Not a significant increase in terms of percentage, but when you're
planning to get into Cuzco at 1PM and don't arrive until 6, that's a
difference! We had a blown-out tire in the middle of the night. Not
sure where we were at the time, but we were still on the coastal desert,
so we probably hadn't gotten much beyond Nazca.
That's my third ride like that in a little over a month. I'm hoping I
won't have to do anything like that again for a while yet. At least
it's not a 25 hour chicken bus ride. "Bus Cama"--"Bed Bus," where the
seats recline enough to really get a pretty comfortable night's sleep.
Even so, if I do it again, I think I'll try to do it in a couple of
stages, either Cuzco > Abancay > Nazca > Lima, or Cuzco > Arequipa >
Nazca > Lima. That will make it a little more comfortable. And all
places that I would like to see.
Glad I've done it, though. The scenery is simply stunning.
Just before I left, I bumped into a gal in the Lima bus terminal who was
a former classmate at CU--a Spanish class I took. She's in the Peace
Corps, headed out to her work site for the first time. She's involved
in a health project, but it sounds like she may be a good connection for
my research--she's involved in a project which outfits locals with wood
stoves so they don't have to cook in a smoky environment, but also so
they don't have to use so much firewood.
Small world.
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