Yes for once the headline isn't actually misleading. We found luxury travel. Within South America it is known that Peru has good travel buses. After our sweaty experience we were becoming sceptical... that was until our trip from Lima!
So in comparison to the last trip it could be argued that we splashed out a little bit. Yet still it wasn't bad. We knew that we couldn't suffer through this journey, for this journey is 16 hours long. 16 hours to travel just over 1000km. To put this into perspective we worked out that roughly the distance from London to Cornwall (the border of Cornwall) is about 400km. So for this journey we are doing two and a half trips to Cornwall from London. Not something you'd do lightly.
So to explain how this bus is in fact luxury... firstly I'd probably start with the bus terminal that it was taken from. So to show the contrast I'd start with Huaraz. Huaraz's bus terminal was essentially a car park with middle aged men with missing teeth trying to entice you to their cheap bus. They would take you to the bus and you'd then speak to the man dispensing tickets writing them out on a clipboard just outside the bus.
Now Lima's bus terminal was a bit different. Firstly it was opposite a huge market. Upon driving past we saw a puppet show for kids. In Huaraz this was likely to have been overrun with unsavoury dogs. Then came into the bus terminal. They had to have maps and directories to show where all of the different bus companies were and where they could take you. We found ones for us very easily. Our first question was as to whether they had air conditioning or not. This is now a deal breaker for overnight buses or ones over maybe 5 hours.
We were able to buy some food at the terminal, a delicious chicken sandwich and glass of Peruvian Ribena. As we were tucking into what we thought would be our only food for 16 hours (will touch upon this later) I felt my ears burning. I thought I heard my name being mentioned by the tannoy. I've never had this before and it confused me a bit. Especially as everything other than Emma and my name was in very fast Spanish. It turned out that they had mischarged our trip and it was meant to be a little bit more. No biggy.
Upon receiving an escort from three different Peruvian members of staff to get to our gate (which was delightfully located within the VIP section) we were able to enjoy the now relaxing feeling of thinking we knew that our foreseeable future was sorted. We embarked on what we thought was our bus; it wasn't entirely. They had checked our tickets and names and crossed us off. But this bus was not like a coach for long distances but more one for crossing the city. The seats didn't recline and there was nowhere to put out bags. Thankfully another helpful passenger informed us that we were travelling to another bus terminal within the city to get our actual bus. So finally onto our bus!!! We were greeted onto the bus with security. A quick patdown, take your fingerprint, check the passport and a quick photo (am I entering the white house?) and we were on. Immediately we could tell that we had more leg room. Within an hour onto the journey and we were offered some dinner. You know, like airplane food? But with one small but very important detail. It actually tasted nice and fresh? Of course It was chicken and rice but I couldn't complain. The chicken was seasoned in a way only Latinos could know how to. This was accompanied by a sweet orange jelly.
This was not the only thing offered by our excellent bus conductor/waiter/general hero. He then went on to offer hot drinks, water or Inca kola, headphones. This was the high life. As for the rest of our last remaining hours in Lima we didn't overly do too much apart from a nice extended lunch. The confederations cup has been covered pretty well in all restaurants and bus terminals in Peru, probably for the largely successful involvement of their neighbours from Chile. As a result of this over lunch we were treated to watching the final - Chile vs Germany. Excellent viewing to warm me up to the new season that I can't wait for. Yet it wasn't only the entertainment that allowed me to enjoy lunch in an airy restaurant randomly chosen from a map with no care or thought as to what it served (chicken and rice No?).
We both ordered very economically-friendly priced burger and sandwich respectively. The upgrade in price for what you can add to the sandwiches makes it not worth going for the cheap option. For an upgrade of 75p I went from a normal burger to one with bacon, egg and cheese. Emma went from a plain ham and cheese sandwich to a mighty club sandwich with just about everything fitted into 4 slices of bread possible. Yet still it wasn't this that made our meals quite so enjoyable. It was the drinks (yes one was alcoholic, but only one). For the highly reasonable price of around £2 you could order half a litre of freshly produced smoothie or milkshake. Emma went for a refreshing strawberry milkshake which was basically a smoothie with a bit of milk in, as opposed to the standard ice cream based milkshake that is thick (trust me, I know these things). I went for a fresh still lemonade that has never tasted so good. Often lemonade can either be too sweet or too sour. Either option is horrendous and puts you off the drink entirely, not this time. It was so good that Emma ordered one for herself after polishing off the strawberry smoothie-milkshake to enjoy the second half to. Lima was a very interesting place without being too spectacular. It's a place that I could easily find myself living in if needs must and there were jobs available. Yet for a tourist you don't need to spend that long there. We didn't visit any museums as none were particularly recommended. The beach and seafront are pleasant but not spectacular. In fact that's how i would describe Lima - pleasant but not spectacular. Next stop is back in the mountains - Arequipa. Home to tall volcanos and deep canyons. This trip is turning me into a physical geography enthusiast (literally crying out for help), anyone got any colouring pencils?
