Mi vida en un bus

Yes folks .... life on a bus....I would prefer to do without I do believe. Meghan and I hopped on a very nice bus for our over night ride to Ayacucho. Though the bus was super nice, we were both too amped up and too cramped to really sleep. These buses were obviously made for Peruvians ... my legs have never felt so cramped!!
We arrived in Ayacucho around 7 the next morning. Got off the bus at the "bus station" which really was more of just an alley way with a small room to grab your bag. Off we went into Ayacucho, sleepy and starving. First things first: finding the hostel. We stayed at the simple, but lovely Hostel Tres Máscaras very close to their Plaza de Armas. The Doña who ran the place was absolutely adorable and just about as kind as could be. We put our things down and headed out for breakfast.
What you have to understand about Ayacucho is that it was a somewhat popular tourist stop years ago, but then the terrorism in the late 90s put a huge end to that. The town has never quite recovered. It was amusing, walking through the streets, exhausted and starved, and having all of the small local children pointing at Meghan and I, going "¡Mira! ¡Mira! ¡Gringas!". Yea, they don´t see too many "gringas" in Ayacucho any more. 
Breakfast was, at most, palatable. The coffee was horrible, but we were so tired that it didn´t matter. Isn´t that sad?? Afterwards, we walked through the local mercado which made me want to vomit. I forgot how gross it is to see all the meats just hanging out there in like 80 degree heat waiting to be purchased. Uggghhh....I looked at Meg and said "Voy a vomitar; Nos vamos".  We walked from there to the "artesan district" of Plaza Santa Ana. After walking and walking and walking, we came to the conclusion that it no longer exists. At this point, it was time for a nap. Our nap was devine, except for the parrots outside in the courtyard of the hostel. They kept screeching "hola, hola, señoooora" . It was obvious that they liked the attention. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent walking around Ayacucho in search of things that no longer existed and getting pointed/whistled at. Oh Ayacucho! You´ll always hold a special place in my heart.
The next morning, we woke up super early (ya know....like 6 am) and gathered our things to head to the bus station. We had bought tickets for the only bus that goes to Cusco and had decided that we would break up the trip by stopping for the night in Andahuaylas. We had found the station the day before, but were heading a different way this morning; but we had our map and figured we would be good to go. Wrong! See the "Moon" guidebook is great, but often has little details wrong, like being a block over for the station. After wandering for about 10 minutes a nice local man pointed us in the right direction. We were lucky! We loaded our bags, took our seats, and the bus immediately started up. I have to say it was probably the most interesting bus ride to date. But more on that later. I need to get out there and enjoy some CUSCO!!
Hasta pronto mis amores-
la gringuita