Puno to Cusco on the Magic Bus

Tuesday May 17

Today we took a 6.5 hour journey by bus from Puno to Cusco. This will sound odd, but I have grown to really like those days where we cover long distances by ground transport. Watching the varied countryside whiz by and moving through cities which are so different then the developed West is very interesting. Of course some buses are better than other buses, some trains better than others and some places (Peru) have better scenery then other places (Kansas).

Today we had the magic bus. We were in the first class compartment along with eight other travelers. Big seats, in-bus meals, individual seat back video consoles. Patti really went big on this one, a whole $25 a piece for tickets.

As we motorcoached our way across the high plains and into the mountainous region of Cusco the landscape changed in very spectacular fashion. I did my best to capture some of it from our moving bus and through the glass :-)

At one point I began to notice a very distinctive small building on many of the properties. It was not difficult to discern that it was an outhouse. What really caught my attention was that they were all constructed the same and with a bold color that stood our from the mostly drab buildings surrounding them.  An outhouse with pop, one to get your friends talking. "Hey, did you see the new bano that Benicio got?  It's the Luizar 7000!  With real running water and glass windows." 

I just came to the realization that I have a lot of talk about toilets and things in my blogging. Why that is I do not know. The Sanitation Arts hold no fascination for me while at home. Odd.

Something I did not see was smoke stacks in these decent sized communities as we motored down the road. Very different from China which seemed to have them all over and belching out smoke from the small towns to the big metropolitan areas.

We passed one particular bend in the river which had many folks out doing their laundry.  In the fields were ranchers leading their roped together cattle through the grasses to feed in specific areas while other cattle roamed unrestrained.  Countless tiny markets littered the roadsides.  It seemed that every hillside was terraced from the valley floor up to the highest 'how in the world did the do that' point.

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