Peru's long haul: highway to riches, or ruin?

With a gasp of brakes, the truck nears the rickety, one-lane bridge on a hot Amazon afternoon. As it slows, the cloud of dust in its wake rolls toward the truck and then washes over it, enveloping the 17 people riding on top with fine red dirt. The truck is a cisterna--a tanker--carrying a load of fuel from Cusco up over the Andes and down to the Amazon Basin, but the top of the tank is flat, with low wooden rails around it. Up here, just above the large letters that warn PELIGRO--COMBUSTIBLE on the side of the tank, the passengers close their eyes and hold their breath.

Among ...

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