A Long Trip Back

December 29th & 30th, 2007 Chicago to Ecuador to Peru

International Travel = Adventure Travel

Even if you aren´t exploring the depths of the Amazonian Rainforest or hang gliding in Argentina, international travel is always an adventure. Getting from Chicago to Houston to Ecuador was pretty standard, although packed from holiday travelers. Ecuador to Peru was a different story. That was international travel. In a third world country.

I got off the plane around 1AM and headed to the hotel only to find out my reservation had been canceled. Alright. Since I didn´t really know of any other hotels and only a room for a few hours anyway I decided to head straight to the bus terminal and pull an all-nighter. I bought a ticket for 6:30AM and camped out in the lounge for the next 4 hours. Fortunately I made friends with a young Peruvian couple who were making the same trip. This allowed to me go to the bathroom without hauling two suitcases into the stall with me.

When I bought the ticket, I noticed the price was 25% cheaper than the bus line I used to get to Ecuador. So, I made sure to ask if the trip was direct. I was told yes and informed the duration was 11 hours. I only remembered it taking 8 to get here, so once again I inquired about the trip. The customer behind me assured me it was a direct trip.

Nope. I get on the bus at 6:30AM and we proceed to stop every 15 minutes. It’s the day before New Years Eve so everyone is traveling. All the seats are sold plus they have got people in the aisles using the bus like a combi (which is public transportation that runs a route much like city bus routes in a large American metropolis.) Eventually, we are only stopping every hour in the towns along the highway to the border.

Its impossible to sleep and I have people hanging over me pretty much the 6 hour trip to the border. Finally, we make it to the border and everyone files off the bus to go through immigrations. I was toward the back of the line and almost got left in Ecuador. Several people did.

Once we cross the border the Peruvian government makes us deboard the bus several times. Its only supposed to be a one time procedure like it was in Ecuador. But Peru´s government is exactly logical. See, if we make people get off the bus more often that creates jobs. Bureaucracy is a good thing; it creates jobs. Jobs are good. All jobs. Even drastically unproductive ones.

The standard is to serve food on bus trips this long. Not on this bus line. Therefore, my breakfast, lunch and dinner consisted of whatever I could buy through the window from a vendor. Mostly potato chips and soda. At 8PM we arrive at our destination, 13 hours after departure. I haven´t slept for 48 hours so I snagged a hamburger and crashed early.