A day in a bus

Day 259 – 260 – Lima, Peru

So… instead of looking for a quick, cheap flight from Cuzco to Lima, I went the long road, the 21h bus ride.

For such a long trip, I chose the best company, Cruz del Sur, and took a VIP seat. Extra-wide, leg room, bathroom on the bus, blanket and pillow, USB charger, individual screen with a choice of movies and entertainment, as in planes, individual light, meals served on board, 2 drivers with a change every four hours, staff on board ready to help, the height of luxury.

I took a taxi to get to the bus terminal, they have a luggage intake counter, perfect, and finally I boarded the bus. I was next to a family, but the children were remarkably well behaved – as well as you can expect, especially at the end, but after more than 20 hours cooped in a seat, what can you do?

The first part was mountains. That means sinuous roads, hairpin bends, speed averaging 30km/h (we had a screen with the speed of the bus, and it signalled when it was going above the speed limit, 90km/h), and after a whole night of this and a dodgy breakfast, I got sick. Hum, the delight of puking in a tiny toilet stall where water is rationed -and not potable- and targeting the toilet bowl is complicated by the bus turns.

Let’s add that during the night, I think we stopped to change a tyre.

We left at 6pm on Wednesday, and we were supposed to arrive at 3pm on Thursday in Lima.

The first stop where we could get off the bus to stretch our legs was on Thursday morning around 10am in Nazca, I was so happy to breath outside air -even if I think the air in the bus was cleaner. And we were finally out of the hills.

We had a second stop in Ica around 1pm, and by that time according to the road sign we weren’t going to be on time. When it says “Lima 270 km” and you are limited to 90km/h, you can’t be there in two hours.

We had a lunch break at 2:30pm in a roadside restaurant, where I got a Cuban rice: rice with fried eggs and fried bananas. I mostly ate the rice to appease my stomach. The eggs were yummy too.

And then… we hit rush hour.

I’m not sure if it is rush hour especially or if it is just hitting the main road for Lima, because trying to get to a major city on the only highway coming from the South is bound to get slow.

There are only two official lanes that I saw, but that doesn’t stop the traffic from driving on the dirt side to try to create a third and fourth lane, anyway it’s going so slow that it doesn’t make much of a difference.

Until the bus stops again to change a tyre.

So, we arrived slightly past 7pm at the bus terminal.

I was beat, I had vomit on my pants, I wanted badly to go to the bathroom -onboard bathrooms are limited to liquid waste-, I was feeling grungy… At least they had again a counter for the luggage, so I took the time to go to the bathroom first.

Then I got my luggage, jumped in a taxi, went straight -in Lima traffic, that doesn’t mean quickly- to my hostel, checked in and went to scrub in the shower. Oh, the delight!

(Featured above: Park of the Exposition in Lima)