Aug
21
I'm back in Puerto after a very long and different traveling experience. Here's a quick summary of my trip to Pucallpa:4 buses, 2 long (2 & 4 hr) taxi rides, 1 flight (in most cases I hard very little leg room, however I did get the emergency row on the 1 hr flight back)
33 1/2 hours total of traveling in 2 1/2 days
19 hrs waiting for transportation
Only 10 hours in Pucallpa
Althought the extent of traveling was rather exhausting, I did get to experience some interesting things. I went from the coast/desert to the mountains to the jungle in about a day and a half.
I passed over one of the highest highways in the world (15,800 feet). As we were going through this area I saw some of the bluest sky and water in my life. I also discovered my boss is highly sensitive to high altitude and spent most of this part of the trip throwing up.
In a period of 10 - 15 minutes when descended through a small road between some mountains and suddenly we came into an area that was 10-20 degrees warmer and filled with trees. It may not sound that exciting but it was a pretty drastic and beautiful change.
I got to spend 2 nights in a row sleeping on a bus. I found out that Ambien is an incredible sleep medicine. My boss and the other guy who was with us both fell asleep within 1 - 2 minutes of taking it.
Finally in the airport at Pucallpa we had to wait in an area with about 30 seats and no air conditioning (it was about 95 degrees). Needless to say there were many more people than seats. Finally 20 minutes before our flight they started allowing people to pass through security into the waiting area that had about 150 seats and was air conditioned. I asked the employees why they made us wait outside of the waiting area but they didn't really have an answer.
If you're interested here's a detailed itinerary:
Monday:
11 am - 4 hr bus to Lima. Arrived too late to take a bus directly to Pucallpa.
3 pm - arrived in Lima and waited for next bus
11:30 pm - Took 7 hr overnight bus to Huancayo. Later realized that we mixed up the cities. We were supposed to go to Huánuco.
Tuesday:
6:30 am - arrived in Huancayo
7:00 am - backtracked via a 2 hr taxi ride to some unknown city
9:00 am - arrived at the unknown city and had a 4 1/2 hour taxi ride to Huánuco
1:30 pm - arrived in Huánuco and waited for the bus to take us the rest of the way to Pucallpa
7:30 pm - boarded bus to go to Pucallpa (11 hours over night)
Wednesday:
6:30 am - arrived in Pucallpa
7 - 11:30 am - César dropped the guy off at rehab, and I rested at a friends house
12 pm - went to the airport to buy plane tickets then wasted time till our flight
5 pm - boarded plane to Lima
6:30 pm - arrived in Lima
7:30 pm - took 4 hour bus to Puerto Supe
12 pm - arrived home in Puerto
Wow, you are very patient. I think I would have just given up and either left the country or dive myself the next time... Glad you could stay in the house for a little while.