#0024 | a destination

Submitted by Bekah in Chicago, Illinois.

Here’s Bekah’s story:

“So me and my good friend were traveling through South America last winter break.  We were in Quito, Ecuador when we decided to take a bus to Lima, Peru.  It was cheap even though we were sold on dreams of luxury and class on a double decker bus.  The trip was initially only supposed to take 21 hours from the port city of Guayaquil, Ecuador.  After the first 8 hour bus ride, we embarked joyfully, watching pirated DVD’s of The Da Vinci Code and The Hot Chick.  Nightfall came and we crossed the Peruvian boarder when all the sudden we were stopped on the side of the road by an electrical system failure.  After being stranded for an hour we finally resumed the trip and set off into the deep night on the Pan-American highway at roughly 45 MPH.

At about 2:00 AM, the bus came to a halt after a British woman started cursing out the other Latino passengers, accusing them of robbing her.  As we were stopped, the Peruvian police came aboard the bus and on the first attempt singled out two “suspicious” passengers.  It turned out that these two guys did in fact rob the British woman and an American man as well.  The police also found an ether-like substance that makes victims pass out when breathed in.  Needless to say, those dudes had a long night ahead of them… and we still hadn’t reached the half way point to Lima.

Morning came, and then afternoon came (with many pirated Peruvian music videos). About 28 hours into the trip we were an hour and a half outside Lima when the bus broke down once again.  This was not due to electrical problems but rather to the fact that we ran out of gas (the kicker was that about 20 minutes earlier we had stopped at a gas station/rest stop to use the bathrooms).  We almost decided to hitch a ride but instead decided to stay faithful to this nightmare of a ride.

About two hours later we finally arrived in Lima and had our sights set on a moderately priced hostel to take a shower.  About five blocks away from the bus terminal, our bus got into a car accident with another public bus.  The drivers of both buses got out and started yelling at each other and almost get physical.

At this point we are sweaty, hungry, and pissed off, but had no other choice but to wait until we finally pulled into the terminal.  Our 21 hour bus ride turned into a 31 hour fiasco with mechanical failure, robbery, drugs, and accidents.  Yet, after hearing about the earthquake in Peru, I can only be grateful that I was able to see a city that will never be the same.”