Peru 2018

Strike, Rattle and Ride ~ Peru 2018.

When it comes to early morning wake-up calls, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 at 6.07am is certainly an encouragement to get out of bed and thus began our first morning in Peru. On the plus side was the opportunity to watch rush-hour buses in Lima as life continued as normal. As with most modern cities, Lima suffers from chronic traffic congestion despite a high frequency bus network and modern BRT line. There are 15,396 buses registered in Lima by numerous independent operators, typically using smaller van/truck derived chassis and the larger of these have locally built bodies. The local authority, Municipalidad de Lima, oversees the Sistema Integrado de Transporte on routes in the 200/300s and the Metropolitano BRT with its four lines.

Stretching from Matellini in the south to Naranjal in the north the 'Metropolitano' is the most convenient for tourists as line C connects the tourist district of Miraflores and the old city, whilst lines A and B require one change. The full system is 21 miles in length and has 38 stations. Stations have network maps at the entrance as not all routes go the full distance or call at all stations. One inconvenience for visitors is the need to acquire a pre-purchase smartcard and load it with cash. The local advice was to stand at the entrance barrier with 2.50 new soles, the cost of a single fare, and ask a local to 'tap' you through in exchange for the cash, and it worked. The terminal at Naranjal provides the best location for observing all varieties of operators and vehicle types. The district of Miraflores has four Metropolitano stations with Ricardo Palma providing the least hazardous connection to local buses which congregate around the Ovalo and Central Park and only requires crossing one major road. The disadvantage with this location from an enthusiast’s perspective is the lack of American style school buses which are still prevalent on local service in the centre of Lima.

Lima has attempted to integrate the various independent long distance bus operators in the Grand Terminal, at Plaza Norte close to Metropolitano station Tomds Valle, but several still insist in managing their own departure points, such as Cruz del Sur on Avenue Javier Prado which is the departure point for the seventeen hour 629 mile trip along the Pacific coast to Arequipa. Arequipa is a tourist mecca with the historic centre built in a grid system of narrow one-way streets on one bank of the Rio Chilli, whilst the modern sprawling suburbs sit on the other bank and extend for miles along the highway thanks to the wealth generated by mining. The majority of bus routes from both areas pass through the Puente Grau bus station, with small van derived vehicles covering the narrow old streets and the occasional conventional bus crossing the bridge from the modern side. The bus station consist of two rows of stops on two levels and is heavily congested with dwell time rigorously enforced by transport inspectors. The occasional full size tourist coach penetrates the old city but the only large buses to do so are the unwieldy looking Ashok Leyland/Marcopolo double-deckers on sightseeing duties.

The next two days of our tour were aboard a Mercedes Benz with Irizar i6 body on an excursion from Arequipa (7550ft above sea level) to the Colca Canyon and Condors' Cross via Mirador De Los Volcanes (16,000ft above sea level) and a descent of 14 hairpin bends and numerous twists with a journey time of 4 hours to the town of Chivay (12,000ft above sea level). Whilst the Mercedes handled the altitude without any problems, older express buses on the route struggled: radiator grills lifted, engine covers propped open and a thick black trail of exhaust fumes left in their wake.

Continuing on to Puno, gateway to Lake Titicaca, the majority of express buses tended to be three-axel single deckers with Scania chassis and Marcopolo bodies. The route passes through Juliac, the provincial capital and transport hub, which is currently without a completed road bypass and its narrow streets are congested with van derived minibuses and Moto Taxis (tuk tuks). The road into Puno is steep with the main residential area sitting on the slopes above the bay whilst the main commercial and university areas sit along the lake shore. The local bus network is dominated by van derived minibuses plying their trade around the bay and the extent of the network is defined by two large tourist hotels on opposite headlands. 

                   

From Puno we cheated and made the journey to Cusco by overnight train. This was fortuitous as it turned out because a planned day of national strikes meant that the road system in and out of Cusco was severely disrupted. Our planned train arrival time was brought forward by one-and-a-half-hours to circumvent any potential problems which the train company feared may include level crossings being blocked by protestors. The view of the express coach station from the train showed a large number of coaches standing idle as were the local city buses. By mid-morning, tourist coaches were either trapped in the city or unable to enter because main roads were blocked by rubble and oil drums, and the police increased their weapons from side-arms and riot shields to additional rifles and teargas launchers - a situation which lasted until 4pm. Eventually the all clear was given and we boarded our small VW badged MAN 'truck with Modasa (Motores Diesel Andinos S.A.) Apolo body and left the valley in a convoy of vehicles, driving through a slalom of rubble, oil drums etc. As we crested the hill there was a long convoy of express coaches waiting to enter the city. It soon became apparent that small truck derived coaches do not make comfortable express vehicles on steep winding roads and we arrived in the Sacred Valley amidst plumes of smoke coming from the brake pads. No such problems for German tourists staying in the hotel as their smart German registered Neoplan Cityliner, belonging to Worldwide Gruppenreisen of Dachau, Munich, sat proudly in the car park. According to the driver, German clientele demand luxury so the coach is shipped to South America for a year and makes regular journeys from Santiago, Chile through Boliva and across Peru, under the Andino Tours branding.

 

If you want to continue further along the Scared Valley the only options available are walking or train. When the train from Sacred Valley arrives at the town of  Aguas Calientes (gateway to Machu Picchu), Mercedes Benz Lo915's with Marcopolo or Volare W9 bodies transfer you to the citadel entrance. This is via a dirt road with a climb of 390 metres and thirteen hairpin bends, passing on route the depot for the operator Consettur Machupicchu S.A.C.

What a difference three days can make! Returning to Cusco from Machu Picchu, the city was alive with a fully functioning  bus service and vibrant coach station. The narrow one way streets are plied by small van and truck derived buses with individual operators such as Batman, Servicio Andino, Satelite and El Dorado with the route displayed along the side of the bodywork. Most routes run through the old city to modern sprawling suburbs on either side with mini interchange points such as City Park Limacpampa and Calle Concebidayoc doted around. The coach interchange is located ten blocks from the centre at Terminal Terrestre (Earth Terminal), a functional single story concrete building containing all the operators' individual  booking  kiosks and passenger seating area. Externally there are fifteen boarding bays and a vast parking area for coaches on layover. Micaela Bastidas which overlooks the interchange and runs parallel to the railway line is used by many operators as a parking area and houses a roadside depot for Transportes Power. For the final leg of the trip back to Lima, there were two route options. The first, generally considered the safest but longest, was to return via Arequipa, but that entailed travelling over many miles of previously travelled roads. So option two, a direct and spectacular route over the Andes covering 680 miles in 22 hours, was chosen. 

With dramatic scenery and interesting history Peru is well worth a visit, although with questionable driving and problems breathing at high altitude, it is literarily not a country for the faint hearted.   

                 

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