Day 32 La Oroya to Huancayo

Well I again managed to sleep quite well even though my room was right by the main road.  I stayed awake until about 11pm and slept until about 5am when the noises outside started to get louder.
After the usual breakfast we were ready to set off and follow the river downstream for about 85K before turning onto another road into Huancayo.
The weather was still dull, quite cool and a few spots of rain in the air.  I was feeling a bit better, my cold seemed to be going away - I thought!  It was good having quite a lot of downhill alongside the river for about 20K, with the occasional rise as you often find with roads following rivers.  I was with 3 others and felt good but after about 20K there was a rise too many and I realised that my chest had not completely recovered and my breathing was not good.  We were still well above 3000 metres at this point so breathing with a chest cold gets even more difficult!  Anyway, the lunch truck was at 70K today, in a field by the river and in the sunshine, which after numerous showers earlier on was a pleasant change.
Leaving the lunch stop it was still mainly downhill but as it had been all day the wind was still against us, but when we turned onto the other road at about 85K the wind was a bit stronger and the road was flatter.  I was now beginning to realise I had been a bit rash earlier on and my earlier pace was now getting its own back.  I just decided to plod on as well as I could to get to the hotel.  My spirits were somewhat raised as I entered town, with one of the others, as a young attractive police woman on a motorbike came up alongside me and asked if I was going to the hotel we were staying at in town.  I said "yes" and off she went in front of us clearing all the traffic aside along with another young attractive police woman who joined us.  At junctions and sets of traffic lights we were ushered through as point duty police stopped the traffic, and eventually we were guided right to the front door of the hotel, wow what a finish to the day!  We had done just over 126K and dropped down to 3200 metres, but after feeling a bit jaded the end was good and the hotel is the best we have stayed in all trip too!!

The real world over here, not a display in a Country Fair!