It’s 8 am. As soon as I get to the bus terminal I find out the bad news: all the buses going to Arequipa have been cancelled because of the bad road conditions on the way. It snowed too much last night, the road is apparently blocked by snow, no one is going there today.
At the counter of the company "Flores" I inquire to one of the employee "When is the next bus for Arequipa leaving?"
"No sé, probablamente mañana ..." he responds, obviously not sure. Tomorrow! I don't want to wait until tomorrow so I ask for my money back and I decide to ask every bus company in the terminal, just in case someone is feeling brave (or simply foolish) enough to drive up to Arequipa today. I finally find out that one bus is leaving in 30 minutes, the employee at the counter is strangely optimistic “Si, el bus se va en 20 minutos, llamé alguien allí, el camino ha sido limpiado, ya no hay nieve”. He seems sure that there is no more snow, that the road is now clear. His bus is leaving in 20 minutes, I guess it’s time to take a leap of faith…
The bus is old and obviously pretty damaged but that would do for today. “It’s only 6 hours” I keep thinking to myself.
I am the only non-peruvian aboard, none of the tourists dared to take that bus and they’re all waiting in the terminal for better road conditions. The bus is full, a few kids on their parents’ laps, a lot of bags everywhere.
Around noon we reach some higher ground, there is snow everywhere indeed, but the road is clear and we can go through without any trouble. It’s getting colder in the bus, I realize they don’t have the heat on, probably broken, so I’m covering myself with a blanket.
When traveling on cheap Peruvian buses you are guaranteed to meet at least one strange person selling you something you would never have imagined you might need on a bus: a ruler, a wrench, duct tape, some baked goods or some medicine against diarrhea.
Today, I am lucky, just when I was getting bored, a middle-age man grabs the microphone located at the front of the bus. I'm guessing he must be some kind of Jehovah's witness ready to explain to us the benefits of Jesus. Or maybe he is going to sing. But he starts addressing passengers "Senor, usted siente dolor cuando orina? Sir, do you have pain when you urinate?".
No one seems to even care, people sleep and apart from me and a little girl, no one even looks at the man.
That doesn't stop him, he calls out to the woman with the little girl on her lap "Senora, sus reglas son dolorasas? Madam, your period are painful?".
I'm getting curious, what is he selling? He starts to enumerate a list of symptoms and diseases that his magical drug can apparently cure.
The little girl looks concerned. The others are waking up, half curious half jaded. After 10 minutes he finally declares "If you've experienced these, tengo la cura para todos sus males. Este medicamiento es natural y eficaz, a young man I met, gave it to his father and he was healed immediately. Estan hechos de plantas que provienen de un pais muy lejos, mas de mil kilometros de aqui! (these drugs are made with plants rfom a country very far away, more than a thousand kilometers away)". This information seems to impress a lot of passengers.
Still, no one buys anything and finally, after a 30 minutes intense speech, he leaves the bus, unsuccessful.
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