Super Transient

All right. So I left Ecuador Wednesday evening. Somehow got chatting with this Chilean guy who is a mountain guide in San Pedro de Atacama named Felipe who was on his way back from a big climb in Ecuador. He decides to change his bus itinerary a bit to ride with me a longer to Lima because we're both bored of travelling alone and are getting along well. We get off in Piura and catch another 3 hour bus to Chiclayo because there isn't anything leaving for Lima until the afternoon. Once in Chiclayo we have to take another bus to Trujillo (3 more hours). Since we were passing through anyways, we decide to check out the beach and the ruins of Chan Chan (a huge sandstone village in it's day). Felipe then convinces me to take a bus a little out of the way to pass through Huaraz and the Cordillera Blanca, which happens to be known as one of the world's most beautiful mountain ranges. All he wants to do is see it, as he doesn't have time to hike the area. So back on the night bus another 11 hours. This time with the aid of a sleeping pill, the night passes quickly and comfortably and we awake in time to see the sunrise over the snow-capped mountains! Breath-taking...
This morning I said good-bye to my new friend Felipe and he invited me to come hiking for free in Chile if I ever pass through there. I spent the day on a less than impressive laguna tour in the area of Huaraz- not because the laguna and the mountains aren't spectacular but because it was too much of cheesy organized-package tour and it involved way too many more hours in the bus. We also passed over a sort of memorial site of a town that existed prior to 1970 but was completely wiped out by an earthquake in 1970. Apparently 25, 000 people perished and the town that once was lies buried under 7 feet of stone and earth. They say the earthquake took 2 minutes to wipe out 2 towns and the debris travelled at a speed of 400km/hr. Apparently some Japanese tourists caught it on film.
I have another bus ticket for tonight to Lima to pick up my Visa card which the hostel has informed me is there and locked away safely. This will be the third night in a row sleeping on a bus. A nice guy from Hungary that I met on the tour today let me use the shower in his hotel. Thankfully Felipe also left me with an extra sleeping pill for the bus tonight. (I know what some of you are thinking- oh great, she's showering in random hotels and taking drugs from strangers on buses- it doesn't sound too good. But I was in the pharmacy and took the pills from the package and I have used this kind before. About the shower- I just couldn't go 4 days without one...)