Flyin' Shoes

Today was the start of the long journey back to Seattle and the first leg was a nine hour stretch on the Cruz del Sur. I thought that after enjoying the lower VIP section, that I wouldn’t be able to deal with the smaller standard seats upstairs but they were still roomy and comfortable. They also recline almost fully and I was yet again, able to manage the impossible of some sleep on the bus.

After sitting on the bus for so long, I wasn’t in the mood to haggle over taxis on the exit from the terminal and was hopeful when a driver walked up smiling and asking if we’d like a ride. Something I hadn’t noticed before when leaving Lima, was the same pricing board that I’d encountered in Chiclayo. This one said 35 soles to the airport which seemed pretty steep, compared to the guide books recommendation of around 15. I’d already decided that I wouldn’t be paying more than 20 and offered this to the driver, at which point, he promptly laughed and walked off shaking his head. Another driver headed over and offered the trip for 30 but I was pretty adamant. He dropped the price to 25 and complained about the traffic, but then finally agreed after I walked off, saying I had nothing more than 20.

It took forever to cover what looked like a short distance on the map to the airport, but the route took us through some of the more interesting areas of Lima, including the district with governmental buildings and it was nice to be able to get some kind of perception of Lima, that was more positive than the first night of arrival, three weeks ago.

Now I’m at the airport and all checked in, after having to wait for the AA desk to open at 7pm. Lima airport doesn’t have much in the way of choice, to keep you entertained for longer stays before take-off, so it’s time for a few celebratory drinks before catching the first of three flights back to Seattle, starting at around midnight.

Time to check out of the hotel and a brief conversation with the front desk about unpaid drinks. I then had to relate the story about being woken the night before and the same question the guy asked me whom I paid. I think the morning desk would have argued, if I hadn’t been able to reel off the exact amount I paid the night before. They also tried the same deal with B, who thankfully told them the same as I had. Not that I would have argued all day over what would translate to a $10 bill, but it’s the principle, isn’t it.

The flight over the Nazca lines aboard a 6 seater Cessna had me a little nervous, with the stories I’d heard about the pilots turning hard and making rapid drops. It was pretty quick to get aboard the plane after the airport tax of 20 soles was paid (yet more mystery taxes, not included in the price) and about 5 minutes to reach the first of the lines.

The Nazca lines are smaller than I expected – it’s certainly a flight of fancy to think that these can only be seen from space, as they’re small enough to be hard to spot from the plane. Nevertheless, it’s still impressive that anyone could spot these puppies from the land and then dedicate a life to cleaning and understanding them.

The flight ended up being not so queasy and we hit the ground again, around 35 minutes after taking off. Walked the two blocks to the Cruz Del Sur compound, where I had to point and wave to the clerk who was saying we didn’t have a reservation after I showed him the purchase numbers. Some flapping later and he smirked and printed the tickets out; maybe hoping to have us pay twice? who knows.

Sitting down to wait for boarding, there was a crazy-friendly kid with downs syndrome, shaking hands with us all and patting people on the back. Had to laugh, when he sneezed hard into his hand, before shaking a girls hand in line.

The long coach trip was broken nicely with two pretty good movies and embarrassingly enough, drawing me into the third movie of The Little Mermaid. We did have a few slow areas to drive through, including one area next to the beach near Tanka (I think?), where the sand dunes had blown across the main highway, covering it with a few feet of sand. Short wait while this was bulldozed out the way and then it was back to overtaking on blind hairpin corners. It’s been nice to get out of the grime and smell of Nazca, for some dramatic coastline. The towns too, look in better shape, with well paved sidewalks and plenty of lighting. The houses still resembled square adobe structures with straw or tin roofs but looked much cleaner.

We were due to arrive in Arequipa at 11:30pm, which was 30 mins longer than the bus line had said in their email. We actually ended up arriving at 12:20am and ready for sleep. Getting to the hotel, for some reason the reservation had been deleted but we were offered another room. Despite the bed being too short (about 5’7″ for my 6″ frame)it was wonderfully soft and after taking advantage of the 4 soles beer in the room, I fell asleep within minutes of turning out the light. Tomorrow we get our proper room and hopefully I get to find an adapter for the laptop.

Barely managed 5 hours of sleep after getting to bed at around midnight.  Antuiga Miaflores is a beautiful hotel and I would have love to have spent a bit more time looking around – especially as it cost $94 for the night.  Something Jorge reminded me of last night was the discount that visitors get on hotel tax.  Residents, he says, pay around 50% tax but as a visitor, it is a fraction of that.

Jorge was waiting just after 6:15am for the drive to the bus station, which took around 20mins.  Cruz del Sur has the reputation as the best transport in Peru but my judgement needs to hold off until I get to travel with a rival company in a couple of weeks.  The station itself is more of a secure compound and the security measures appear to be adequate with some basic wanding, bag searches and video-taping of everyone on-board.

Something that puts our current Internet infrastructure to shame, is the fact that there is WiFi on the bus and full internet connection, whenever there is a cell-phone signal.  As we’re heading straight down the Pan-American highway, coverage has been great.

Leaving Lima, the landscape changes to mostly sand and accomodation that consits of tin roofs on top of brick or adobe structures.  Passing through towns like Chincha Alta brought a more dense collection of these buildings and small combis everywhere.  One truck was piled high with scrap wood and metal, but who knows where it was headed, as it looks like trash is just moved around here, rather than taken away.  The streets are often not discernable and many areas are reminiscent of refugee compounds but for these people, it works.

Dogs are roaming free on many corners, often in pairs, and don’t seem to concerned about the traffic flying past.  I never saw a single one roam off a representative sidewalk which is just as well; transit can be crazy here and often ignores anything else on the road.

The first major stop was in the Paracas National Reserve – I place that I originally was going to take an ocean tour from before removing it from the itinerary.  As the weather is foggy and cool this morning, I wouldn’t have seen much and the reserve itself isn’t so jaw-dropping with miles of beige sandy landscape.  After navigating the sand streets for a couple of minutes, we backed into a walled compound to drop off and pick up several passengers. 

The next stop up is Ica, before taking the final stretch to Nazca.  Half-way through this 6.5 hour bus trip, with the Sun finally showing, and looking forward to stretching my legs again.