bus.

December 19, 2010 at 8:05 pm
I guess I could have assumed that the bus ride from Pucallpa to Lima would not be what I expected. Haha. We were scheduled to leave at 10:30 so of course we didn’t actually leave till 11:30 and then we made about a billion stops on the way out of town. We stopped at several bus stations along the way in different towns and picked up more passengers. Each time we stopped we were accosted by little ladies who wanted to sell us food. They just march themselves right on the bus and shove food in our face all the while yelling what they have in their hands. They have no concept of personal space and everyone is shoving their way down the very skinny center isle. Occasionally the little girl behind me will give my hair a tug or rub my head. She has a liking for dad’s bald head as well. There is no bathroom on the bus so if you’ve gotta go you have to knock on the window between the “cockpit” and the bus and ask him to stop. At the moment we are in the midst of the Andes driving on a half paved, half cobblestone/dirt road. And as typical of Peru driving customs we are passing semi trucks on curves with no guardrails. We are invincible. Haha :) oh and don’t let me forget to mention that for the first hours of this trip we were all sweating more than a marathon runner on a 90 degree day. The bus we’re on is “new” but I guess they decided not to use their new AC on us. Thankfully, the drive thru the mountains is much cooler and quite pleasant after being in a constant state of sweaty for the past 4 months. Our form of entertainment has been quite an array of films. First we had an R rated movie with a lot of shooting and cursing-it was in English, next we had the classic Disney film Eight Below shown in Spanish, and currently we’re on our 3rd Bruce Lee movie. I have seen wwaaayyyy more of Bruce Lee movies in Spanish than I ever care to see in my life ever again. Our average speed has been between 20 and 30 MPH for the past little while. We’re expecting to be in Lima around sun rise. Oh Peru.
No AC, no food, no bathroom, and 96 stops… Sure glad I saved a whole 30 soles..about 10 bucks. Haha :) Oh well, just another thing to add to my Peruvian experiences list. :)