Monday, 30-07-07 Lima to Ayacucho

6:30 when Stephen knocked on the door. Took a quick shower, packed, and grabbed a quick bite to eat and then out the door. We crammed all 10 of us and all our gear into 2 cars! Had baggage on our laps!!!! Made it to the bus station in just enough time to have the baggage marked and put on the bus. No time to even use el bano at the bus station! And my brother didn’t know you weren’t suppose to use el bano for anything but number 1! The bus is really hot! I had some chamomile tea and watched the Wicker Man with Nicolas Cage.

Before the hurling incident!





Chicken houses!!!!!!



The bus is really hot! I had some chamomile tea and watched the Wicker Man with Nicolas Cage. We took lots of pictures of the scenery, which was ever changing. We had business class seats but it was so hot it was almost uncomfortable. I used some of this time (it’s a 10 hour journey from Lima to Ayacucho and we travel over the Andes). The upstairs on the bus is regular class, they have a better view but the lower level seems to be the better of the two choices. The sway on the switchbacks and heat got to Stacey and she got very ill. Emma spewed her ice cream and whatever else she had at lunch all over her seat causing a chain reaction with Barbarita !!!!

Stopping for lunch in Pisco






Barb the nurse!!!!


John doing what the natives do!
Stacey actually had them stop the bus and we were stopped for about 45 minutes while she tried to regroup. I didn’t take any Dramamine, just chewed my gum to keep my ears from popping and seemed to do fine even with all the hurling going on around me. Stephen and John were borderline sick and Keely read the whole way!!!!! The highest elevation we reached was 15,661.8 feet!!!!!!! The mountains remind me of the Sierra Nevadas. We saw llama, sheep, Andeans, alpaca, horses and cows. We nearly ran into a cow and an oncoming truck!!!!










We got to Ayacucho at about 6 pm. Cesar and a friend picked us and all 26 pieces of luggage up from the bus station. Our hotel was just around the corner from the bus station so we walked our luggage to the hotel and took a cab with Juan and Dahlia to la casa de Cesar and Barbara. They don’t speak English and we don’t speak Spanish so it’s been quite a journey.







We arrive at la casa and a birthday party/dinner is prepared. Gloria is our cook for the week and she prepared a traditional meal, soup, chicken, and rice with vegetables and chichi. After dinner Jimmy (Glorias’ son) and Danielle (Juan and Dahlias’ son) brought in a beautiful cake complete with Steve’s name on it. We sang Happy Birthday and Feliz Cumpleaños to Steve.

Cesar said it was the tradition for Steve to take the first bite, while Gloria held the cake, Steve went to take a bite and Gloria proceeded to smash the cake in his face! We all had a great laugh and Steve had icing up his nostrils the rest of the evening. The cake was yummy, a caramel topping with thick rich icing three layers thick. One layer had jam between it. The girls seem to be none the worse for wear after their sickness earlier but Stacey and her daughter were still under the weather and stayed back at the hotel.


The boys went and got a case of beer, we cleared the table and moved them out of the way and the dancing began! We drink the Peruvian way…….. no one ever seems to over imbibe between the dancing and the long waits between drinks. I got to see my first glimpse of the Southern Cross from the rooftop! We partied until about 10:30 and then the girls got a cab while the guys walked to the local plaza to see the cathedral. The plaza is not far from our hotel so we walk back there after our sight seeing.