21 June 2006

the bus to lima

ok, so i´ve made it to peru! i took a 100% sleepless bus from quito to guayaquil and got there around 6am. my lonely planet guidebook (remember, the one that lies?) told me a bus would go from guayaquil to lima at 2pm, so i went into town to watch the ecuador gam and have a look around. (and get breakfast!) i did that, and was walking around the very hot and humid city when i decided (at 11:25) i should go check on that bus, since lonely planet is so often wrong. i grabbed a taxi and went to their terminal only to find that ACTUALLY buses leave at 11:30. the bus was completely loaded, but hadn´t left yet, so i ran like the dickens and just made it on.

the first movie they showed on the bus was crash, and from there they made the smooth thematical transition into sleepless in seattle. the next movie was green mile, which was when i realized they´d put in a pirated dvd of FOUR tom hanks movies. probably if you´re bad in this life you get put on a non-air conditioned overnight bus, sweating your precious body fluids into a fake leather chair (that your guidebook (lonely planet´s guide to the afterlife) said would fold into a bed, but it won´t) that plays only tom hanks movies all the time on the way to hell, and if you were really bad, instead of letting you off at hell they just keep driving forever.

but i wasn´t that bad, or at any rate i´m not dead yet, so i just ended up in lima. as a further sign of God´s grace the dvd stopped working after green mile, so i was left to wade in my own sweat and hope that the sleepless night to guayaquil would make me so tired that i´d fall asleep some that night. it kind of did.

lima is, from what i have seen so far, an incredible city, and i have really really loved being here so far. highly recommended. i think i might take a shower today. or i might go for a record, too. my skin´s too white, but i SMELL like a local!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, Heremi (that's a rough Hispanic pronunciation of your name) here I am again reading about your experiences in Equador and points South. I took Jan and Louise to the airport today for their trip to Indiana and Kentucky. They'll be back on Monday (6/26) so it's just me'n Alex the dog. Talked to your mum last night, had an e-mail from your dad this week.

Saw your sweetheart at the airport last week as she and her Mom were waiting to head for Hawaii. Doesn't anybody stay home anymore?

Anyway, hope you have a good time in Peru (are you back in Nebraska?) and enjoy the visit from that young lady one of these days soon.

Randy Bretz aka dad2

aaron wk said...

jeremy, you are having fun already. because night busses that allow for no sleep and endless tom hanks watching are nothing more than good-story fodder. so here's to hearing all your stories in a couple months. i'm in interlaken, switzerland and am looking forward to doing some hiking tomorrow. the alps love me and i love them. you are my south american hero. ouch!

jnuh said...

Oooh, ooh! While you're in Lima, you should go to the museum where they keep the Moche porn pots in a basement where only people who are over 18 can see them! One of my profs told me about it, so it must be true!

Emily said...

wow...both of the places i live were mentioned in a comment as dusty, forsaken places. why not Kansas? in my opinion it is a much worse dwelling place than either OK or NE. but, i might be partial, i suppose.
have fun backpacking. i went backpacking in the rockies last week and i hope your back doesn't end up hurting as much as mine!
have fun!

Anonymous said...

Jeremy,

Donna showed me your blog and its been fun catching up on your adventures in Equador! Your bus trip sounded intersteing..Sorry about all the Tom Hanks movies!

Have a great time backpacking in Peru!!
Ashley