Day 78: SR=f (T,H,S,R,C,W,A) + D

"The smoothness of the ride depends on the driver and a number of other conditions including time of day (T), hours already driven by the driver (H), the state of the shocks (S squared), radio programs available (R), condition of the road (C), hours without rain or dryness of the road (W), quantity of other traffic/animals determining driving/swerving options for the driving (A) ... and I'm sure a host of other factors I'll be sure to discover during my many trips op the 7.2 Km dirt (or mud) road that leads from Mancos to Musho, and higher still.

This morning the great double peak of Huascarán and her snow capped sisters to the south and north rose clearly into the bright blue sky, drawing the breath from my chest and leading Benjamin to the camera to attempt to capture our view. It was the clearest yet. After running down to the Posta to pick up the frest bread that Nancy had brought for us from the Panaderia in Yungay, Benj and I took two chairs out to the patio to enjoy our bread and jam under the powerful and watchful eye of the enormous mountain. From there we headed down to Yungay to explore the market and buy some food to get us through the next couple of days until Sra. Elvina returns from Lima - banana, mandarin oranges, mango, pepino dulce, tomato, sweet potato, onion, beans and lentils, and a few other necessities like toilet paper, matches, dish soap, and a pee bucket (turns out it's just too cold at night to climb the steep steps down tot he bathroom :) )" Libby