May 12, 2025
Travel Day Part 2 (Lima to Huaraz)
When did travel day 1 end and day 2 start? We aren’t quite sure. Likely somewhere around 1:30am local time when the American Airlines attendants were handing out sandwiches on the plane from Miami to Lima. Afterwards, they finally dimmed the lights and we got a few hours of sleep. Our plane had been nearly an hour delayed because an inbound passenger was unable to exit the plane since the airport staff couldn’t get their mobility device to them. We were frustrated at the airlines and sad for this person who couldn’t access their device.
When the plane landed in Lima it was just around 5am local time. A quick check of the air tag told us our bike was also in Lima — thanks air tag for keeping track of her! We made it through immigration and found our bike and wheel box in baggage claim. TSA had inspected and retaped the box.
Customs was a breeze, although the agent did look a little confused when we said we just had one bike for the two of us. Getting ourselves to the Cruz Del Sur bus station was overwhelming at first. We stand out as two women carrying a huge bike box, and at least three separate men flocked to us, tried to carry our luggage, and insisted that we take their taxi. We knew we wanted to take an Uber, but they wouldn’t leave us alone - telling us we could not catch an Uber within the airport grounds (which did not seem to be true). They kept offering to drive us for a price cheaper than the Uber but we politely declined with a smile and ordered our Uber instead, following the advice of others who said don’t take informal taxis and just take the Uber. It was awkward and overwhelming and hard to say no to these insistent men. We understand that Uber may have replaced jobs for taxi drivers, which makes this a complicated issue - nevertheless, it’s a challenge to navigate, especially as two people pleasers. It makes it hard to trust yourself and the research you’ve done in advance. Luckily, the Uber Erin called swooped in just in time.
Despite getting an uber XL, the bike box didn’t fit in the car. The driver offered to strap it to the roof with a rope—we hesitated…“sí??”. After a quick Google translate of asking how to drive slow —despacio, we were off!
Lima traffic is WILD. We don’t think there are any rules. No lanes and no stopping. Lots of honking. Luckily our driver was very nice and drove slowly over all the bumps. We arrived at Cruz del Sur about 45 minutes later and immediately a man with a luggage trolley came up to grab our bike box. We let him take it, and Erin yelled to Megan, “Follow it!” Megan picked up the pace and followed it inside the terminal so we knew where they were bringing it. The bike is our baby and we don’t let it out of sight! After some hard to translate discussion, the luggage guy kindly offered to only charge us 100 soles for both boxes (a discount from his previously stated 200 soles!). We paid (they do take card—tarjeto, a new word for Erin) and headed upstairs to get coffee, more food and water. 2 empanadas and 2 cappuccinos later, we couldn’t believe it was only 8:30am. It had already felt like a long day.
We took out some cash, waited for the bus, and hopped on. Megan anxiously watched as they loaded our boxes. Hopefully we have all our bags? We got eyes on all but one bag. It was an 8.5 hour bus ride to Huaraz, from sea level up to 13,000 feet - the views were BEAUTIFUL!! We drove along part of the route we will bike, so we got a sneak preview of the views to come. The last few hours of the bus ride felt long though. Using the bathroom on board is a dynamic experience to say the least, trying not to thrash into the urinal or fall into the toilet as the bus twists and turns its way up a windy uphill. The tummy got a little upset near the end.
We were very happy to arrive to Huaraz and get off the moving vehicle. Turns out, all of our bags made it on the bus! Thank goodness. In a flurry, we walked across the street to our very conveniently located AirBnB and settled in. Erin got to practice a little bit of Spanish as she tried to use the speaker to buzz the Airbnb host. She just kept repeating “Hi my name is Erin, me llamo Erin”. They went back and forth saying “hola” a few times until the call ended and we had no idea what happened, and we were still standing outside the building without any new answers. Not the most helpful conversation with our limited Spanish… 🤪 Luckily the Airbnb host showed up a minute later and let us into our cute room. We went out to a delicious dinner at a recommended restaurant (Chilli Heaven) that served Thai and Indian fusion food (made sure those veggies were cooked). When we got home, we couldn’t wait for a shower and bed. Too bad Megan thought the warm water didn’t work and had to take a cold shower…turns out she just needed to turn the knob the other way!
P.S. We peeled open our bike boxes and the bikes look okay so far! Tomorrow we will report whether they are still intact. Bike anxiety is hard to shake!
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3 days ago
3 days ago
"No" is definitely an important word to bring along both during trips in foreign lands and - should a future journey take you there - parenting.
; )
21 hours ago