We got up early. Went down to the hotel’s “Diding Hall.” Ate noodles with hot peppers and pork for breakfast, along with bitter local tea. Yum!

Went hiking. Saw waterfalls. Clear water. Butterflies. Monster cave. A retiree biker gang from Sichuan province. Mini horses. Oxen. Cool native headgear. (Earlier in the trip, when a local young woman smaller than Dr. No hefted two of our suitcases, we were told that “minority women are really strong.”)

We decided to blow that town, Libo, and head to next destination, about 300 kilometers away. Went to bus station but last bus had left. So we hired a cab. Except one driver who tried and failed to get our business convinced another driver that it was really far and rough roads and not worth the 600 yuan (about $100) we were planning to drop. We called a second driver we used the day before, a nice fella named Luo.

Good choice! we said to each other, congratulating our ingenuity. We settled in for an amazing ride through hills and valleys with terraced farmland.

About 50 kilometers in, Luo’s clutch broke. Luckily, we were a town at the time, and just then a female cabdriver Luo knew was passing by. (“Very pretty girl,” our friend Li said, and we agreed. Possibly the world’s prettiest cabdriver.) She and Luo agreed they would drive her cab the rest of the way. Li squeezed in with the Meiguoren in the back and we set off, a bit cramped but still feeling fortunate.

I noticed but didn’t think much of the fact that Pretty Cabdriver made extensive use of the parking brake. Luo, when he took a turn to drive, pointed out that the brakes on Pretty Cabdriver’s car were pretty much smoke. The roads, I’ll point out now, are super steep and filled with quarry spillover, holes the size of Volkswagen Beetles, and the sharp rocks locals use instead of orange cones to demarcate stalled vehicles. Brakes we need.

So we stopped at the next town for more repairs. Ten minutes, the drivers told us. An hour and 20 minutes later, we were off again. We bought the drivers dinner — more hot pepper pork noodles, with local sausage. I could eat for every meal.

At this point the roads get much, much worse. It’s now night and total darkness. Typical exchange:

Drivers: [Incessant bickering]

We see the pavement drop off sharply ahead

Passenger: Watch out!

We cut our journey short by about 100 kilometers when it hit midnight. Paid full fare plus a little extra to Luo, who had apparently never driver Meiguoren and wanted a photo with us. Our hotel has a leaky toilet, a smell of mouldering wood, a fleet of honking trucks outside and an hourly rate (the “o’clock rate”) for guests and their companions on the go. Having a large time.