To Lima
23 October 2005 (Sunday) – Huaraz to Lima, Peru
I left Huaraz on the morning bus to Lima. We crossed the high plateau for a while, surrounded by yellowish-green licho grass and soon, we could see the gorgeous Cordillera Blanca in the distance.
I was on a relatively cheap bus. I previously had a theory about bus travel in Peru. As I had heard of many stories where tourists had their things stolen on buses, I decided that each time I travel in Peru, I would pay for the more expensive bus. I figured that if I pay for more, the fellow passengers also have to pay for more. So, it would be wise to assume that they are of middle-class and above level, and so I feel more secure that way.
But Jaime of the hostel had told me another story. Recently, there had been up to 4 incidents of bus robberies on Moviltour buses (a company with luxurious buses). Apparently, although there was not supposed to be any stops, the buses were stopped by 3 men, who climbed onboard with guns and robbed everybody of everything. There were suspicions that the drivers were in collusion with the 3 robbers. They chose these buses because they knew that it would be full of tourists and rich people with money.
Sigh… Anyway, on hearing this story, today, I took a relatively cheap bus but one that looks rather alright. I had asked if they made any stops. They insisted ‘no’ but of course, they do and very often, too! They left more than 30 minutes later, kept stopping to pick up passengers, took in more passengers than seats available and many of them had to stand for hours on this route. And unfortunately for me, I had chosen a seat where I could partake of the urine odour coming from the toilet. Not the most pleasant bus-ride but the view was interesting and varied.
After leaving the deserted high plateau with snow-capped mountains, the view changed to rocky mountains, small towns and green trees as we descended down on ribbony roads. Later, the view changed again to outright dusty roads with brown, dry mountains with not a shred of green anywhere nearby. And finally, the sky turned absolutely misty white when we neared the coast.
Ah… we should reach Lima soon, I thought. This entire misty white sky is what I call ‘el clima Lima’ (the Lima weather, of course, when you say it in Spanish, it sounds nicer). I even used this description when I was in Singapore when we got shitty, sun-less, insipidly white sky. Does one ever see the sun here in Lima?, I wonder.
But I was mighty impressed with a particular part of the route where we skirted the base of huge sand dunes on our left side and the roaring waves of the Pacific Ocean on the right. It was a really breathtaking route.
I had previously contacted Percy of Lima from Hospitality Club. I told him my bus was scheduled to arrive at 5:30pm. What a load of bull the bus company promised me. We kept stopping all over Lima to let off every other passengers who lived along the way. We only pulled up at the terminal at around 7pm. I felt horrible to have made Percy wait. I hope he was Peruvian enough to show up late to pick me up. But no… there he was, having patiently waited more than 1 hour for me.
Percy is of Japanese-Peruvian descent. I had found his surname curious. No wonder. When I got home, I was faced with an exceptionally welcoming family. Percy’s sister, Emiko… brother Dante… and his smiling excitable mother. She was so pleased that I could speak Spanish, because they had had 8 or 9 guests previously but none of them spoke Spanish.
I previously had not really liked Lima but the reason I came here was that I wanted to attend a course to learn how to make glass jewellery and glass items like ash-tray, soap-dish, etc… I contacted a few people in Buenos Aires and one lady in Lima. Only the lady Danitza from Lima responded. Hence, here I was. Now that I had met such a pleasant family, I already started to like Lima a little and I really hope to like it more over the next few days.
Tags: 08) Touch of Peru, Lima
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