The Sacred Valley

One bad night bus and 23 hours later were enough to revise my opinion about Peruvian buses. Now my consensus is ¨the bus riding experience is not universally good...it greatly depends what bus company you take¨. For this particular journey from Lima to Cusco we had decided to take a cheaper and lesser known bus company called Flores only for the sake of saving a few dollars. The bus was similar, the seats just as comfortable, and the same 20-25 hour journey would applied to most companies. However, many times the difference between a good bus journey and a bad one is the movie/music selection, volume level of the stated entertainment, and the type of road/driver (and his ability to create a smooth ride). These factors become much more important on a night bus. On this particular journey with Flores the road and driver were just fine, but the rest wasn´t all flowers.

A very common, and completely counterintuitive, practice in South America is to play 1 or many horrifically loud and violent movies throughout the night with the sound on full blast. Try falling asleep with the sounds of screaming women running from Godzilla, while Jean-Claude Van Damme or the governor of California fires machine gun or rocket fire in your ear. Miraculously, the sound of locals snoring can be heard over the madness coming from the crackling speaker system. I, however, could not sleep. The movies coupled with a bad stomach kept me reeling in the fetile position for hours, with frequent trips to the ¨only for number 1¨ bathroom only to disobey this rule, and a plastic bag held close for the almost certain possibility that my stomach wanted to rid itself of the foreigners invading it on short notice. Through some divine interference I eventually managed to fall asleep. When all was said and done 23 hours later I was hungry, tired, had sat through about 8-10 horrible movies, but was happy to be in the sunshine of Cusco.

Cusco is a very interesting city. The grandeur and mystery of massive buildings, large plazas, and Inca ruines make it very popular. This, coupled with it´s proximity to Machu Picchu, fills the streets and shops with droves of tourists and just as many entrepreneurs trying to get a piece of the travelers pocket book. If you want a genuine local experience Cusco is not the place to be, but still a very interesting and unique stop on the Gringo trail. After thinking and saying this to my current travel partners, it was just our luck that we met 2 very friendly locals while exploring the ruines of the Moon Temple...

Kiki and Kula were tour guides taking a rest at the temple and offered to explain the importance of this site for free. After some chatting, picture taking, and jokes, they offered to help us buy bus tickets for our journey to Machu Picchu and later invited us to their house for a proper Peruvian dinner. That night we feasted! After a first course of salchipapas (hot dogs), pollo (chicken), a type of pastry made from maiz (corn), queso (cheese), and cuy (yes, I finally tried the famous guinea pig), we ate rice, vegetable salad, a tender piece of beef, and a delicious cut of ram meat. This was followed by a Peruvian mate (type of tea) and cake. I only wish someday these wonderful hosts will visit my house and I can return the favor.

Next stop... Machu Picchu!