Huancayo to Abancay

A while since the last post but it's been all work and no play! We've moved from Huancayo to Abancay over 12 days by various means. Firstly we took the train to Huancavelica; an aged and bumpy affair that left late and arrived later still. Then there was a three-day leg to Ayacucho. The first day turned out to be a bit of a marathon and we caught a big hailstorm at 4200m in the afternoon. How we laughed as we descended for 20km on 2" of hail, which then turned to mud covering us thoroughly. That evening's beer was well-earned. So we skipped the next day with a taxi trip over some more seriously rugged terrain (NB: In the photo its brakes are being worked on before we set off. Actually quite reassuring.). We wrapped up with three solid bike days and an intervening 10-hour bus journey from Ayacucho to Andahuaylas. The Peruvian Highlands are the same profile as an egg box; i.e. it is all up and down (with part of the winding 56km descent to Abancay shown). However we are nearing the Altiplano (high plateau) of S. Peru and Bolivia, so the legs should get some relief soon. And if you think we're making life difficult for ourselves, check out the tandem picture - an Austrian couple 40,000km into a three-year round the world trip. Too much!