How much is a plane ticket from Santiago to Quito in April? $650.00 usd, would be the answer to that little trivia Q, and it is worth every little penny, trust me. Daniela and I, a bit strapped and feeling cheap after a full tour around the South American continent, thought we would save a little cash and bus it; you should always make the money suffer before you do. There is a "lovely" little Peruvian bus company called "Cruz del Sur" (The Southern Cross), and they just started a service that goes from cities such as Santiago and Buenos Aires, all the way to Bogota Colombia (passing through Ecuador on the way, of course). What the hell were we thinking? Cruz del sur is, apparently, the nicest bus line in Peru. The company's slogan is literally, "Cruz del sur, the pleasure of traveling by bus!" I couldn't make this up if I tried! What a farce. After busing most of South America, I can safely say that "luxury bus" is a gross oxymoron.
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| Inside the luxury bus, complete with on-board entertainment and they guy in front of you practically laying in your lap! |
Now, you all know by now that I love Latin America, but that does not mean that my love is a blind one. The South American culture and society is not without its faults. First off, why does the whole bus have to be exposed to to the latest rendition of Rambo? Would it be too much to provide some cheap headphones? As I typed that last question, I answered it to myself, "The headphones would likely wind up destroyed or conveniently misplaced." Honestly, if people want to watch Duke Nukem, maybe they could bring their own headphones. Common since in my country, not in Latin America. It would have been really nice to have been able to read, or sleep even, but I got to listen to Vin Diesel screaming in Spanish instead!
Next on the list, the jackass sitting behind us with his Blackberry who insisted upon impressing the entire bus with the volume range of his device and the vastness of his reggaeton collection. For those of you who don't know, reggaeton is a sort of a merengue, salsa and rap mix. A lot of it is really not bad music, assuming you're out at a night club for some suggestive dancing, but 3 in the morning on the bus buss from hell is a whole different story. I kid you not, the only time this guy turned off his music was during the lovely films. He even listened to it at night! Did it occur to anyone to say anything to him? Daniela and I both asked, Daniela politely, I not so politely, various times for the young man to turn it off or down, he kindly obliged for five minutes and then returned it to its original volume, for the whole bus to share in. It wasn't until we finally reached Quito that the woman siting behind him decided to go off, thanks for the backup! Once again, this is a common since question in my country. I guarantee this kid would have been asked nicely the first few times, then he would have been kindly thrown off the bus later on up the road in the States.
Let's talk Cruz del Sur services, assistance and the knowledgeable staff. Upon purchasing our tickets, we were informed that we would be receiving a meal service from Santiago to Lima and a reduced snack service from Lima to Quito. Santiago to Lima didn't turn out to be that bad in the food department. We stopped at a few decent cafes to eat, we got some nice sandwiches and drinks on-board and I can't complain much. Lima- Quito, however, was an entirely different story. We received 0 of this so-called "snack service," stopped at places that, if I had one, I wouldn't let my dog eat at and lived off of stuff we bought at a gas station (Oreos, Pringles and some nasty Hostess like bread for three days). Before they decided to start their new "international service," would it have been to much to ask for the bus company to come to some sort of an agreement with a few halfway decent restaurants on the way from Lima to Quito? Apparently that is thinking too far ahead.
Included in the category of "thinking too far ahead" would also be providing your drivers with proper directions to the places they are driving. Once again, I could not make this stuff up. Upon arrival at the border of Peru and Ecuador, during a restaurant stop, the driver casually mentions to me that they are not familiar with the highways in Ecuador and asks me, the gringo, if I know the way and if I could sit with them in the cabin to help guide them! The funny thing is that I know the way much better than they did and I wrote them some directions with the highway they should take. Did they use my directions? No, no they did not. We were, instead, subjected to the most terrifying night of the entire trip, complete with these idiots getting lost various times, stopping in the middle of the highway to check the signs, slamming on the brakes periodically and taking the extra 3 hour "scenic route" through the curvy mountain pass. In my country it would be absurd to think that it would be okay to send drivers with a bus full of passengers on a trip to a place they've never been without even a paper map. Forget a GPS, forget Google Map's directions, these people didn't even have a freaking map!
Really, I could go on and on, but I'm guessing that you get the point by now. What this all boils down to is a lack of what I would consider common sense. As part of this Common Sense Crisis in Latin America (CSC for short) comes a real need in Latin America to work on basic concepts like, customer service, honesty, common courtesy, respect for personal space, punctuality, etc. etc. I understand that some things are culture, I've been here enough to tell the difference. For example, a relaxed sense of time is culture, a laid-back way of thinking is culture, a love for music is culture and a kiss on the cheek when you meet someone is culture. Driving like a dumb-ass down mountain roads you've never been on in the middle of a rainstorm with a bus full of people is a lack of common sense. Sharing Daddy Yankee with everyone in your vicinity during a week long bus ride is idiotic and lacks common sense. Lying to your customers and telling them that they will have plenty to eat during 5 days is inhumane, stupid and should be against the law. Really, most of the "customer service policies," or lack thereof, of Cruz del Sur and many more companies in Latin America just like them are inhumane and lack common sense. It's really quite sad and awful to see that services exist in this sort of state.
I honestly think that, at the root of all of this, there is a tremendous need for education. That is primarily and principally the real problem, a lack of education. We need to continue to work on these problems here in Latin America, starting within the family. If the children don't see there parents throwing their trash out the window of a moving vehicle, they likely won't. If parents teach their children to respect others, if the same parents respect others, if laws are in place to protect consumers, if common sense practices are instilled, things will slowly change. What's more, I think some of these changes are coming about, but it is definitely going to take time.
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