Saturday, September 23, 2006

Road Trip


Our bus left the Cuzco bus station last Sunday at 9:00pm. We rode for a little over 8 hours and ended up in Arequipa, Peru at a little after 5 in the morning. It started off a pretty decent busride. They served some food, showed a movie...there was plenty of leg room, and big roomy seats. The thing is, 8 hours gets uncomfortable, no matter where you're sitting; especially if you're sitting directly above a heater whose purpose in life is to hurt you with hot air.

Our connecting bus left Arequipa at...I don't remember...sometime after 5:00. Maybe it was 7:00...and we ended up in Tacna, Peru at around 1:00pm. The second bus was smaller...less leg room, but more comfortable, ironically. We watched ice age 2. I sort of slept through most of it, but I woke up for the end. And after that was Titanic. I don't know. It seems like if you're travelling, you maybe don't want to show a movie about people dying tragic deaths while they were travelling. Just my opinion.

Well, we took a sort of scary taxi across the border from Tacna, Peru to Arica, Chile just in time to celebrate Chile's independence day. What great timing, huh? We found a couple rooms at a nearby hostal (with no bed bugs), cleaned up a little, and then went to look around. We ate lots of good food (plus some not so good food), listened to loud music at the fair, squeezed through the crowd full of tons of people, and spent the next morning looking out at a really beautiful view of the ocean. We stayed in Arica for a couple days before we headed back to Tacna. It was strange to be back at sea-level again. It wasn't really cold. It was a nice change in weather.

I loved being in Tacna, even though we were only there a day. Each year we've sent a group to Ecuador for a mission trip, there has been a group from Peru there at the same time. And they come from a church in Tacna. So it was really neat to be able to hang out with people I met in Ecuador the past two years for a little while. We went to a prayer group they had Wednesday night at the church...I looked around the room and realized that out of all the people there, there were only a few that I didn't already know. It's so cool to be connected to the body of Christ all over the world.

I spent a long time talking with Ksenija (Senca) and it was good to see her again. She's the one who I talked with in Ecuador this year, when I was feeling scared to come to Cuzco because I felt I might not have anything to offer. She told me that I could always clean the bathrooms here...and that's something. It was good to see her again; and be able to talk more.

We left Tacna at 1:00pm on Thursday and spent way too long on the bus back to Arequipa. Turns out, there was a lady on our bus who was trying to smuggle some whiskey back into Peru. So when we stopped at the checkpoint, some scary men in uniforms with guns got on our bus and checked around for illegal things. They found about 10 of her whiskey bottles stashed in different places around the bus. We had to wait for an hour while she talked to the police...I don't know. Maybe she was trying to convince them it was medicinal or something. "But I have a prescription!" They also searched Tracie's bag, saw the stuffed animals she had bought in Tacna for the children's ministry here, and told her it was illegal to bring stuffed animals into Peru. They took her beanie babies. I guess Peru has got a stuffed animal trafficking problem. Isn't that sad? There's always something. Nevermind the lady with all the booze...let's get on this stuffed animal problem!

Also, we were sharing the bus with a big farting lady. And the windows don't open on the bus.

So we made it to Arequipa at 7:00pm, and took the bus to Cuzco at 8:00. We got back to Cuzco at about 6:00am on Friday. Longest ride of my life. Ricky and Tracie have to make this trip every three months, to renew their visas. That's why we went this week. Hopefully they will be able to get residency here soon, so they won't have to keep going back and forth to Chile. It really wears you out.

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Traveling and being in close quarters with the same people for that long would have put me in a bad mood. Way to go and experience new things! And you got to visit Chile and see friends in Tacna! How exciting!

¡Viva Chile, mierda!

5:28 PM  
Blogger Padfoot240 said...

From heaters with intent of death to big farting ladies? Peru is turning out to be quite the adventure.

11:12 AM  
Blogger Charissa said...

I would've gladly taken that bus trip if it meant I could spend the "18" in Chile! I always miss my country of Chile this time of year. I'm glad you got to experience it. Had you ever been to Chile before? Just curious, what food did you like and what food did you not like?

7:26 AM  
Blogger Amy said...

It is an adventure, that's for sure. I never expected to be able to go out and see so many awesome things. I also sort of pictured myself just sticking to the same place; working all the time. What a bonus! This really has been an amazing experience, I am so glad I came here.

I myself would not take that bus trip to Arica again. Maybe if my destination was Tacna, where I know some friends...but otherwise...well...I guess I just prefer Peruvian empenadas to Chilean empenadas. Ooooh, but the pork in Chile...mmmmmmmm!

9:17 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Amy!

My name is Minah and I work with your dad. You've probably never heard of me, but I know quite a bit about you. Your father talks about you all the time!

I just wanted to write in and let you know that I think what you are doing in Peru is absolutely amazing. I have thought about connecting with others in that way so many times, but never had the opportunity. However, you are out there living my dream! And an adventurous one at that.

May God bless you with health and happiness, and that inner glow that only comes when you have truly touched someone else's soul:)

2:57 PM  
Blogger Amy said...

Minah, thanks a lot for reading! Part of the fun of this adventure is sharing it with friends. Thank you so much for your encouraging words, and your support of this mission! It really is a blessing to have encouragement coming from back home. I hope you will keep reading and sharing with me! :-)

5:04 PM  
Blogger Amy said...

AHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Where did you find a bed bug blog? hahahaha! oh man, I hope I never have to deal with that!

4:24 PM  

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