   

The first half hour was fairly uneventful, albeit a narrow and windy road through the jungle. 

THEN the pavement ended and we were on a dirt road.  A well traveled dirt road, with potholes so deep dogs were literally sleeping in them.  And every now and then the road was washed out with water deep enough I couldn't see the bottom.  More than once my head hit the roof of the car.  After about an hour of this my kidneys were starting to hurt...

Roughly halfway there we stopped in this small town (pueblo) and he said we were going to switch cars.  I'm thinking now it was maybe going to be a four-wheel drive Jeep or similar. 

Turns out that when he said we, he meant me.  He had me get into this tiny little Toyota pickup truck, and there was a woman in the front passenger seat with her infant, and they put me in the back between two other women with their infants, who it turns out were both nursing.  This was what they call a "collectivo," which is basically a crowdsourced version of hitchhiking. And off we went...

After about a half hour of driving, there was a knock on the roof and we pulled over.  Turns out there was a guy riding in the back, too.  Another half hour, another knock, and another guy gets out.  4 more times we stop, and 4 more guys get out. 6 guys just sitting in the back of this pickup on the road from hell, with my luggage apparently lashed to the roof with a fishing net.   Then a few stops for the women, and we finally got to Codo del Pozuzo.  I think my fillings were loose.

Fortunately I didn't expect much, and I wasn't disappointed.  To say it's better than camping would be disrespectful to camping.