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Gianni Truvianni’s Bus Trip From Tacna, Chile to Lima, Peru

It happened in late September of 92, while I was in Buenos Aires that I decided to go back to Lima, Peru from where I knew I would go back to the United States but only after having captured that part of Peruvian life I had yet to really see.

The part I make reference to is those shanty towns which in Spanish or at least in Peru are referred to as “pueblos Jovenes”, which if literally translated in to the English language would be “young towns”.  This an expression which to a certain extent is kinder then the one coined in English, which implies more or less extreme poverty. While the one in Spanish or from Peru ( I am not aware weather or not this expression is used in every Spanish speaking country) suggests that the town is “young” and by virtue of which is still in stages of early development; justifying a lack of certain facilities such as running water or electricity. Of course from a technical point of view we could say that every major city at one point was a settlement that eventually turned in to perhaps a metropolis.   

By then I had been in South America, a little over a year and decided after having visited places like Curacao (a Dutch island located off Venezuela’s coast), Chile and Argentina that it was time to head back to the States but rather then catch a flight directly from Buenos Aires to New York, I would take the bus from Buenos Aires to Lima. From Lima, I would catch a flight to Miami and go the rest of the way by bus, me being short of money at the time. However this only after having spent sometime in Lima; getting all those shots I had not during my first few months there, this the time in my life in which I was involved heavily in photography.

It was in early October that I entered Peruvian territory, actually not by bus but in a shared taxi (with five other people) as strangely enough or perhaps not so much so there is no bus (or at least not at the time) which actually goes from Santiago to Lima but one that limits itself to taking passengers across the boarder, which means from Arica in Chile (which at one moment in history was a part of Peru) to Tacna in Peru. This last city being one that actually changed hands twice; first being Peruvian and then Chilean then back to Peru again. All of which happening after the war Peru and Bolivia lost against Chile, which lead to both countries loosing a good deal of their land. Bolivia arguable having more taken away, as they were forced to give up their connection to the Pacific ocean.

Once in Tacna, I hooked up with a blonde man from Argentina who happened to be on his way back to Venezuela. This, the place he and his Venezuelan wife had come to call home, given it was where he had found a job in that country’s ever lucrative oil industry. Tacna, as many may know is a city in a providence of Peru which also bears the same name, that in all truth has very little to offer anybody, specially a tourist however this city does receive a lot visitors given it’s being what is commonly known as a “Free Port”. This being a place where goods are sold cheaply given they never really entered the country, meaning import taxes were never added to their price.

It is this factor that lends cause to many Peruvians, travelling a whole day by bus to an otherwise small, dirty city in the middle of the desert, for it is there that they fill up with goods to take back and above all sell in Lima, needless to say at a higher price. Of course there are those that travel by plane from Lima to Tacna, as I had done on my way there but these would be tourist which this place does not really attract all that many unless they wish to catch a connecting flight to Bolivia or Chile or Argentina. There are even those who make the trip by car but these are few for I found out that it is actually cheaper, for those Peruvians seeking to do business in Tacna to travel by bus then by car, usually from Lima.

In all that concerns travel between Tacna and Lima or vice versa, one can discard the train option for it simply does not exist, not only between these two cities but any in Peru; save Lima and Cuzco. Though I imagine the train would not have been all that more comfortable or faster even if there had been one.  

Once in Tacna and seated next to each other on the bus bound for Lima, my newly acquired traveling companion from Argentina and I were able to see clearly what this trip; which I was taking for the first time, though not he was going to be all about. I having flown from Lima to Tacna, when time was what I had less of while money more of was saved the experience. Naturally, it would not have been the same. This because when people went from Lima to Tacna they did not take much in the way of luggage with them but it was the other way around. It was the Tacna-Lima trips were the busses were loaded to maximum capacity given that all these “travelling merchants” brought back with them all their goods, which literally filled the bus to the point where one could not take two steps in the aisle without having to go around or over somebody’s luggage.

This being the case since the bus companies set no limits on how much one could actually transport on these busses which resulted in the roofs of the busses being stacked almost two meters high, while the carry on compartments were also jammed pack as well as the overhead ones. There were some who even travelled the whole way standing; as they preferred to volunteer their seats so there Pioneer stereo might travel in comfort. Fortunately, in all this I was spared from having to travel with any livestock, given that Tacna did not really offer any.

Naturally, as always Peruvian bus companies; always in an attempt of being considerate to their passengers tried to install as many seats on the bus as possible which was awfully descent of them in wanting to take as many as possible even if it meant removing the toilet, so this might be accomplished. Yes, the toilet was sacrificed from these types of busses that normally have them, so two more paying passengers could make the more then 24 hour trip. For all things considered even in Peru, it would be hard to find someone willing to pay for a seat in the toilet.

Once however the bus started on its way, my Argentine traveling companion by the name of Jorge (last name I do not recall) and I got seated and even comfortable, well more or less and got to talking about the many curious aspects of our journey. One of them being that the roads in Peru, were simply nothing that could even be compared to either Chile or Argentina; as at least these two countries had paved ones. The road we were traveling on; which could not be called a “highway” by any stretch of the imagination was a dry dirt road, which made it specially dusty for us in the bus when we were overtaken by any faster moving vehicle, which was not all that difficult given the limited speed our bus had to travel at due to all that had been packed on top.

During our trip, Jorge and I talked about our lives, me telling him about my career as a photographer while he told me about his life in Venezuela; though our topics did include historical ones like, Eva Peron. It was on this aspect that he told me that my understanding of this subject was that of the typical American, which I asked what that was to his reply that my view was like all Americans who believed in a simplified version of Eva Peron. The one that she and her husband, led a government which was perhaps generous to the poor but very corrupt, to which I asked if that was not the case, to hear that all was not that simple.

Our bus trip however would be interrupted at the borderline between the province of Tacna, and the rest of Peru. This because though Tacna is a part of Peru, it is treated because of its status as a “free port” as another country; where one is in fact required not only to show one’s passport but go through customs and even pay duty on what one has purchased in Tacna. This however not a process one is not required to under go when one enters Tacna from the rest of Peru. 

As one can suspect with all those people on the bus who were full up with goods, customs would be an issue which would take a great deal of time, specially since there were several other busses in front of us on line to get across the boarder. Many busses however, more often then not would take up a collection amongst its passengers to pass on to the custom officer who in turn would not look too carefully or at all for that matter and even let busses that paid go through without having to wait online. All of which making life easier but with my travel companion’s fortune and mine on that occasion, we just happened to get on a bus of passengers; who apart from being loaded with goods, were not really willing to shell out any money to bribe the customs officer. All of which meant, Jorge and I; who had nothing on us apart from our clothes and personal belongings would have to wait ten hours or perhaps more at the boarder before we would be let through, simply because we were on a bus that was apparently carrying contraband, with people who were to frugal to pay what would have amounted to 10 dollars a piece for the bus to go through or perhaps five would have done it. As a matter of fact, Jorge and I even offered to put in five dollars each to the collection that would have gone to the customs officer, only to find out that we and another woman were the only ones willing to sacrifice money for the sake of saving time.   

It was when confronted with the options of having to spend ten hours at customs or put up a lot more then five dollars to pay a customs officer to ignore contraband we did not even have that Jorge and I did the only sensible thing we could do, which was to take another bus to Lima. This we did first by getting off the bus with our luggage, me helping Jorge carry his as he had more then I did and walking across the border, which only included customs and not passport control.

Once across the boarder, after having shown the customs officer that we had nothing other then personal belongings; as neither of us had made any purchases in Tacna, we got on a bus that had also passed customs. Naturally, we had to pay the price of two more Tacna-Lima tickets, given that in Peru; one bus is not required to take passengers from another bus, even if it is the same company or to the same destination, simply because they could or would not wait to get through customs. Jorge and I; however did not mind paying as it was not really all that much and we were able to get going faster.

Once inside what was now our second bus; we continued chatting away and our topic after having discussed Eva Peron, whom I labeled as demigod (much to Jorge’s protest to the contrary) ; turned to the recent arrest of “Abimael Guzman”. This the man, considered to be the leader of the terrorist group “Sendero Luminoso” (Shinning Path), who many in Peru wanted to be tried in a military court (though he had never been a member of the military) for of all things treason. This a charge which in most countries (Peru included) is usually reserved for those in the military past a certain rank or those with security clearances, neither of which applied to Guzman. There were those in Peru who were even calling for his death though Peru did not have this penalty at the time, and would not have it till President Fujimori (currently serving a prison term in Peru) imposed it on the constitution later that year.   

“Sendero Luminoso”, a group which since its formation in 1980 was responsible for the death’s of over 20,000 people and a car bomb which in that very year killed 27 people in Lima’s district of Miraflores. I must confess I did not know much about what was happening in connection with the arrest of Guzman, other then what I had heard on television in Buenos Aires, which was that he had finally been captured. This after many years of eluding the police; in a house located in Lima, in the district of “Surco”, where he was being hidden by a couple, running a dance school from the very house. I even remembered hearing that the lady of the house, who was a devout supporter of Guzman, was also the niece of famed Peruvian writer “Mario Vargas Llosa”, who had run and lost in a runoff election against Fujimore, (President of Peru at the time) in Peru’s 1990 presidential election. This, after actually having won the first round.  

With the trip being long, Jorge and I got to sleep but not before chatting up some local Peruvian girls; whom I even took photos of, some of which included myself in the shot which Jorge took with my trusty Minolta. Indian girls from Peru, I must say were not unattractive or at least the ones we met on the bus. This perhaps, the reason that despite all his dedication to the USA, actor Marion Morrison (a.k.a. John Wayne) married two Peruvian women, while Poland’s presidential candidate “Tyminski” took one of his own for his first wife, though he is presently married to a lady from China. It was through our conversations with these Peruvian ladies that we got to know more about our host country, in exchange for which I gave them some of the photographs I had on me, taking in places like Rome, Paris and London.

As for the bus, it was much dirtier then the one in Chile and went slower but it did perform its function though I was afraid that I would have to go to the toilet, which made it that I did not drink or eat much; for what should be obvious reasons. I for my part did not take long to fall asleep, since I had been traveling from Buenos Aires and I figured I could get some sleep, since we probably would have no more problems however one slight one did come up. After having traveled on the bus, for what must have been two or three hours, we went through a police passport control, which was only intended for non-Peruvians and since Jorge and I were the only ones who were; it was us who were required to get off the bus and show our passports.

Somebody, actually shouted out something which struck me as being rather funny while Jorge and I were on our way off the bus (to get back on of course) that when translated to English went “all those from Arequipa, get off”. This a reference to how Peruvians joke about those who came from the province Arequipa, not being real Peruvians, given their independent stand from the government in Lima, that goes to the extreme of them having their own passports which in Arequipa are used to get discounts in some hotels and restaurants. As a personal matter; my sister’s husband at the time, who she would go on to divorce came from this part of Peru.

Night time eventually fell on what had been this long day and journey, and the bus made a stop, near a restaurant in Arequipa, which saw everybody get off the bus, mainly to get something to eat or go to the toilet. Of course, the reality was that we in fact had no choice but to get off the bus while it was being fueled, this because since everybody (but Jorge and I) had very expensive goods, so much that they had to leave them on the bus. It created a situation that nobody was trusted on the bus with so much value merchandise, specially while most were a way from their seats and contraband goods.

Jorge and I got of the bus, not really minding that we had to and I must confess that unlike most of what I had seen on that road; this restaurant in Arequipa, though humble gave an appearance of being clean or at least enough that I ordered something to eat, which did not even come wrapped in plastic. A large chicken and rice meal, was what I had in spite of my being a vegetarian in those days, while Jorge had the same and I would even add that the food in its simplicity was not bad.

The break finished which I also used to go to the toilet, after which we got on our way and I figured wrongly, of coarse that I would sleep through the night and we would get to Lima early, so I could take a much needed shower. This was what I planned but like most plans, it went slightly astray as did the bus, actually. It happened, well in to the night that the bus driver, who did not have anybody to relieve him, ended up falling asleep at the wheel, while going quite fast; especially for the kind of road we were on.

The bus, went off the road though fortunately not off one of the many high cliffs, (some over 20 meters) but just the road and in to a sort of sand trap, which we required all the passengers to get off the bus, while the men were made to push the bus. We had dogged a bullet, one could say as things definitely could have been worse, as the bus might have fallen from a great height or turned over but luckily no one was hurt. Most on the bus even took what had happened in stride, as it was not uncommon.

I for my part however found it hard to get back to sleep, spending much of the night awake in fear of the same thing reoccurring which however did not. The night however was a beautiful one, despite it all; traveling under a clear, desert sky that displayed the wonder that is the Southern Cross, which I could not help but admire in my sleeplessness.  

Morning eventually did come, to find our bus still on the road and making its way to Peru’s capital of more then six million inhabitants, I however had not managed to get much sleep after what had transpired but did not feel all that sleepy despite it. Jorge and I continued our chatting till we finally got to Lima, where we exchanged addresses and said our good byes after what had been, a most memorable trip for many reasons. One of them being Jorge’s pleasant personality and interesting comments, on the many topics of mutual interest we hit upon. Jorge and I, however would never meet again and it is unlikely we ever will though I in later years took his personality and looks and put them in to the fictional Polish speaking cab driver from Argentina, who appears in my first “New York’s Opera Society”.  

About the Author

My name is Gianni Truvianni, I am an author who writes with the simple aim of sharing his ideas, thoughts and so much more of what I am with those who are interested in perhaps reading something new. I also am the author of the book entitled “New York’s Opera Society” which is now available on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Yorks-Opera-Society-Gianni-Truvianni/dp/0595500161/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226938874&sr=8-2

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