Bus Buddies

I took the cheapest bus I could find from Lima to Tacna - a 17 hour bus ride. Sometimes I'm too stubborn and cheap for my own good cause whenever you take a bus overnight or over 15 hours you should spend a little more for the added comfort.

I ended up sitting by a 37 yr old Peruvian who looked 27. He smiled and said "Shhhhh!" when he told me his age. I tried to chat, but it was obvious that my Spanish is still stunted cause we couldn't understand each other very well.

After the pit stop for dinner I noticed my bus buddy smelled like he just smoked an oregano cigarette. After a short bit with the lights off he seemed to be sleeping sound with the help of his herb. I, on the other hand, could not. The seat was stiff, the 4 young kids around us were crying, whining or banging on their seat and inside my stomache a little cramp was developing that needed some relief. If I was to sleep I had to relieve the pressure down below!

In the bathroom I encountered some bad news that made me freeze. The toilet wouldn't flush. I stared at the toilet and shook my head. There was a bang on the door, so I tried to flush again, but the water was out!! Seriously, what bad luck. Panicking, I found two plastic bags in my hoodie, scooped up my warm mess and hucked it out the window in two full loads!

Opening the door I saw everyone staring at me with their shirts covering their noses!! Ooowee, did I feel bad. Back in my seat I asked my bus buddy in a whisper if we were allowed to drop a deuce in the toilet and he burst out laughing. heh heh, that answers that question. While filling him in on what I did, one of the nose-covered suffurers from the back told the bus driver of my dirty deed. My bus buddy told me that meant I'd have to clean it up. Worse things have happened.

Thank god the next stop was only 15 minutes away cause I just wanted to get this over with. I went to the washroom and explained to the lady that I didn't want to pay to use the washroom. I just wanted a bucket of water and a crap load of TP. As soon as she figured out why I wanted that she burst out laughing. And, to be honest, cleaning the toilet wasn't that bad. I did most of the work earlier with my plastic bags. When I returned the bucket the washroom lady was laughing even harder. A bunch of the folk sitting near the back were there, so I tried not to laugh, but I couldn't help but crach a smile.

Once on the bus again I slept like a baby.

written by  ryanmyers on August 5, 2009 from Quito, Ecuador
from the travel blog: Ryan's First Sabbatical
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