Lima to Cuzco : A Breathtaking Journey

Technically we started our trip in Pisco, which lies on the coast, a bit south of Lima. The next bus to pass by, and the only one to pass that evening was scheduled to arrive around 8pm.  It arrived at 10pm. It was nearly full, with only two seats left in the far back. Immediately upon entering we were hit in the face by a sledgehammer of a stench from the toilet.  As were approached our seats, we approached the source of evil...and like Kryptonite, it got stronger and meaner.

Pauline wrapped the arms of her hoodie around the middle of her face like a drooping turban. I stuck toilet paper up my nostrils. The odor, like water around a cardboard boat, finds its way in. I suffered in olfactory agony as my alveoli committed suicide and my lungs shriveled and my nose sought refuge in the relative potpourri of my steamy armpit of despair.

Morning came and I realized that my nose must have quit its job so that I may sleep a bit. I wondered, perhaps, if it had died. But within seconds of waking, my nose was back at the job, sniffing and smelling.

We were close to 4000m by now and the bus was winding sinuously around the mountain bends. The toilet door said "Solo Orinar". The urine was not alone in there. Number two could be detected by sight and smell. And some sick passengers had very clearly vomited (is that number three ?).  They couldn't leave there bragging, "nothing but rim."

At a sharp bend, the toilet door started to swing open against the back wall, clack !, and swing closed again, clack !, and repeat, each time letting armies of odors diffuse out like uncaged killer bees.

Finally, in the evening, a respite.  Two hours shy of Cuzco, the bus broke down allowing us to escape the gas chamber on wheels. Several passengers asked to have their luggage removed so that they could find other means of transport. The door no longer could be opened and eventually had to be open with a hacksaw through the thin wooden barrier.

And he hitched the first truck that passed. The driver smelled of dirty clothes and sweat...my nose and lungs couldn't have been happier.