after deciding to head directly from arequipa to lima, i was facing an extremely long 13-and-a-half hour bus ride.
i choose what is inarguably the best bus operator in lima, cruz del sur, and their highest class of service, the "Cruzero" (which brags of such advanced safety features as "Control and prevention of consumption of alcoholic drinks to the crew members"), and their "full cama" seats in the VIP cabin. which basically means giant seats in a small cabin on the lower level of the bus. personally, i thought the seats resembled the ones at the VIP bangkok movie theater i went to several months ago.
cruz del sur is significantly ahead of greyhound in the range of creature comforts they offer, and far lower in annoyances than many of the buses i've taken on this trip. (most annoying bus ride: the neverending bus in malayasia from the cameron highlands to kuala lumpur, where the bus driver decided to show us WWE wrestling from the united states at the highest possible volume on the TV system on the bus. all of the passengers (aside from me) were completely enthralled as far as i could tell.)
however, it's still a peruvian bus, with all the little quirks that it brings to the table. like the careful way the blankets are policed -- they are carefully distributed at the beginning of the bus ride, and VERY carefully taken back at the end in order to ensure that passengers aren't taking home any free blankets.
food was provided on the overnight bus ride, which consisted of a surprisingly sparse "nothing sandwich" (i think it was buttered white bread with the crusts cut off), a glass of Inca Kola, and some sweets for desert. the movies were played on open speakers (thank god for sound-blocking headphones), and there was even a game of bingo which i was unable to play due to my complete inability to recognize numbers in spanish being read very quickly over a PA system.
when we finally arrived in lima the next morning, we were conveniently located at the Cruzero bus terminal, which is happily NOT located in the swarm of other bus terminals in central lima, but located in a quieter neighborhood which is much faster to get a taxi out of. overall, not too bad an experience!
i choose what is inarguably the best bus operator in lima, cruz del sur, and their highest class of service, the "Cruzero" (which brags of such advanced safety features as "Control and prevention of consumption of alcoholic drinks to the crew members"), and their "full cama" seats in the VIP cabin. which basically means giant seats in a small cabin on the lower level of the bus. personally, i thought the seats resembled the ones at the VIP bangkok movie theater i went to several months ago.
cruz del sur is significantly ahead of greyhound in the range of creature comforts they offer, and far lower in annoyances than many of the buses i've taken on this trip. (most annoying bus ride: the neverending bus in malayasia from the cameron highlands to kuala lumpur, where the bus driver decided to show us WWE wrestling from the united states at the highest possible volume on the TV system on the bus. all of the passengers (aside from me) were completely enthralled as far as i could tell.)
however, it's still a peruvian bus, with all the little quirks that it brings to the table. like the careful way the blankets are policed -- they are carefully distributed at the beginning of the bus ride, and VERY carefully taken back at the end in order to ensure that passengers aren't taking home any free blankets.
food was provided on the overnight bus ride, which consisted of a surprisingly sparse "nothing sandwich" (i think it was buttered white bread with the crusts cut off), a glass of Inca Kola, and some sweets for desert. the movies were played on open speakers (thank god for sound-blocking headphones), and there was even a game of bingo which i was unable to play due to my complete inability to recognize numbers in spanish being read very quickly over a PA system.
when we finally arrived in lima the next morning, we were conveniently located at the Cruzero bus terminal, which is happily NOT located in the swarm of other bus terminals in central lima, but located in a quieter neighborhood which is much faster to get a taxi out of. overall, not too bad an experience!
