Early on Sunday morning, October 12, 2008, the Rescue Unit pickup truck took us from Arequipa, a city of with with a population of about 750,000 people, to Chivay, with a population of about 5,000. Somehow Robert loaded our suitcases, all the equipment we had bought for the schools, and eight people (six in the cab and two in the back) on the pickup truck, and off we went.
The altitude of Arequipa is 2,380 meters, and that of Chivay is 3,600 meters, and
on the way you go as high as 4,700 meters. Until then I hadn't been feeling the effect of the the altitude, but it got to me that day.
All the way I was thinking that these were among the sights that Asher saw on the second to last day of his life, when he took the morning bus to Chivay.
The distance from Arequipa to Chivay is only about 100 kilometers, but it takes three or four hours to cover it on the narrow, winding, climbing and descending roads. The landscape is barren. The road traverses a vast, arid plateau with jagged mountains on the horizon. Part of the region is a nature preserve, and we saw a lot of vicunas, alpacas, and llamas. We stopped at a way station with a restaurant and stalls where women sold their handicrafts. We drank some coca tea and examined the woven and knitted garments on sale.
Everything was entirely new to me.
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