Long Bus Rides North

After Machu Picchu, we stayed in Cusco for a couple more days to enjoy the night life. We had a few drinks, met some really annoying people and promptly left the next day to go to Huaraz, eight hours north of Lima. Our journey to Lima was 18 hours on a very special bus. As we set off from Cusco we were given a magic show from a teenager, then at the next stop, only 15 minutes out of town, we were treated to 30 minutes of singing by a tone deaf, local boy. This was coupled with hundreds of different people jumping on the bus to sell all kinds of food from cheese to sweetcorn - at least you never went hungry!

The bus had a DVD player, but unfortunately we had no sound. It would have been difficult enough in Spanish, but with no sound at all, the films were useless! There was a toilet as well, but they kept it locked as the door didn´t shut properly and with the winding lanes around the Andes, the door would have banged all night. Unfortunately, 18 hours on a bus didn´t work too well without a toilet, so a couple of stops were made for two minute toilet breaks. All good and well if you´re male, but there were just as many women on the bus and we simply had to forget our modesty and pee with the men on the road side.

We arrived in Lima and wanted to get straight on a bus to Huaraz, but unfortunately we they didn´t go until late at night, so we set off in search of some accommodation. We found a cute little hostal in Milaflores, the posh part of town and chilled out to a naff American movie and a bottle of wine. The following day, we tried to do some tourist stuff, but failed terribly as they were on lunch, or the museum was really far out of the centre. We only managed to get to one museum, which was all about the Inquisition. That was pretty interesting as the building of the museum used to be where they tortured people and you could still see the cells and artifacts from the time. Very interesting, it gave me lots of ideas for when I need to get something out of Stu. Later that night we set off for Huaraz and another night bus. An uncomfortable ride, eight hours later and not much sleep, we arrived in Huaraz.