Modes of Transportation - A Travel Story

It is said that to travel is to get from one place to the next. And for every type of travel or destination, there are modes of transportation. Plase listen to this: they each have their little quirks. Intrigued no doubt ? Read on then.

My first destination was Holland´s fine national airport. My first choice going there would be by train, if it wasn´t for the fact that half of Spijkenisse came along to make sure I was really going to go. So the car it was. So a traffic jam it was, a 80km traffic jam all the way on Holland´s pride and joy, the road system. By the way, for some the train was not an optional choice either. The other half of the farewell party ended up in Belgium in stead of the airport. Well, the train system is a complicated thing ...

Next stop was Lima, Peru. I had to get out of Holland and far away ;-), so an aeroplane it was. At least I booked a seat but another one of Holland´s prides, bless the KLM, thought it was a nice idea to sell more tickets than chairs, and I was extremely late checking in, the cause of which you can read back at your leasure above. But I really had to go and I could´t disappoint all those people either, so I stowed away in the freight compartment ... (with Kareltje the huge lion from Blijdorp zoo, ready to be on all those lionesses in the Lima zoo. But that´s another story ...)

In Lima the story continued. Hardly recovered from the lion business, my bus from the airport weaved an dodged through the city´s late night traffic. Taxis to museums the next day weaving and dodging even more. I have to say something here though. In the past I have been known to state ´hating taxi drivers´. The ones of you who have read about my exploits in Cairo may remember. However, although the smog is as bad as Cairo, the taxi drivers are of a different sort. Jolly and friendly, not ripping you of and the like. I must admit I was astounded. So my apologies. I do not all taxi drivers, only the Cairo ones ... (and the Dutch ones of course, filthy scum that they are).

Back from the suburbs I decided to het a taste of the local public transport. What a ride ! Buses of all sizes and colours race down the ´avenidas´ stopping every 100 meters or so where a little guy jumps out, screams, and pulls unsuspecting people into the buses. And it did get me back to the hotel in no time for no money at all. Amazing !

How amazing this all was, Lima itself was not. Especially if you want to get away for a bit from the crowdedness of Holland. So one ticket to the mountains in a ´Cruz del Sur´ bus it was. Driving out of a city like Lima really shows you how immense it actually is. And how poor. However they do their best to make a modern city center, kilometers upon kilometers of slums tell the real story, I´m afraid.
But the city ended and the bizar coastal desert showed up and eventually the mountains ... but this story was about the quirks of travel, so I will end with a nice one. Hold on tight ... yes it is true, they played BINGO in the bus to Huaraz !!

And I lost ...

Hasta luego ;-)

PS Don´t heed the lion story. It must be the jetlag/altidudesickness/rawfish-combination