Adventures in Peru...
Having arrived in Peru after a nineteen hour journey we discovered that our destination had been changed and that instead of enjoying a night in a hotel we had a ten hour bus journey ahead of us over the Andes (13,000 feet was the high point i.e. four times higher than Ben Nevis). The reason for the change was a strike by the Miners and if we did not leave Lima that evening we would be stuck in the city with nowhere to go and nothing to do; so we agreed and climbed aboard the adventure bus!!!
After about six hours we had reached the summit of our climb over the mountains and here we encountered our first road block by the striking miners.
Eventually as we finally began to move one of our party was suffering from altitude sickness and felt she could not continue, without any prompting or encouragement the youngsters immediately got together and organised themselves into pairs to carry her and this they did, those not carrying made sure that a torch was always lighting the way or they removed some of the rocks out of the way.
The youngsters showed tremendous enthusiasm, good humour and a sense of adventure and their mood soon infected the rest of the group and they gave us the lift we needed to complete the journey.
Picture shows work party members: Alastair Mair, Donald Gray, Chris Parker, Jonathan Gemmell, Stuart Dalgliesh and Lisa Bertellotti, collecting their award from Provost for there efforts during the strikes in Peru.