Estamos Aqui (en Peru)
11 01 2007Hola! Meghan and I are here safely in Lima. Our hotel is great (Los Conquistadores in San Isidro), we are using their internet access right now to post this… Lima is great, at least the San Isidro/Miraflores areas… when we went to downtown Lima yesterday to buy our bus tickets, you’ll be happy to know that we disregarded all of the numerous warnings from our hotel staff to not go downtown and not ride the bus. However, we did take their advice on what to carry. We left all credit cards, passports, money (except enough to buy the tickets), camera, etc. at the hotel and went.
The collectivo buses are a trip - they are basically large vans that pick people up anywhere on the street and drop them off anywhere - as long as the rider wants dropped off somewhere on the route the bus travels. How do you figure out the route? You read the street names on the side of the bus and hope for the best. One guy drives, another guy hangs out the sliding door and yells at every pedestrian on the sidewalk. Then when a passenger approaches the bus, the yelling guy, slaps the side of the bus with his hand to tell the driver to stop to pick up the passenger. At one point, we got on a bus assuming it went further down one road, but it turned, so we had to get off. Oh well, it only cost 60 cents for both of us. One of our cheaper learning experiences.
So we now successfully have our bus tickets to Tingo Maria … it is an overnight, 12 hour bus ride over La Cordillera de los Andes. So tomorrow morning we have the priviledge to begin worring about hosing ourselves down with DEET everyday and wearing our Permethrin clothes, since we will be in a Malaria risk area.
Buenos Dias Amigos,
Good to hear all is well in Lima. I hope you can figure out the collectivo system - I never did discover how to catch the right one and know where I was going! I hired a local “travel guide” from the hotel (in Huaraz)!
Enjoy the bus trip. You might want to take earplugs - the constant videos on the bus may be too much after a few hours! Also, be wary of “bus food”! I really enjoyed the bingo games they played! Good way to learn Spanish numbers and make the time go by!
adios, Gary
word. We sometimes go the wrong way but all in all it is a cheap way to get around, so no complaints! I am sitting in the hotel waiting for the taxi (playing it safe this time) into the city to get on our bus to Tingo Maria. Cheers!