Samaipata bound

We are in a van e route to Samaipata.  The van is quite sketchy  by our standards and would never pass inspection in NB. But the longer you are here the more normal this becomes.   The trip to Samaipata will take 3 hours and is very scenic.  It's actually only about 150 km but there seems to be a speed bump every 100 metes.  Which is good because we don't want this thing to get up to speed. 

The trip took us across the Santa Cruz plain and into the foot hills of the Andes where we climbed up into the mountains on the most unbelievable road I have ever been on.  They had the worst rains here in 20 years and the road was being cleared of land slides. Last week it had been closed for only a day before they were able to get it re opened. But despite my last comment the road is very scenic and safe.  Although my wife would have bailed after the first kilometre and walked back to Santa Cruz.  The road is not for the faint of heart. I was sitting next to a tinted window the didn't open so I have no pictures for this post. 

We arrived at this hilltop hotel overlooking the village of Samaipata. It is hard to describe how beautiful and peaceful this place is especially after spending a week in a city of a million + people.  I think this will be the icing on the cake for this trip. I will get some photos up tomorrow.