I was wrong...

Oh so very wrong. There is a worse smell than me after 50 hours on a bus... Other people... I had forgotten all about that wonderful aspect of public transport in Peru. Needless to say I had a crap bus ride last night. Didn't sleep too well at all. But I made it to Huraz, arrived about 7am and promptly found a hostal. Got a good deal on that so I was happy, then sorted out a tour to Chavin..

Now this is where it started to go wrong. The guide on the bus did all the explanations in Spanish, not too big a problem as I understood most of what was said, though don't ask me to repeat it. My listen skills are the same in Spanish as they are in English, in one ear and out the other. Anyway, we were an hour or so into what was meant to be 4 hour bus ride to Chavin when we were told the road was closed. From what I could make out it had something to do with construction and explosives, great combination. Well the guide said we would press on so we could see some lake and then check out the road for ourselves. Though from the first mention of the road being closed he was quite clear that the tour would continue in some way, so there would be no money back as it wasn't his fault.

Anyway, saw the lake, woo freaking hoo. Nice lake but nothing special. Saw the road block, I am not exactly sure where the construction and explosives came into it, but there was a minor land slide and the road was defiantly closed. I think it may remain so for a few days to come. So we turned back, and the tour continued to some town, which looked just like 100 other towns I have seen in Peru. Then we had the choice of what to do next. Or so we were told, it seemed to me like the choice was made for us. We were going to head to some thermal bath and then some other minor archaeological site in the area. We came back to town so people could pick up a change of cloths for the baths and this is where I gave up. The guide seemed only to be explaining what was going on to the few people up the front of the bus. It seemed as if we were going round to people's hostals so they could grab some stuff, well that theory was right, except we went no where near mine. When I asked what was going on, he said I could go back and they would wait for me, but I only had 10 mins. Half way back to my hostal I decided to hell with it, I wasn't keen on the thermal bath to begin with. So I ditched my group and went and had lunch.

Not that impressed with Huaraz, I think I will bail tomorrow night and keep on moving up the coast to Trujillo. Hopefully things will work out a little better there.

Oh yeah, and I found part of Lima I don't like. Where my bus left from. For some reason the bus terminals are all in the seediest part of town. Not an area I want to be walking through after dark, or in the day for that matter.

The other thing I forgot about Peru was that February was not a smart time to travel. They have their crazy month long water fight going on, I've already had a few close calls and it's not even February until tomorrow.

I’ve had whinge and I feel better already.

Later
Zac