Into the unknown

Colin:

For me the feeling came on the overnight bus out of Lima to Arequipa. We were on the Oltursa bus-cama route, which, with fully reclining seats and a stewardess serving dinner, breakfast and refreshments, is far more luxurious than anything National Express has to offer. I, to be precise, was in the toilet. The window was open. Outside, the outermost suburbs of Lima faded into dust. I stuck my head out, and was met by a warm blast of desert air.

Maybe it was the gentle swaying of the bus. Maybe it was the vastness of the desert landscape, its emptiness punctuated by the occasional sign advertising beer or half-built building daubed in political slogans. Maybe it was the whiff of the chemical loo. Who knows, but at that moment I finally felt like we were embarking on a huge leap into the unknown.

The journey had begun.