Hello all.
This is a combined effort by Hayley and Alice to try and convey to you the full horror of our last 48 hours.
We left Mancora in a relatively ok bus (no semi cama or cama buses for us though as they were sold out - semi cama buses have seats that recline a lot, the cama buses are pretty much beds). But we were on the economical coach, also proud of ourselves of saving a few pennies...
We were sat by the loos, (of course as we had booked our tickets late and needed to get to Cuzco quickly), and the journey was ok, only 17 hours of smelling wee. However, halfway through the journey, a distinctly fishy aroma pervaded the bus, keeping Haz and J from sleeping at all (Al slept through it, completely oblivious...) Anyway, by the time that we arrived in Lima we were pretty stinky, and found that Haz{s bag was quite wet (sorry no apostrophe{s on this Peruvian keyboard)... After investigation, it appeared that fish were loaded onto the bus at a particularly fishy smelling town (hence why opening the windows didn{t help), right on top of Haz{s rucksack. So now her rucksack smells of fish. Nice.
Lima is rightly called {purgatory{ in the book Inca Kola. It isn{t very nice, so we only stayed there for 3 hours before skiddaddling onto our second bus...
Journey number 2. The horror starts.
The loos hadn{t been drained from the journey before, and as usual, you guessed it, we were sat by the loos. Every time the bus changed direction or speed, the sloshing of the wee set off another strong aroma of urine. We can still taste it down our throats.
About 2-3 hours into the journey a very selfish man decided to poo. It wasn{t a normal poo, it was a disgustingly stinky poo (although it didn{t smell like diarrhoea, so he has no excuse. Obviously didn{t buy the imodium they were selling on board)... again this pervaded our noses to such an extent that J moved seats, gagging as she went. It was truly horrible. The cucumber body spray unfortunately wasn{t a match for the poo. After another 10 minutes we pulled into a rest stop, and were vastly overcharged to use the loos there. J can{t describe the loo there, she says it was {hideous{. Apparently grass was growing on it. I think bushes were preferable. However even this disgusting loo was preferable to the coach loo...
Night fell. And with it much vomit. We still cannot fathom just how the students at the front of the bus (Peruvians too), contained so much sick. The road was windy, but the driver was smooth and we{ve been on far worse journeys. They aimed their vomit generally in the direction of the loo, but it often ended up outside, near, guess who, Haz. Luckily Al was again sleeping through this horror. Haz and J were gagging at the stench, and trying to dodge the sick. Particularly difficult when vomiting girls were falling onto Hayley. It was absolutely disgusting. We either laughed or cried (or in Al{s case, slept), but the others managed to keep laughing. It was difficult.
The sun rose. And with it breakfast was served at the roadside cafe. Twice. Once at the cafe, once again near-ish the loo. At this point we were trying to hang out of the window. However, J had a slight problem as she had a Peruvian man in her way, a vomiting girl to her right, and she is scared of heights so the sights of the vertical cliffs probably weren{t going to settle her stomach... (the Andes were beautiful though!) No breakfast for Haz or J, though Al did manage a chocolate croissant and an apple, but only with fresh air. Otherwise it{s a horrid feeling of eating the food con sick-urine-poo. Not an appetising combination.
At this point Al needed a wee wee.
Unfortunately she has a small bladder and a fear of being dehydrated, which could lead to nasty infections. So against common sense, she put on her trainers, rolled up her trousers, and entered hell. There was sick all over the floor, loo, basin and walls. Combined with poo and wee. The stench was incredible. Anyway, imagine trying to hover over a loo that is covered with all this horribleness. Now imagine trying to do it while being shaken around, forward, side to side, and backwards. Any contact with the walls meant additional sick on the leg. Horrid. Wee and sick literally went everywhere. Ended up with sick on her underwear and trousers. Additionally, now she has sick in the treads of her trainers, on the sides of them, and on the laces.
We eventually made it to Cuzco. Never before has Al wanted to burn her clothes. Covered in grime and psychological trauma, we managed to check into the loki hostel.
http://www.lokihostel.com/cusco
Luckily this hostel is lovely as well, (also quite interesting, check out their website). Unfortunately it is at the top of a hill, so it{s strenuous walking up not being acclimatised. However we start our trek on Wednesday, so better get practising!
Will try to write again before we go, or else we will be out of contact from Wednesday early (5.20am - 10.20am UK time), until about 9.30pm Saturday night, (2.30am Sunday morning UK time). I hope we will survive the trek. Not a guaranteed though...
To end on a happier note, Cusco looks absolutely stunning, and Al might have to buy the alpaca gloves and hat tomorrow as retail therapy after that journey. Also she wants to try eating alpaca. Meant to be like steak, just less fatty. Can{t be any worse than eating guinea pig in Quito...
Loads of love from us all in Cusco, and remember, National Express buses aren{t that bad!
xxxxxxxxxxxx
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