Back in the late 1960s, when I was flying VC10s, I had a long slip in Lima with several days off. I had wanted to take the train up into the Andes, but heavy rain had caused a landslide which had blocked the track. So, instead, I wandered down to the Trans-Peruana airline's office and asked to hitch a ride over the Andes to Iquitos.
I wanted to do this because they were flying ex-BOAC 049 Connies. The first leg was (and I kid you not) between the peaks of the Andes to Pucallpa where we landed on what looked like a bumpy country road amongst the trees. It was immediately filled after we landed with people, donkeys, dogs and chickens. When we set off again, these were chased off the runway by a man in a car and we set off for Iquitos on the upper Amazon.
But I do admit to having a few second thoughts when I saw how run down the aircraft looked and, again, when the captain pulled out an Esso road map from which he seemed to be navigating! However, a marvelous ride with all those lovely engine noises and clouds of smoke when starting up.