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Cruz del sur
Luxury bus travel truly exists!Before commencing this trip, my plan was to use local transport in order to gain the real Peruvian experience.....however as all you guys out there know too well, every woman has the right to change her mind up until the very last minute! So I am no exception to that rule...
After taking safety records into account and the advise of the hostel staff I opted for the higher end of bus travel....Cruz del
sur to be precise. Reclining leather seats, toilet on board (however only no 1's allowed) and food provided,
tv with films and not forgetting the fleece blanket (an absolute must for the chilly air conditioning)...and pillow. After the Air France flights this truly felt like first class!!!!
So my original plans were to get the bus from Lima to
Cusco and on route stop off at a couple of locations. However once again my map reading skills came into question....since buses do not link all the places I wanted to visit in the direction of travel I wanted to go (Sarah I am sure this reminds you of my attempt to get to
Mt Cook from Franz Josef by bus rather
Bingo on the bus!
Yes they really do play BINGO on the bus! However my lack of knowledge of Spannish numbers meant I could not take part :-( than helicopter!). So once again change of plans....I decided to visit
Huancayo for a night and then return to Lima for a night and then head off to
Cusco via Inca....sorry if
i lost you in all that....
My logic (yes there is always logic...) behind this was two fold, one to gain a bit of exposure to the bus travel (
i am not the best passenger...
i much prefer being in the driver seat) and to see how I faired with the altitude...as
Huancayo is located 3268 feet above sea level a mere 60 below
Cusco.
The total bus journey lasted 7 hours each way....which is a drop in the ocean to what is to follow on Wed
30th a 20.5hr journey to
Cusco!
So I left Lima on Monday
28th at 13:30 and arrived in
Huancayo at 20:30....needless to say I had no accommodation organised....which turned out well, since I just rolled into the first hotel
i found...not sure if it was the altitude, the meat from the day before, the meat from the pie from earlier that day, the 4.5hrs of constant turns in the road up the mountains
pink banana
a first for me (just like when
i did the
bungy jump
i had no idea how
i was supposed to get back up to the top...similarly in order to reach an altitude of 3200 feet, why did the prospect of going up a very big mountain in a
zig zag manner did not even cross my mind
i will never know...or maybe better not knowing!) or a combination of all....but
i was in desperate need of my own bathroom...
After a great nights sleep, I woke early and following a HOT shower (yes it was the worth the extra money for just that alone)
i ventured out to roam
Huancayo at
8am. The sun was out, so I sensibly applied 50 factor sunscreen and wore a
t-shirt....much to the amusement of the locals who thought
i was crazy...they all wore polo necks and cardigans or down feather jackets! I spent the next 3 hours walking round the main plaza and then venturing aimlessly round the various streets where eventually
i ended up on the outskirts of the city.
On route, I found a shop that sold bananas so I thought it was a perfect opportunity for me
SEPA would have a field day!
Graham, if you fancy a wee trip to Peru you may want to see if there are any opportunities for a secondment at the Peruvian Environment Agency (if such a department even exists)! to get one of my 5 a day (my choices on this front are very limited, since all the street vendors want to peel the fruit for you, which is probably not the most sanitary thing...you see I am being sensible!). During this exchange I managed to use my new phrases for the day "
buenos diaz" good morning and "adios" goodbye. The shop keeper found me wearing a
t-shirt very funny he kept going it was cold to which
i had no answer or pre-prepared
vocabularly....he tried to ask where
i was from but Ingles did not mean anything to him. This whole exchange was being witnessed by his wife and another friend...who kept laughing behind the counter...if anything I made their morning and I got to eat my first pink fleshed banana...I didn'
t think such a thing existed (little that
i know).
During my travels I came across a park that was filled with these massive hats (
Deirdre these would have looked right at home at your Mad Hatters tea party!...who knows I may be inspired to create another Tania classic,
Rosie watch this space....), so while I am taking photos of the hats the local
outskirts of Huancayo
Yes I really did venture to the outskirts of the city....that is how I am clocking all those GCC steps! youngs proceeded to take photos of me on their mobiles....obviously they don´
t see many
t-shirt clad backpackers their way, since the park was not even listed on the Lonely Planet book.
Eventually I made my way back to the city centre plaza where I met 2 tourist police ladies who officially welcomed me to their city and one of them thankfully spoke English...they kindly took my photo in front of the cathedral and statue....just to prove I was there!
Shortly followed by my
45min attempt at a conversation in
Spannish with a retired Policeman...Dad, I wonder if all your praying culminated in Jesus entering my life or if it was just one of those random encounters....I promise I am not making this up, his name was Jesus Percy....it was one of those random meetings that I will never forget...in a brief summary the conversation started by him asking me what my name was and I thought he was asking what my marital status was....it was one of those cross wired experiences...but good humoured and a very pleasant way to make a Peruvian acquaintance who willingly gave me his name, mobile & email address and
Mad hats - 1 of 4
Deirdre these would have looked great as gaziboes during your Mad Hatter´s tea party showed me photos of his son & daughter plus his police credentials to ensure he was legitimate, just in case I needed to contact some one while in Peru travelling (he is an ex-police man after all, it does not harm to have him as a contact). He also recommended I visit to the north of the country and not just the south as per my plans...something for me to think about!
Through out all of this the sun was getting hotter and hotter and before I realised my arms, face and neck were lobster pink...despite the 50 factor sunscreen. At least I had the air conditioning on the bus to cool me off...so now I have the reverse panda look...a bright red face with two massive white eyes where my sunglasses were located..as if I didn'
t already look like a tourist, now they can see me from outer space too!
Returned to Lima late last night and after a much needed
luke warm shower (my fragile skin could not handle hot)
i slept until
6am....so taking the opportunity to update this before heading out for a final walk round Lima, I am due to head
to the bus station for my trip to
Cusco at
1pm...so a few more steps to be clocked up until then.
Eileen / David below are my
GCC step count for Day 2 - 6
Day 2 - 9,507
Day 3 - 18,193
Day 4 - 30,389
Day 5 - 20,205
Day 6 - 23,237
I have already updated the
website and Day 1 on the team spreadsheet, you will need to update with the above info.
Until the next update take care
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Sarah
non-member comment
Map Reading Skills
There is nothing wrong with your map reading skills....it's just that Pacific rim nations have big mountains and ranges, so you have to go the very long way round just to get anywhere!!