Lima to Cusco

On Thursday afternoon, we optimistically boarded the Circa bus that would take us to Cusco. The bus ride was to take 21 hours, with occasional stops for meals. Over the course of the 26 in-transit hours that ensued, we learned a few valuable lessons....

-Travelling by bus in Peru is an amazing way to see different parts of the country. For most of the trip we were on two lane roads, not highways, meaning that the views from our bus window provided endless entertainment. Among the vistas were stunning desert sandscapes pushing up against the ocean, brightly colored shanty towns, lush Andean mountainscapes, and bustling farming villages speckled with cows, pigs, and occasional llamas.

- A bag of nuts + a bag of dried mango + some yogurt + some bread and cheese = not enough food for a 26 hour journey. We were rightly worried about being at the culinary mercy of the food stands at which our bus was to stop, so we decided to bring our own food. We ended up buying ice cream sandwiches for breakfast.

- Peruvians, (from Lima, at least), hate being cold. Even around hour fifteen when the toilet in the back of the bus stopped flushing and the bus started smelling like sewage, our fellow passengers would still yell at us if we cracked open the window.

- Bring a lightsource. Headlamps would have been great additions to our packs. After night descended, we were in total darkness until morning, since all of the overhead lights were broken!

- Pay the extra 20 soles ($6.60) for the 'luxury' bus with meals included and, presumably, a clean bathroom.