For a real education, take the bus!

Dear Family and Friends,

Chuck and I needed to return to Trujillo for one more adventure before flying back to Ecuador.  We could have flown south from Chiclayo to Lima and then back north again from Lima to Trujillo.  This would have taken all day and we would have missed what I am about to share with you.

I told you earlier that I would share pictures with you that I made from the bus. When we took the bus to Chiclayo I was not in a good spot for photos.  This time we went to the bus station days before our trip and secured the best possible seats on the double deck bus.

The arrow is pointing to where we were sitting on the bus.  Front row, on top, just perfect for recording our trip.

The days of Greyhound and Trailway busses are pretty much gone.  Most folks in the North America either fly for long trips or drive their own car for shorter trips.  But here in Peru, and even in Ecuador for that matter, taking the bus between destinations is the practical way to travel.

As I said before, flying would have taken all day, but by taking the bus, we only spent 1/2 day traveling (4 hours), and the two cities are only 130 miles apart!  

Now to get on with the bus adventure:

This is where we bought our tickets days before.

This is the waiting area.  Must get there early if you want to sit down, half the seats are not available.

A lot of paper work to ride the bus.  Health form must be filled out and signed.

The luggage is pretty secure.  They tag the luggage and give the passenger a receipt with the same number.  This was a direct bus, no stopping, so we felt our luggage was safe.

Here we go....front row...

Looking down on the tuk-tuks.  (not sure what they are referred to in Peru) We never road in one. Why?  If you watched the traffic video I shared in FB you would know.

Typical traffic craziness on our way out of town.

I told you I would share something shameful about Peru.  I do not know if it is like this all over Peru, but between these two cities it is a sad sight. 

It appeared as though garbage was dumped there on purpose.  The reason I say this is because not all areas were this filthy. 

A couple of days ago I posted to the blog comparing ancient Egypt to ancient Peru.  I remember when we were in Cairo, Egypt to see the pyramids, how appalled I was seeing the garbage next to and in the Nile river. I was just as appalled to see the same sort of garbage on this trip in Peru.  

I remember when I was a kid there was a big campaign to stop people from littering.  There was a television ad with a native American looking at the trash on the side of the road and a big tear dripping out of his eye and down his cheek.  It was very effective and the highways became clean and today people in North America wouldn't think of throwing their garbage out their car window.  Littering fines probably helped to stop it also.

Not only is this unsightly, it is not healthy for people to live like this.  

Okay enough about that...just needed to have my say.  If you have a different view of this situation feel free to have your say.

I put the worse out first, now just come on along and enjoy the ride:

Looking down on some meat for sell.  It is out in the open and it is about noon.  Would you buy it?  

Hats for sell.

The smaller the villages, the more tuk-tuks and less cars.  

A short video you may want to watch

We saw a lot of rice fields.

Here is some rice drying before taking it to the mill.

Here is a truck loaded with bags of dried rice.  They are delivering the rice to the mill which is located behind the truck.

We went trough a lot of desert.

We slept through I don't know what.

I think this man is carrying home tomorrows dinner.

We finally arrived at the Trujillo bus station.

We got a taxi and went straight to our hotel.

It was a long ride, but very educational.

Love,

Nancy