We set off again at 9.30 the next morning. The rain had been relentless all night and it was still persisting as we started another day on yet another hellish road. I was so worried that the rain would make the road even more dangerous and cause us to slide even closer to the death drop edge. I clung on to the door as we slid along and we were managing to cover 30km an hour until the road got so bad it made us consider how long it would take anyone to find us should we disappear over the edge. We retained the hysteria that bubbled inside us and carried on regardless. (good as gold but stupid as mud…yup…we carried on regardless – Beautiful South song)

The road was bumpy and potholed and thinner than ever. We sighed with relief when we hit a small town with a directional sign, we thought it meant civilisation but we were fools. We followed our arrow to Celendin (55km left to get there) and were stopped at an arch with a rope across it. A smiley man came over to us with a clip board and took our number plate details which absolutely put the fear of God into me but gave me a little hope that we would be found should we not arrive at our destination…before I started to consider that this might just be an ordenance survey…I pushed the thought out of my mind and just as I had convinced myself that the road was going to be better…we hit the motherload!

Loose gravel climbing at a mind boggling gradient made the road even more treacherous. I could have cried but I had done enough of that and needed to stay strong with Alex. We slowed to a virtual crawl and still slid periously close to the edge on the gravel, I was so scared my heart was in my mouth and I’m sure Alex’s was too.
The first town Celendin finally came and the 12 hour journey had taken 8 hours. 8 hours of solid driving on roads you couldn’t even imagine in your worst nightmares and we had covered 150km. It is soul destroying and what is worse is that we still had another 105km to cover to get to a real town, the place we wanted to get to, Cajamarca.

The last hurdle was just too much and as we loudly shook, rattled and jumped down yet another horrendous road Alex lost his mind and hit the roof. We drove along shouting at the top of our voices about how bad and stupid and utterly terrible the roads were and it even made us feel a bit better. Finally with only 40km to go the road widened enough to allow 2 cars and with only 30km to go to reach our destination the road suddenly turned to gold…well, it was a real road!

We sailed along swearing that we will never complain about a pot holed road again. We apologised to Peggy and thanked her for getting us to Cajamarca in one piece and without breakdown incident. I told Alex how proud I was of him for concentrating solidly for hours in such terrible conditions and for keeping us safe and me calm.

We arrived in Cajamarca and immediately were looking for a way out. It was a huge city with hundred and hundreds of people everywhere. It was dark and we were worn to a frazzle, what nerves we had left were completely corroded and on the verge of one final snap. We found our way into the city using again the tiny Lonely planet 100m by 100m map of the city. We navigated the one way streets until we found a spot where we could park Peggy. It was a busy street but well lit and a hostel across the street had hot showers and we were desperately in need of one of those. It had been 12 stressful days since our last hot shower (2/3 cold ones inbetween but you dont get clean in cold water, just thin and blue!). It was expensive but we were beyond caring by this point and just wanted to be clean and to get some sleep.

Of course that would be too much to ask and on trying the shower we were informed that the water will take an hour to warm up so we went out for a Peruvian chinese while we waited. Chifa’s are everywhere because of the Chinese population in Peru. We had fried rice, soup and hotpot and finally got a shower. Fed and watered we snuggled up in bed, watched a movie and tried to sleep.
The noise from the highstreet was horrendous, the pillows made of lead and the blankets like dead bodies laid across the bed. We barely slept at all. At one point Alex got up and said he was going to sleep in the van. I told him to give himself 10 more minutes to see if he fell asleep and luckily he did, he was so exhausted and once he passed out I did too.
We were up early and Alex went out to the square to try to find us some breakfast and coffees. He returned after an hour and after covering several blocks still returned empty handed. Nothing was open at 7.30am. We blogged until our tummies rumbled and then went to find food.
The streets were jam packed with people protesting, police with battle shields and rocket launchers and vendors, all screaming and shouting. The miners were marching and aside from the noise it was a very ‘peaceful’ protest. We ate a sandwhich and watched the march around the Plaza de Armas and made a move to get on our way.

Of course Peggy had different ideas and refused to work. we jumped, juddered and stalled our way to a mechanic who cleaned the carburetor and sent us on our way. As soon as we started to climb she stalled again and one row and one chickens foot on a stick later we rolled back into the mechanics. Long story short, the mechanic altered Peggy’s timing and we left for the third time that day in the dark and worn out. We drove for a few hours and parked up on the side of the road for some much needed sleep!

We woke up pleased to be back on the open roads again and on route to the coast! Neither of us dare discuss Peggy’s behaviour the day before as we drove along smoothly on a lovely road with some great views. The scenery changed from green mountains to desert dust and sand.
Enjoying the easy coastal driving after our nightmare few weeks we stopped and snacked on salad on route and as we rolled smoothly into Huanchaco we found a cheap hostel for $8 a night, ordered some beers and slumped into plastic chairs and impersonated dead people until we had regained the energy needed to go exploring.

Find out what happens next on our travelling wedding adventure!