Peru is ridiculous sometimes

Peru is a beautiful country with warm-hearted, wonderful people, and I would recommend that anyone with the time and resources visit this country. That said, there are times when Peru is ridiculous. Here are some examples, handily broken down into categories:

The people

1. The combi lady

The combis in Lima are small minivans packed to the gills with people, regardless of the hour. The cries of "Avanzen al fondo! Avanzen por favor!" ("Move back") mix with the smell of twenty people's sweat and the blaring of horns. One evening, I was quite squished and noticed a lady with about 2 feet of room behind her. I politely asked her to move back, to which she rudely replied, "I'm getting off soon. Go around." Unfortunately, that was quite impossible and I spent a very uncomfortable rest of the ride. My stop was 15 minutes away, and I still got off before her. Sadly, this attitude is not uncommon in Lima.

2.  The parents

Peruvians drink a LOT of soft drinks. This is a problem in and of itself, but what shocked me is the number of small children I've seen being given soft drinks - at night, in the morning, in the baby bottle, when they're crying, when they're happy. It's quite a sight to see a baby sipping electric-yellow cola from a baby bottle. Yikes.

3.  The driver

The ride from Huanta to Ayacucho is about an hour by colectivo (small van). Our large backpacks were thrown into the bin on top, and the driver assured us that they would be securely tied down. (They had been the last time.) The van began to move, and neither Brian nor I could remember him tying anything. So I asked the driver if they had been tied down. He says, "Yeah, yeah, don't worry." Hm. About 10 minutes later, Brian frantically shouted at the driver to stop the van (in Spanish) as I saw half my backpack hanging over the side! Luckily, the whole van was on our side, and we were able to strap them to the bin and reprimand the driver.

Animals on buses

1.You brought what on board? (pt. 1)

Well, this is the only one in this category, but I have seen a llama being shoved kicking into the cargo bin under the bus, a kitten on the winding, 13-hour mountain road from Ayacucho to Abancay, and a FERRET that (thankfully) got on a different bus than mine. I can only imagine.

Transportation

1. You brought what on board? (pt. 2)

Winding mountain roads. Open paint cans. They don't mix.

2. The bait and switch

We arrived in Andahuaylas at 3 A.M. and were waiting for our second bus at 6:30 to Abancay. AT 4:45, a bus pulls up and the man on duty shouts "Cusco! Cusco, 6:30!" Confused, everyone looks around, looks at each other, and asks the man about five more times if this is correct. He assures us it is. So, we begin the process of getting everyone loaded, which takes a long time because everyone here carries TONS of stuff and somehow can't seem to understand that seat 16 is not, indeed, seat 17. Finally, after all the fuss, the man boards the bus and says we all have to get off because he made a mistake and this is the wrong bus. So, we get off the bus, repeat the process on the next bus, and board, only to discover that IT'S THE EXACT SAME TYPE OF BUS. Both buses in the terminal at the same time. Both of the same type. Why did we have to switch? Because Peru is ridiculous sometimes.