Bus Travel in Peru - Our Luck Runs Out

We had great luck in Ecuador with our many days of bus travel.  In all, we took eight bus rides varying from one to eight hours in duration.  Bus travel in Ecuador is not luxurious;  some times it is downright uncomfortable and scary.  Not once did we experience a break down, delay or other issue on any of our trips, however.

I kept telling the kids that as our trip progressed, next to Peru and then to Argentina, the quality of the bus service and roads would improve.  In most respects that was correct, except in Peru when our luck with bus reliability finally ran out.

First, our bus from Nazca to Arequipa got a flat tire. It was a little bit after 6 PM and we were making great time heading South along the barren, desolate and desert-like Pacific Coast of Peru.  The scenery and vast, empty beaches were stunning.  Huge waves were rolling and there was empty desert in every direction.  All was great until we heard a sound like a small explosion. It was pretty clear that a tire had just blown. We wondered what that meant for our trip. Would we be stranded waiting for a repair vehicle or new bus? The driver pulled to the side of the road and stopped to examine the situation. He then started driving again. Would we just keep going with a flat tire on to Arequipa? No, we soon stopped again, this time in front of a typical shack like house on the side of the road. We were told that they would change the tire and we would be back on the road shortly. So, the two drivers got out the spare tire and changed the tire in no more than 30 minutes. Impressive! It ended up being a bit of a blessing in disguise as the stop allowed us to view a beautiful sunset on the Pacific Ocean. We also got a small peak at life in this region of Peru. Suffice it to say, life looked pretty tough. A ramshackle house made of many different materials, a turkey running around the yard and no electricity or running water, perhaps.

That was last Saturday and this past Saturday (yesterday) brought yet another long bus ride. This time from Puno (on Lago Titicaca) to Cuzco (near Machu Picchu). We had splurged a little and booked a bus line called Inka Express. This transformed a straight 6 or 7 hour bus trip into a 10 hour journey with an English speaking tour guide, stops at 6 archaeological sites along the way and a stop for lunch. Well, it didn’t quite work that way. We were again traveling through stunning scenery, this time in the high plains of the Andes headed up towards the high point of our journey, when we felt the bus lurch, slow down and begin to spew white smoke everywhere. We thought we had our second flat tire on a bus in Peru. The smoke kept coming, however, and we began to think that this time it was different. Again, they stopped the bus and got out to take a look. Our tour guide gave us an update and said that the bus had some engine trouble and that we would try to drive slowly for 15 minutes or so to our lunch stop and that the company would send us a new bus. So, we started moving again. He opened some windows to get us some air, but the smoke started coming in. The bus moved very slowly and the smoke just kept coming. It quickly became clear that it was not possible to drive the bus further so we stopped at a random spot along the road.

Most everyone had a good attitude about the situation and we then proceeded to wait for some help. Cell phones didn’t work so our guide flagged down the few passing vehicles and sent one of the bus staff in one of them to get some help. We played cards. We waited. We met some locals and nearly cleaned out the one small tienda that was clearly stocked for local consumption, not a broken down bus full of tourists. We waited. Kelli got a bit of a walk in. We waited. We met a very cute 5 month old girl. We waited. We observed some old political ads painted on the roadside. We waited. The kids did some homework and then after 2 or 3 hours a new bus showed up to take us on our way.

All in all, if this is the worst of bus travel in South America we still are lucky. We’ll see!