the bus ride

me and the princess, after a battle of wills decided we would take the bus instead of the train to cuzco, after all it would save us 12$ and 4hours(so we thought!)

the surroundings were beautiful and after a good breakfast and a 2hour delay we were in good spirits despite our stomachs playing up, bolivia-stylee.

4hours in and 3 to go there was a queue and talks of roadblocks and protests twittered up and down the bus, we shuffled foward and picked up pace, stopped for passengers on and off. food went up and down the bus, we ate, drank, giggled about the beautiful blue-eyed boy on a seat infront, watched a terrible, dubbed film and gazed at the mountains sprinting by.

an interlude occurs where a women appears in the isle by my side, lifting the blanketed parcel from her back and places it on the floor. she opens it to reveal a huge chunk of cow and an axe... she proceeded to carve the meat while i wiped the dead animal fragments off my face, she then handed it out to everyone on the bus wrapped in bits of plastic with a complimentry piece of bog roll for the mess.

this time the road was bare and queue was long. no one was moving an inch and everyone got off the bus and found their toilets amongst the bushes and shrubs or just squatting 2metres from the bus. shyly we went a bit further a field only to be caught. pants down, hearing our driver shouting "VAMOS" and the engine reviving its growl. we ran. i got one leg on the moving bus and fabi not far behind made it on to the bus to everyones amusement and dismay to stop 1minute later, our efforts wasted.

the darkness came, a woman sold blocks of bad cheese because there was not another morsel to eat. the cold set in and cigarettes were shared in groups of 4s and 5s.

back in the stationary bus we tried to sleep and managed an hour and were woken at 11pm (8hours after we were due to arrive in cusco) to be told that after a 15minute walk we would be passed the block and taxis and buses awaited us on the other side.

10 of us; peruvians, a brazillian, 2 argentine boys, the italian chica and myself donned or 20+ kg bags and vamosed. 1 hour later; past the blocks, no cars or busses to be seen and the cold turning painful, there are lights behind us, they turn out to be the road unblocking. however the buses would not stop for us, our own bus went past and in despair fabianna threw herself infront of the moving double decker crying "POR FAVOR" y "ESPERA!" (as shes known to do)

the last 3hours to cusco were a 1st class relief and for me a nervous one as the beautiful fabio blue eyes shared his blanket with me and slept like an angel by myside.