Did I say coach?? No way! A small bus with no loo!!

My last day in Cajamarca I rested as much as I could on my rock hard bed at the Airbnb, preparing in the knowledge that I'd likely get no sleep on the "coach". I did wander into town around lunch time for a bite to eat - the sidewalk vendors cooking meat pieces on skewers over charcoal fires always tempt me, but the meat in Cajamarca was slices of tough and inedible ox heart not cooked long enough to be hot with a cold piece of boiled potato stuck on the end (for decoration??). The local dogs were happy for me, though. I always ask "caliente??" before I buy and always get the same answer "si!!" but invariably it's "frio". At the next vendor, small pieces of something that looked enticing being stir fried on a hot plate made me part with another two soles ($1.00) and more dogs got a snack - this time it turned out to be tripe!! Now, I have nothing against tripe. But it needs to be boiled for days with onions and served in a white sauce to be edible!
Back at the Airbnb nature, like time, waits not upon men, and sooner or later she calls you again. A note on the cistern says "don't put the paper in the toilet - put it in the bin next to the toilet". No way!! If the toilet can manage to cope with my "number twos" it can damn well cope with a few sheets of soluble toilet tissues!! Lol!!
Never believe the pictures in the brochures! I must be naive! I should have learned by now! The "coach" for the 12 hour trip was in fact an old 30 seater bus - I guess 12 hours of travel for $23.00 is pretty cheap, but I'd have willingly paid three times that for the comfort of a Cruz del Sur luxury coach with comfortable reclining seats like I've had over previous routes. But a full size coach could never negotiate the road with its tight corners. The seats on the bus reclined but were still uncomfortable but at least I had two to myself for most of the journey, so I could stretch out a bit and shift positions to ease the discomfort. You also get an inkling of the torment you're about to endure en route when the conductor hands out sick bags before you depart! The road was the roughest, potholed, unsealed road I think I've ever traveled on. This torment is exacerbated by the Peruvians love of speed humps - they hardly ever allow the bus to get up to speed before it has to slow down for the next one. They're everywhere. I doubt they actually prevent any accidents but they sure must add to the fuel bill of the motorists and coach operators.
The bus I traveled on was under-powered for the terrain it had to conquer - maybe it was only 200H.P. - so the trip was often reduced to a slow crawl up the mountainsides. Thankfully it stopped about every three hours so passengers could relieve themselves on the side of the road (it was dark, remember, and maybe that's why the service only operates at night??). Around 9pm it stopped at a cafe where a meal of boiled rice and pumpkin stew was served with a cube of boiled beef brisket which was dry and unpalatable - included in the fare. The locals probably pay about four soles (less than $2.00) for the same meal. At around 5:30am the bus pulled into Chachapoyas and I headed straight for my hostel and bed for three hours sleep. I was ever so thankful I packed earplugs - the hostel rooster was crowing in full voice as I turned in.
Feeling rested by 9am I wandered next door to a nice clean (empty) cafe advertising various breakfast options - the menu had photos and I ordered the English breakfast of ham and eggs with bread rolls and coffee, specifying two eggs as only one showed in the photo. It was okay - the eggs were fried and I expected the ham or bacon would be as well. No, just a square slice of cold supermarket pre-sliced packet fake ham. I could make a mint in Peru teaching the cafe owners how to put together the kind of  cooked breakfast gringos want - two fried or poached eggs, fried or grilled (real) bacon, fried tomatoes, fried potato chips, a grilled breakfast sausage or two and hot toast with butter and marmalade or jam, washed down with a large cup of real coffee. And salt and pepper on the table (you always have to ask for those or bring your own, as I do). They could up the price from 6 soles to 15 or 20 soles and have a queue lining up at the door. I bought Granola and milk for tomorrow and the next day and will try to get "Ensalada de Fruta" in a paper cup from the cafe next door to add to it.
I booked a full day tour to Gocta falls for tomorrow - fifty soles - it's on the road to Tarapoto where I'm going on 17th but the bus doesn't stop there so I have to do it as a separate trip (in any case the bus to Tarapoto is at night). It's a six kilometre trek from where the bus stops to the lower falls or ten kilometres to the upper falls - I'll see how I feel when I get there as to whether I do both. Nothing more to add today.

I love these Peruvian showers - they give me a real buzz! 50 hertz of 230 volts power to be precise!