2008.10.31 – Arequipa, Peru
The morning after Machu Picchu we made it down to the main Cuzco bus station and stupidly bought the cheapest bus ticket to Arequipa, Peru that we could find. It was a 10 to 12 hour journey that cost us about $12 US. Every travel guide on Peru says the same thing, spend the extra money and go with a nice bus company, but we didn’t listen. We thought we made out when we found out our seat assignments were at the back of the bus because we figured nobody would bother us back there and we could coast on into Arequipa in style. We loaded up and settled into our new environment for the next 12 hours. Right off the bat, the bus immediately started having problems. About an hour into the trip the thing broke down and the driver was in the back tinkering with the engine. We got back up and running after sitting for almost an hour but things just got worse for Z and I.
Unbeknownst to us, the back of the bus is apparently where all the people who didn’t buy tickets or bought some really cheap form of ticket like to sit. As the journey went on and the bus made it’s stops, all the “Cholas”, who are traditional farming women in Peru, started piling onto the bus and funneled right to the back, sitting practically right on top of us. Z was getting pretty irked and just trying to sleep through it. I can hardly ever sleep during the day so I just sucked it up and tried to talk to the Cholas or look at scenery to pass time. We rolled onward and I was starting to get hungry as hell. Eventually, we stopped at a small town and these two girls got on the bus. One of the girls stayed in the front of the bus with a meat cleaver and was chopping away at this big-ass hunk of meat. The other girl walked down the aisle and was serving up the freshly cut meat in a plastic bag with potatoes. I was so hungry that I said what the hell and ordered up some “meat-in-a-bag” for 5 Peruvian Soles, about $2 US.
I ate my meat-in-a-bag and shared the potatoes with the Cholas sitting on top of us. Down the road it came time for the bus to stop for a bathroom break in the middle of nowhere at this market. This was my first long South American bus ride so I didn’t really know the ropes. I got off the bus, paid my money to take a piss in a hole in the ground that they called a bathroom, and went to a stand to buy a yogurt drink to help fill me up a little. I bought the drink and ran outside to see the bus pulling away down the dusty road. I started running after it until I caught up and it stopped. I guess Z awoke from his slumber to notice I wasn’t there and ran to the front of the bus to get them to stop. I would have been so screwed if I would have missed that bus because all my crap was on it and I can’t imagine many other busses or any vehicle for the matter coming through this abandoned town. Had this been America, everyone would have to wait on account of my incompetence, and if they would not have waited, a formal complaint would have probably been filed. In Peru they just leave, no questions asked.
We got to Arequipa and booked another hostel. It was Halloween night so the town was jumping. As much as I like Chile and Argentina, Peru can be a really fun time. Some cities in Peru just buzz with life and Arequipa is one of them. The streets are just packed with people. Z and I went out on the town to celebrate making it off that bus in one piece. We had some dinner in the main square and wandered around until we found a bar. I started drinking and was talking to everybody. Z went home early and I stayed out solo until I knew it was time to go home. I got in with this group of Peruvians and was just having a good time hanging out. We were all good friends for awhile until the guy who was sort of overseeing the group got tired of me and told me to leave. Most of the night we were speaking in Spanish but this command came in English and was very simple, something like, “You have to go now”. I wisely took the hint and fled the scene. I was in a sorted state while walking back to my hostel, the stupidest thing to do in a country like Peru. Honestly, I don’t know how I even found our hostel that night and I cant believe I didn’t get mugged but all in all it was a really fun night.