Overnight buses are my pet ‘hate’. Sorry to use the ‘h’ word dad, but I cannot find another word to describe the emotions I feel when an overnight bus trip is looming. We have had a pretty good run and Christos knowing this strong distaste of mine has avoided them where possible. We have done two so far on our trip. One was okay, I got some sleep ( Bulgaria to Greece), the other was horrific although it was all over at 2 am (Toronto to Chicago- pre Chev Lightening). Air con broke down in middle of summer, 2 hours longer than expected and an alarmist hyped up bus driver as our introduction to America!
Today marks the third. My world is changing. I sit at the moment on an air conditioned bus from Puerto Maldonado nearish to the Peruvian, Bolivian, Brasilia border (having just spent 3 nights in the Amazon, teasing tarantulas out of their holes- a whole other blog) to Cusco, a kick off point for Macchupicchu. 11 hr bus ride ahead, we’ve filled in 9 hrs in town in 30 plus degree heat with high humidity, itching huge amounts of bites aggravated by the unrelenting heat. Tired and so very very hot and cold cold drinks are impossible to find. And I’m so excited I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep! The bus is a normal size coach- they usually seat 46… This sleeps 35! Recliner chairs.

Snacks of biscuits and a juice, blanket and cushion, and then along comes a waiter in black pants and a white shirt with tea or coffee.
We could have chosen a $60 bus ride that took 5 hours, or flown for about $90, but given finances we chose the $27, 11 hour overnight bus to save money and also take place of needing to pay for accommodation… We scored! My itching is even reducing as my body cools down! Most kids are sleeping. Wifi even works on the bus so Christos is responding to all those work emails, or booking the next stage of our unfolding adventure, and you can charge devices at your seat. It’s unheard of! Only thing to ignore is the ‘oh so loud’ movie they are showing, and the fact that we will wake up above 3000 metres so need to watch out for altitude sickness… Fortunately we are going to overnight below the magical 3000m mark in the sacred valley near Harry and Vanessa Hildebrands plot of land. But for now, I want to recline my seat and rest my eyes in a 80% horizontal position… It’s as good as business class I’m sure!

Ps. Mad mosquito bites, full on turning bus almost rolling us out of seats and a serious crack of the dizzy, sick altitude mixed with car sickness I’ve never felt before meant my optimism was not quite fulfilled. However, apart from our light sleeper Yas and I, all the others slept like logs!

by Mama Miliking