Our travel “day” from Trujillo, Peru to Cochabamba, Bolivia was epic to say the least. It was long and draining but I wouldn’t have traded any moment of it. Here’s a look at each day of our travels:
September 10:
8 pm- Meet up with the rest of the squad in downtown Trujillo. Walk around and try to find some last minute snacks, including ice cream, for our long bus ride.
11 pm- Board the bus, try to nestle into a comfortable sleeping position, pop in my ipod and conk out for a good portion of the night.
September 11:
8:30 am- Arrive at the bus terminal in Lima and recheck our baggage for our afternoon bus. Pray the bags make it on.
9 am – Get a taxi, try for 10 minutes to communicate to the driver that we want to go to Dunkin Donuts.
9:15 am- Arrive at Dunkin Donuts and discover it’s closed. Have the taxi driver take us to anyplace where we can find breakfast.
9:20 am – Get dropped off at the “Las Vegas Cafe,” They don’t offer much so I end up getting two rolls and a coke, the breakfast of champions.
10 am – Discover we aren’t far from the bus terminal and decide to walk back instead of getting another taxi.
10:15 am- Meet another group of World Racers heading to a mall in the opposite direction and decide to tag along.
11:15 am- After a lot of walking and a long bus ride we arrive at an amazing mall built into a cliffside overlooking the ocean. We take in the view and observe paragliders sailing overhead then look around the mall and decide all of the stores are far to expensive for us to buy anything, so we decide to get an early lunch at Pizza Hut instead.
1 pm – Get a taxi to take us back to the bus station because it will be 4x faster than a bus/walking, however, as we’re driving back he spots white people on the side of the road and decides this will be a good place to let us of. Thank goodness they were World Racers. So we walk the rest of the way back to the station with them.
3:30 pm- We board the bus that will take us from Lima to Arequippa. I was assigned seat 1 on a double decker bus so I got extra leg room and an awesome view because of the windows in the front and on the side. It also meant I was able to observe all the cars/animals were barely missed hitting as we hurdled down the freeway. South American bus drivers must be related to Thai bus drivers. They drive like maniacs.
7 pm- The TV screens flicker to life and the first of three movies begins, “Source Code,” of course, all of the movies are dubbed in Spanish so Kaitlyn and I watch “The Bourne Identity” on her laptop instead.
8 pm- We are surprised to learn we will be given dinner but quickly remind ourselves not to get to excited. We were given a once warm but currently cold chicken and potato dish with chicha morada jelly for desert (made of purple corn, it’s nasty) and a cup of luke-warm coke to wash it down. I take my obligatory bite and then wrap it all up again, reaching for the Sublime Wafer and Ritz con Queso I purchased before we left.
10 pm- The final movie ends and the lights are dimmed. I pop in my headphones and fall asleep to the Avatar soundtrack, interestingly enough I got the best night of sleep I’ve ever gotten on a bus. Amen to that!
September 12:
7 am- We spot a sign that says “Welcome to Arrequippa,” everyone gets excited that we can soon get off the bus.
8 am- Figure out that Arrequippa is a provence as well as a city and we still have an undetermined amount of time driving through the desert and mountains before we reach our final destination.
9 am- After 17 hours of straight driving we finally pull into the Arrequippa bus terminal and can stretch our legs!
9:10 am- Unload the baggage compartment of the bus and learn that my pack as well as the rest of my teams packs were instead put on the second bus (the squad was split onto two buses). Pray that my pack is indeed on that bus and remind myself that it’s just “stuff.”
10 am– Move to a different terminal where our 2pm bus to Puno will be leaving from. Play a couple rousing rounds of Bananagrams then head out with my team to find lunch, pollo con papas fritas (chicken and french fries), we’re not sure if we’ll be able to get dinner so we aim to make this meal count.
2 pm- The bus driver is getting anxious and calls for us to board the bus, the only problem is the second bus carrying squadmates and hopefully my backpack hasn’t arrived yet. Amanda H. convinces the bus driver to take the bus over to the other terminal so that we can meet the other bus and leave ASAP. The 4 Peruvians on the bus aren’t happy we’re leaving so late and eventually get off the bus altogether.
3:15 pm- The second bus finally arrives. We unload, then reload the bus to Puno. Praise the Lord my pack is there.
3:20 pm- We are all on the bus and ready to leave on our windy, mountainous ride to Puno and Lake Titicaca.
10 pm- We arrive at the Puno bus terminal, most of us suffering from altitude sickness, sea level to 12,000 ft can do that to you. We all pile into taxi’s and head off to the 3 different hostels we’ll be staying at. When we get to our hostel it takes all of our energy simply to drop our bags and crawl into bed.
September 13:
3 am- I wake up with a killer headache, the same one I fell asleep with. I crawl down from the top bunk and futilely search for painkillers. I crawl back into my bunk defeated and down an entire bottle of water instead.
6 am- Decide to get out of bed and search for pain killers once again, I still can’t find them so I decide to take a hot shower instead. The water is scalding, but after a month of freezing bucket showers it feels so good.
6:30 am- Get some Iburophin from Kaitlyn and my headache finally starts going away, then I head up to the roof for breakfast, crepe-like pancakes and rolls with jam. After missing dinner the night before it just feels good to eat.
8 am- Squadmates convene at our hostel and then pile onto buses for an $8 tour of the floating islands on Lake Titicaca.
8:30 am- We get onto our tourboats then head out onto the lake. It’s different than I thought it would be. There’s not a snowcapped mountain in sight but there are a lot, a lot, a lot of reeds. We climb up onto the boats roof and enjoy the view on our 30 minute ride to the floating islands.
9 am- We’re greeted by men and women in bright neon outfits and ushered onto their floating reed island. Our guide, Roger gives us a presentation on Island life and how their government works. Then the women usher us into their huts and dress us in their neon outfits followed by a fairly convincing sales pitch in which the name “Nancy” is said a lot. Whatever that means.
10:30 am- We re board our boat and head to another island for a brief shopping/snack shop, then head back to port and get on buses back to our hostels.
12 pm- Everyone breaks into small groups and goes out to find pizza. We end up at a wood fired pizza restaurant with white tablecloths and an incredible wine collection. Needless to say it’s the nicest restaurant I’ve set foot in in 3 months, but, for as nice as the place looks the prices are decent and the pizza was absolutely delicious. Afterwards we look around different shops to buy hats and gloves and get rid of the last few soles in our wallets.
7 pm- Bunk beds are pushed aside and the entire squad gathers in our girls dorm room. We are challenged by the squad leaders, given some alone time to pray and process and then we reconvene for a time of speaking life and worship. At the end of the night Katie reveals our European ministry countries, Albania and Romania.
September 14:
8 am- Everyone piles onto the double decker bus that will take us to Bolivia. The driver and attendants are horrible packers and we end up with backpacks in the aisles, and somewhere in the malay Kelly’s daypack, including her passport gets stolen.
10 am- As we drive along the shores of lake Titicaca I see my first llama in Peru. I was beginning to doubt they existed.
11:30 am– We make it to the Peru/Bolivia border. Getting out of the Peru side is quick and easy but getting our Bolivian visas takes forever as they count and recount the visa money for all 56 of us. Kelly is somehow able to arrange a deal with the border and they let her through with conditions and restrictions.
1 pm- Every passport finally has a visa and we are on our way. Our bus carries us the final 8km to Copacabana. We don’t have time to stop for lunch so everyone unloads and reloads on to our final buses that will take us to La Paz. Really we all just wish we could run down to the beach and jump in the lake. The Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca is definitely more beautiful and inviting than the Peruvian side.
1:45 pm- We reach the end of the road. Our bus is driven onto a shady looking barge to cross to the other side of the lake. The barge is unsafe for people so, 20 at a time we get onto small boats and rock our way across to the other side. The people that get seasick are about ready to loose their breakfasts over the side of the boat.
2:15 pm- We begin the last leg of our drive to La Paz. The sky here is bluer and the land richer than anyplace I’ve ever seen before.
5 pm- We pull up in front of our hostel. The inside is absolutely enormous, like it could accommodate hundreds of people. Once again I’m on the top bunk.
7 pm- After waving goodbye to the three teams that are headed to Santa Cruz we head out to find the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Since we didn’t have lunch we’re all absolutely starving, but the Hard Rock Cafe listed on the map turns out to be a night club so we split off to get Pizza instead. My team + Sean managed to devour 2 family size pizzas and a large. We were hungry, what can I say ?
September 15:
6:30 am- Were out the door of the hostel and walking uphill to the bus station where we’ll catch the bus to Cochabamaba. The climb is brutal with our packs on and I consider jumping into traffic to end my ministry (just kidding).
8 am- Everyone’s aboard and ready to go. The bathroom on the bus is broken, my chair is broken and my curtain is broken. It’s going to be a long ride.
8:30 am- Of course because the bathroom is broken I would need to use it thirty minutes in. I resolve to hold it.
10 am- Holding it in is becoming increasingly difficult. I consider climbing up into the drivers cabin and demanding he pull over.
11 am- The bus pulls over at a small grouping of tiendas. I sprint off the bus so quick and into the bathroom that I don’t even notice how disgusting it is (and it was really disgusting).
11:30 am- Everyone is back on the bus and we begin our climb from the plateau into the mountains. Herds of Llamas are everywhere. I really think I’m going to like Bolivia.
2 pm- As we crest a 5,000+ meter mountain I take in the incredible view that seems to stretch on for hundreds of miles, but at the same time the sun is out in full force and seeping in through the windows surrounding me (I was in the very front again) and with broken curtains there’s no hope in blocking it. The inside temp is now creeping above 100 degrees and I think I may melt into a puddle.
4:30 pm- We finally make it to the bus station in Cochabamba and head off to our different ministry sites!
