The dusty mountain road stretched ahead. I could see up ahead that it was blocked again, this time with a frayed rope hung across it, unlike the rusty chain I’d encountered at the last guard post a few miles back. If I was counting correctly, this would be the sixth stop within the hour where I would be peered at suspiciously and my passport demanded. No “gringos” were traveling in this remote region during the war. I was probably a strange sight to my roadside scrutiniz