Our last day in Cusco started out a little slow. Kalindra wasn’t feeling very well and I decided to venture out to buy our bus tickets to Ica. We were going to take the overnight train on Cruz del Sur that left at 6:00pm. I went to our favorite little travel agency and they told me the bus was sold out. A little panic came my way and then I was told there was another bus company called Movil Tours that had a bus around that same time. Tickets were booked and back I went to collect Kalindra.

We walked around the city and Kalindra managed to find another local artist named Paulino who she bought a gorgeous watercolor from to match the one she had previously purchased. Once again, these are the little gems that you are able to treasure forever. We also stumbled across a little local Sunday market and Kalindra finally found the alpaca sweater she has been looking for all of her life (or at least since arriving to Cusco).

There was a wonderful festival going on again and a local boy told us that it happened every Sunday to celebrate Cusco and Peru. I have come to discover that Cusco really likes to have their parades.

Our last meal was at a cute little place called Amimanera where we met two guys from San Diego basically hiking their way through Peru. They were in Cusco to decompress and then start their next adventure which would take them up to 15,000ft elevation. There are many ways to see a country and I am pretty sure hiking is just not what I am looking for.

Finally it was time to say adios to our wonderful hosts at the hostel and head to the bus terminal. A short taxi ride later and we were in the middle of what seemed like the Grand Central Station of Peru. There was craziness all over with every different bus company trying to get you to book with them. I ran around collecting little snacks for the bus not knowing what adventure was really in front of us.

The bus from Cusco to Ica is about 12-16 hours depending on what website you read and how the driver is driving. We thought a 6:00pm bus would be perfect since there are sleeper chairs available and it would put us in Ica in the morning and we could enjoy our day. We could have not been more wrong!

First off, the bus showed up a little late and so we departed a little late. This is something that happens in Peru a lot so no red flags started there. Then within about 20 minutes we were stopped for what seemed like forever because of a parade. There was no way to get through and we just had to sit and wait it out. Annoying yes, but what are you going to do about it? Luckily, dinner was served and then a movie was put on to pass the time. All was going well on a very windy and steep drive through the mountains to Ica and we were all drifting off to sleep or in the case of the person diagonal from me, passed out and snoring. This is how the drive should have continued.

All of a sudden we hear a loud smack and the bus comes to a halt on the side of the road at about 10:15pm. It sounded like we hit a pot hole so we assumed the tire would be changed and off we would go. Obviosuly something was seriously wrong because a few hours later we got an update that we will have to change buses and that they should be here soon. We sort of drift off to sleep again but the bus turns off all the lights and completely shuts down. I start to let my mind run wild and think that of course we will be part of when vacations go wrong and get robbed since we were just sitting ducks. Around 3:00am our bus starts up again and drives for a few on a busted tire to meet the new bus we are going on. A 5 hour delay on our already long bus ride was not what we were looking for!

Luggage was switched and we were back in our seats and sound asleep and that is when the adventure gets really good! But since I have broken my trip down in days, the adventure continues in my next post so stay tuned…