The Adventures of a Peruvian Bus

We kicked off our Peruvian bus adventures with a cool 48-hour bus ride from Buenos Aires to Tacna Peru with one of Argentina´s top bus companies. The first class floor, where we decided to get seats since the ride was so long, had its own steward, dressed in dress clothes and a tie, who made us tea and gave us cookies at random hours of the day. The half-dozen movies were remarkably good and our fellow passengers, a retired couple from Lima, bought us apples after ours were confiscated at Chile border and offered us their spare room whenever we pass through Lima again.

Then we were dropped off in Tacna, Peru´s southernmost city, and our Peruvian bus adventures began. The two señoritas at the front desk gave us directions to the ATM and then when we arrived to board the bus and the waiting room was crowded, they invited us to sit behind the desk with them. We chatted with all of them, I think there were four, for a while, and then the truth came out: one of them thought Seth was cute and wanted to know if he was single.

We played along for another 10 minutes and then boarded the bus. By this time Seth had managed to communicate the idea of "blowing kisses" between his human Spanish dictionary, yours truly, and some expressive pantomime. There were various giggles at this display as we boarded, which escalated to an entirely new level as the bus pulled out, with Seth¨s window in full view of the front office.I´ve never been to a Justin Beiber concert, but I have a feeling the ensuing shrieks that attracted the attention of everyone on the bus, are probably akin to the noises made by similarly-aged girls at such concerts. The analogy is even more apropos since Seth´s still uncut hair is starting to resemble that of young Beiber.

The bus ride was a little cold, but not terribly awful except for the incredibly monotonous movie about British fighting Zulus. We arrived in Puno around 3:30 am, spent a few hours on a hotel floor, and shoved off for a 2-day tour of the indigenous islands. Upon our return, we acted on the suggestion of one of our fellow tourists and asked to pay for 2nd class but sit in 1st class.

Once again, the señorita was very friendly and gave us the desired upgrade. She also had lots of questions about our lives and home ... including whether or not we were single. In retrospect, it may have turned out better if she had been less effusive. The bus was hands down the worst bus we´ve ever ridden in--the seats did not recline all the way, the leg rests were too short, the seats were too narrow for first class, the gears screamed every time we hit 3rd gear and the toilet hole dumped directly onto the road.

Surprisingly we slept a little bit and haven´t been too tired in our first day working outside Cusco. We laid out a field for reforestation and tomorrow we´ll start digging holes. We´re looking forward to our 2 weeks in this area, which should give us enough time to prepare for the next bus ...