Home: The Good Samaritan AirBNB

We’d had an AirBNB booked last night in the decent-sized city of Huanta, and then another, for three nights, in the much bigger city of Ayacucho. Rett’s illness meant that we’d obviously cancelled Huanta, and our next goal was to see if we could manage some sort of transport to Ayacucho, because Rett figured she would rather suffer through that than another day in hot, mosquito-infested Mayocc.

When I’d asked our hotel host yesterday, he seemed to indicate that it would be no problem to take a “combi” (an informal van-sized bus) to Huanta, with the bikes on the roof, and then another to Ayacucho. Our AirBNB host in Ayacucho suggested a similar thing should be possible, but didn’t have any specific knowledge about our dusty remote village.

I had contacted Frank, the friendly and helpful guy we met in the Huancayo bike shop, hoping that his knowledge of English and Peruvian transport systems could provide some insight we’d been unable to obtain anywhere else. He had good advice, not just for the transport, but for Rett’s condition (I’d forgotten that he is also a medical student!)

But it was the family at the Huanta AirBNB who were the All-Stars of our Peruvian support team (a team whose nationwide support we have already experienced far more than we deserve). We hadn’t really even asked them for anything, I’d only messaged to let them know that we needed to cancel our booking and why. But they took the initiative to ask if we’d had any luck securing transport, and then offered to come get pick us up in their SUV! Even though the bikes would still be lashed to the roof rack, this sounded far better than the combi option, since we could spend a lot more time and care ensuring everything was secure than a guy mostly motivated to race his other passengers to their destination as quickly as possible.

The funny thing is that as I was bringing our bikes and bags downstairs, a combi driver appeared at exactly that moment, entirely unhurried, and with an empty van. Who knows, maybe we could have even brought the bikes in the van with us, if we paid enough money for exclusive transport. But that would have required a lot of Spanish communication beyond our skills.

And it’s unlikely the bikes would have received the same level of care they did when Andrew and his parents arrived. I was surprised (and thrilled) that he spoke perfect English, both a cause and a result of his time learning, living, and working in the United States (currently getting his Master’s degree in engineering management at Louisiana Tech)! He immediately hopped on the roof, and his friend (also part of the team!) helped me hoist the bikes up. He began lashing them (and my two big panniers) to the roof rack, with no concern for the mosquitoes absolutely ravaging his bare legs (he assured us that they would not be a problem at Huanta’s higher elevation).

Before long, I fetched Rett, and the six of us loaded back into the SUV with the rest of our bags piled in the back. During the 40 minute drive, we were both amazed with the landscape, now a full Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote cartoon-desert backdrop scrolling past at 40mph. The fact that we could notice this from the middle row of a speeding SUV (me), or while fighting nausea from the front seat (Rett) proves that it would have been a spectacular bike ride, augmented by the unobstructed view and slow speed that come on a two-wheeler. We knew that we would miss not riding this section, but hadn’t realized how much we would miss. But it was easily worth the sacrifice to get Rett to a more-comfortable place.

Which she had not made it to yet; halfway through the ride, she had Andrew pull over and she stumbled out to puke. Or maybe not? Yes, ok, it’s holding. No actual vomiting, and after the wave of nausea passed, she was able to get back in and continue the rest of the drive without incident. But it was another point in favor of our personal drive over the combi: packed in with who knows how many random people, and their various smells (maybe even an animal or two!), with an insane speeding driver, would have been much more likely to result in actual puking.

Without even discussing it, the family kindly “transferred” our cancelled, un-refunded AirBNB booking from last night to today, and even gave us an upgrade to one of the bigger units in their small complex. Gloria immediately got Rett tucked into bed; in addition to running a wonderful family, she is also a nurse, so she offered a bit more diagnosis, and the opportunity to get medicine if we needed it. But time and rest are likely the best thing, and thanks to these Good Samaritans now we could have them. “The Good Samaritan” is literally what they named their AirBNB, and now we fully understand why!

I made a couple runs out to pick up food (Rett was able to eat Ritz crackers and ramen today, and drink cold sparkling waters). One trip was to “Golden Plaza”, the place Andrew recommended when I asked for “the most ‘gringo’ grocery store” (and what a relief that I can communicate that, be understood!) It was in fact as ‘gringo’ as the stores in Huaraz, though I ended up just cooking myself up a pasta-and-tomato-sauce dinner (in the kitchen-equipped AirBNB). Sadly all Rett was able to see of Huanta was what we passed on the drive in, because it’s a really pleasant city.