Pisco... not sour but shaken
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2007
1
21
272
Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
Pisco,
Peru
Friday, October 19, 2007
Iīm not sure whether the 8:30 bus never arrived or was just really, really late, but we ended up leaving around 11. Two rolls and an orange gone. We got on the bus and our seats were taken by two rather disdainful ladies who told us we had to get off the bus and get new tickets. They didnīt look like they were going to budge so we got reseated in the back. It smelled a little funny.
Finally we were underway. When I think of Peru I donīt think of a desert. But most of the western coastal area is exactly that. Once you leave Lima heading south youīre on the Panamerican Highway in the desert
huts
. The ocean is on your right and on your left you pass towns that could be in Saharan Africa. These places donīt look very cheerful, most consist of little boxes of woven material or tin and little else. Itīs quite a sight.Pisco is on the coast 6 km from the highway. Our bus ticket said Pisco, and the bus kept stopping in actual terminals in the towns we passed, so we had a pretty good idea where we were and how far until Pisco. So we were waiting for the turn-off or at least a stop at the turn-off. About the time I figured we should be pretty close to Pisco, the bus guy came around to check our tickets and told us we had already passed Pisco. Iīm pretty sure we never even stopped. The next town was Ica, another 2 hours away. We were almost out of food and getting hungry. Suddenly he started taking about getting us a bus in the other direction. His Spanish was very difficult to understand but he seemed determined and brought us to the front of the bus and it stopped on the highway. He got our bags from underneath and told us to cross the road. Now we were literally in a desert in the middle of nowhere and I figured it was better to go to Ica than wait on the road. But he explained he was leaving us with the police. We were near a toll point and there was a police car waiting by the road. The bus driver gave me six soles for the bus back (very nice of him actually) and left
stranded in the desert
. So we waited on the side of the road in the care of Peruīs best. After a couple buses had gone by I was starting to get worried, but he explained that only one of the buses actually turned into Pisco as opposed to passing on the highway. Sure enough, we jumped on the right bus and zoomed back up the highway, turning in to Pisco. We got in around 5:30. Our four hour bus ride had turned into a 10 hour marathon.
But that wasnīt the end of things. You probably know that Peru had suffered an earthquake two months ago (August 15). It turns out that Pisco was hit by this earthquake, but we didnīt know how badly and what the state of repairs were. The lady in Lima assured me that things werenīt bad and that services werenīt affected.
It was almost like driving into a war zone. Some neighborhoods had simply ceased to exist; others were neat little piles of rubble. We looked at each other and wondered what we had gotten into. The bus dropped us off near the main plaza, and we walked there in order to get our bearings and figure out a place to stay. We passed a bunch of hotels that obviously werenīt in service anymore, and wondered where we should go
the ritzy hotel
.We were picked up in the square by Manuel, who worked in the tourism industry. He told us the hotels that we still functioning, gave us directions, and said he would meet us later to talk about tours to the Islas Ballestas in the morning. We went to hotel San Isidro where we checked in to the most expensive place we have stayed so far on this trip. It was 70 soles, she explained, but now we have to pay for water so an extra 5 soles each. It was really nice though. They had a pool, tv, a restaurant, and even blessed hot water.
We decided to eat there, but the restaurant had a limited menu due to the fact that they could only get a couple things at the store. Spaghetti it was. Manuel came by. Well, its usually 35 soles to go to the Islands but now its 45 because there arenīt a lot of people and there isnīt a bus anymore. He didnīt have our 10 soles change but he said he would get it (We never saw him again).
We met two guys from an American Rotary Club who were down here to hand out tents to people who were left without homes. They told us that one month ago the streets were completely buried in rubble but most of it has been cleared now
Travis in the dining area/game room
. Unfortunately they were held up nearly a week by customs in Lima, who wouldnīt give them the tents. They had spent the day setting up tents for people through the Pisco rotary chapter, but things had gotten rowdy. There was a big crowd there and they were calling out names for tents. The crowd would then give its opinion about whether that family deserved a tent or not. They ended up just giving out more tents than they had planned (usually they set them up or at least help), but left early before the crowd got rough.On the tour another couple told us how a really old Jesuit building by the cathedral had stood through several earthquakes but now it was gone. In the Plaza de Armas the two towers of the church still stand but the center is gone- only a big tent stands. Some plots are marked with signs indicating the family and address that used to live there. Some are filled with wooden temporary housing and others with tents. We passed a sign that simply read:
My house has fallen. Help me.
Travis
