In the morning of April 20th I rode down the beautiful gorge to the confluence of the rivers of Sandia and Huaccuyo. After this junction the stream becomes a roaring torrent, dashing over huge rocks, and descending rapidly down the ravine towards Sandia. On both sides vast masses of dark frowning mountains rear themselves up for thousands of feet, and end in fantastically shaped peaks, some of them veiled by thin fleecy clouds. The vegetation rapidly increased in luxuriance with the descent. At first there were low shrubs, such as _Baccharis odorata_, _Weinmannia fagaroides_, &c.; which gradually gave place to trees and large bushes; while all the way from Cuyo-cuyo there were masses of ferns of many kinds, Begonias, Calceolarias, Lupins, Salvias, and Celsias. Waterfalls streamed down the mountains in every direction: some in a white sheet of continuous foam for hundreds of feet, finally seeming to plunge into huge beds of ferns and flowers; some like driven spray; and in one place a fall of water could be seen between two peaks, which seemed to fall into the clouds below. A most glorious and enchanting scene, allowing little time to think of the road, which was very bad, and in many places most perilous. In its best parts it was like a steep back-attic staircase after an earthquake. Three leagues from Cuyo-cuyo is the confluence of the torrent of Ñacorequi with the river of Sandia; and after this point maize begins to be cultivated, where the craggy jutting cliffs permit, between the river and the mountains. The Indians live in eyrie-like huts, perched at great heights, here and there, amongst the maize terraces. The village of Sandia is at a distance of fifteen miles from Cuyo-cuyo, down this ravine, a dilapidated little place, with more than half the houses roofless and in ruins. It is built along the banks of the river, and has a church in the _plaza_. The mountains rise up all round it, almost perpendicularly, forming a close amphitheatre; and in two places glittering cascades foam down from their very summits, into the bushes on a level with the town. The descent from the summit of the pass over the Caravayan Andes to Sandia is very considerable, nearly 7000 feet in thirty miles, from an arctic to a sub-tropical climate. The height of Crucero is 12,980 feet; of the pass 13,600; of Cuyo-cuyo 10,510; and of Sandia 6930 feet above the sea.[309]