Bus rides from hell

I have experienced numerous bus adventures, scary drivers, and related travel discomforts, but there are a few in particular that I think deserve mention. The first of which was the near accident on the way to the Colca Canyon, which really couldn't have been any closer. As we were going around a mountain pass, a bus was going around the corner on the wrong side of the road. Driving on the wrong side of the road is nothing unusual in Peru, but usually they honk or slow down a little when going around blind corners. Not so in this case. We had to serve and nearly went into the ditch, and the other bus swerved so much that it rocked back and forth for quite a while, almost tipping over.

The second bus story is one in which we actually did go into the ditch. On the way back from the Colca Canyon to Arequipa, while going over the highest pass, it started snowing and freezing rain. I kind of thought that the driver was going too fast for the slippery, windy roads, but I figured that he drives these roads all the time and must know what he's doing. I dozed off for a bit, and when I looked up again the road was turning, and we were not. There wasn't any damage, but it took a few tries for him to get out of the ditch. The scariest part of all of it was not going into the ditch but the fact that had we slid going around a corner the other direction, we would have probably gone off the side of the mountain. The driver didn't seem the least bit phased and continued driving much too fast making for a white-knuckled trip back to Arequipa.

The third bus story from the trip from Arequipa to Puno. I took what looked to be a decent bus from the outside for the 5 1/2 hour journey, but it ended up being quite a nightmare. The bus looked like it hadn't been cleaned in over a year, and they packed people in the aisles. There were two kids sitting next to me, one in the aisle, and one in the chair across the aisle. Not long after the trip began, they started throwing up and continued to throw up for the entire ride. They were obviously both sick before the start of the ride as their father was well prepared with numerous pastic bags that he threw out the windows when they were full. The boy in the aisle next to me didn't always make it in the bag though and threw-up all over the floor.