It’s a three-and-one-half hour bus ride along the Pan American Highway from Lima to Paracaus.
South American bus rides conjure an image of an unroad-worthy school-bus-like battered vehicle that might include among its passengers various beasts including chickens and ducks.
Wrong image. The bus departed precisely on time. First class in this bus is comparable to that of an airline, and surprisingly smooth. There are nine seats in our compartment. The seats are wide and made of leather. There is nearly one half meter between each one.
The openning information video notes that each GPS-equiped bus has two drivers who switch every two hours. The GPS allows command central to check that the bus is on time and on course. I won’t think too hard on that one.
Three legs of our trip will be by bus: Lima to Paracas; Paracas to Nasca; Nasca to Arequipa. I had worried about the long overnight bus ride between Nasca and Arequipa. No longer.
On this leg, the Pan American Highway is four lanes as it leaves Lima later triming to two hugging the coast. The landscape is largely desert. In places there are some trees and bushes, cactus, dried riverbeds. There’s more greenery near villages along the way. In other areas there are only dunes of sand stretching across the land seemlessly to the beach and the Pacific. Like one might imagin the Sahara to be. The hills are completely bare.
The bus let’s you see all of this.
Leave a Reply