The Interesting Bus Trip from Lima to Ayacucho

To the left is a map of Peru. The green point is Lima. The red point is around where Ayacucho is (the map didn't have it, grr!).

8.05 - The intended departure time for the bus, but the bus is not here yet. It's quite cold in Lima.

8.20 - I got on the bus. The seats are assigned, my seat is way up front on the 2nd floor - panoramic view. We'll see how that works out.

8.25 - There is enough leg space but most of it is taken up by my backpack - as usual. Seated next to me is an old man. Not too excited about that but at least he won't rob me.

8.30 - Maybe this won't be so bad.

8.40 - We have just been informed with a double emphasis that the toilet on the bus is strictly urinal. For other needs we should contact the bus hostess in order to find alternative solutions :p

8.42 - The trip will take nine to ten hours.

8.45 - A man is standing in the middle of the bus and won't shut up. He is advertising a medical doctor and a laboratory. He is talking so much and loudly and people are actually listening and responding to his questions. Some mp3 music is in order.

9.00 - The bus is pulled over at the entrance of the highway for a police control search. Showing our ID's was requested, but since I was at the very front of the bus, the policeman skipped me. He must have been enchanted by my charming beauty :p Another bus was searched by a policeman and a dog. There was a reporter and cameraman filming the whole ordeal. I think it was a standard security check but seeing the dogs and so many cops was scary for a while. Yes, the fearless Izidora does get disconcerted at times ;)

9.10 - Exiting Lima there are so many billboards for Inka Kola, which is a yellow fizzy drink made of, among other things, a native plant. It's sweet and tastes like bubblegum. Don't really think there is a need to advertise it as I saw that in Lima everybody drink it all the time!

9.20 - The highway is well done but everything apart from the road is dug up. There are shacks resembling slums on the sides of the roads. Trees in the middle of the road separate the two traffic directions. But the trees look half dead and everything looks like it's still under construction but there are very few workers actually doing anything! I did get a brief glimpse of the beach and it looks beautiful!

9.30 - We have been given a small snack, courtesy of the bus company, Expreso Molina! Looks good but I have been warned of puking problems so I will not eat while on the bus. The hostess also checked that we all had our seatbelts fastened - not very reassuring.

9.40 - The bus is showing The Office but since I'm all the way up front I can't see the telly and it's so
loud! Everyone else seems to have earplugs as they are used to it. I don't. Off to listen to some music and sleep.

12.00 - Been sleeping on and off. The temperature in the bus is changing like crazy. It's so hot when the sun shines on the bus, when it doesn't it's cold. When I left Lima I was wearing three long sleeves. Now I'm wearing one. Now, the land surrouding the highway seems cultivated, large fields of, among others, sunflowers perhaps.

12.10 - We have a half hour rest stop for lunch at a semi-restaurant. I can be spotten a mile away - I'm the only one without black hair. I also reckon that all the people going to Ayacucho have darker skin than the average Limean, although in Lima black hair also dominates. Now on to the topic of bathrooms - perhaps the most important standard evaluator for me, even more important than the TV. The toilets at the rest stop are a separate facility from the restaurant. Surprisingly they are well-maintained. Generally in Peruvian public toilets there is no toilet paper dispenser so you can see everybody going to the toilet clutching their own toilet paper roll. At the bus terminal they sell about 15 sheets of paper for 0.50 soles (1 sol = $0.33 = 2kn) or you can buy a whole roll. At this particular 'facility' there is no soap dispenser but there are sinks. Generally the rest stop bathrooms are good and not stinky. I am impressed! They also were not a hole in the ground but had an actual toilet. Okay, enough about toilets. Overall, the lunch site is pretty decent, like any in Croatia. All the buses to Ayacucho stop there. Also, the bus is locked during the lunch stop to prevent theft - very smart and very impressive! I had some food while we were on firm land :)

12.45 - Leave the lunch site. The drive has been quite unbumpy so far but we haven't arrived to the mountains yet which I can see in the distance. The old man's son is now sitting next to me instead of the old man.

12.47 - Just been given a plastic bag by the bus hostess. It is for puking, I assume, since we are approaching the mountains.

12.52 - Just took the pill against puking that the family bought for me at the bus terminal in Lima.

12.53 - The bus is screening a movie now, I think it's Peruvian and it's really loud. The people that don't have ear plugs are putting toilet paper in their ears. I am following their example. Like I have always believed 'Necessity is the mother of all inventions.' Naturally, I also have a toilet paper roll with me because the family bought me one in Lima even though I said I didn't need one. People here are a smart bunch!

12.56 - Only my right earphone works :( That always happens to me. I don't treat my earphones right and I really love these. Dammit!

12.57 - I didn't take any photos at the rest stop coz I didn't want to stand out with my camera and I only took a few from the bus and now the guy sitting next to me takes one that is so much better than mine. So lame and ironic!

12.58 - The old man and the son so back to their initial seats.

12.59 - Traffic sign: Pantayco.

13.00 - It is gettng a bit bumpy and winding. Fingers crossed for not puking. I guess reading is really out of the question.

13.05 - For now the road is pretty good - winding, but without potholes. For now. These roads could give Croatia's a run for their money :p

13.07 - It's so hot that I want to take my socks off. Off to sleep.

16.04 - Got some good sleep, on and off. Opened my eyes in time to see the bus shooing a herd of llamas off the road - so Croatia! In Peru it seems that vehicles have the inalienable right of way - both on the highway and in Lima. It's quite terrible - cars and buses beep at pedestrians to get out of the way and people actually run off the road to not get run over. Shameful!

17.33 - The road so far has been great. Okay, so it winds in circles but if you're used to Jadranska Magistrala (the main coastal road in Croatia) this is fantastic because there are no potholes. Normally I wouldn't be so impressed but I was scared to death by my Lima family who told me the roads are so difficult, terrible, etc. Thing is, they were comparing it to roads around Lima, I was comparing it to Dalmatian roads, hehe. Basically, I was imagining half-paved roads where the bus almost flies off the mountain as you see in movies. This is perfect! It might also be so good because it's new. Jadranska Magistrala is ancient! Lol. Interesting fact: At certain points in the road there are large indentations in the road - like little valleys 1.5 meters long. Since everything else on the road looks good I think they were made to make vehicles reduce speed - there is nothing that a driver in Peru loves more than his vehicle. The bus mostly drove in the middle of a two-way road. That was a little scary but the speed was slow enough that when a vehicle from the opposite direction came the bus could move to it's own lane in time. The bus also overtook vehicles. As remote as Ayacucho is (we didn't pass any cities on the way there - just little villages), we passed another car every 20min, which I think is good. Now, the landscape among the mountains is beautiful, with rivers.

18.03 - It is dark now and we are approaching a city, which I assume is Ayacucho because it's time. There is so much light everywhere - it looks like a real city.

18.19 - Almost at the bus terminal. From the bus the city looks poor but urban with lots of buildings.

Thanks for going with me on this 10-hour bus ride :)

I must say that my biggest accomplishment during this trip is that I didn't have to use the toilet in the bus and we didn't stop since lunch! I am so excited for myself and impressed with my self-control to avoid food and drink (mostly to avoid puking, which did not occur :)

Hasta la proxima!


Spanish Phrase of the Entry: hasta la proxima = until the next one

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