Day 58: 18-Hour Bus Ride from Los Organos to Lima, Peru

Peru is a large country! Getting around takes effort, time, and money. After soaking up the sun on the beaches of Los Organos in Northern Peru, we needed to head down to the coastal city of Lima. The distance is approximately 1200 kilometers (750 miles), but due to the road conditions, it takes at least 16-18 hours by vehicle. The Pan-American Norte Highway has plenty of gravel parts and potholes, and plenty of little desert towns to drive through along the way. Going 50 mph is muy rápido!

Here are the 3 options we considered. We were planning on leaving Los Organos on Wednesday, June 27th.

(1) For about $20/pp, take the local buses all the way down to Lima; possibly transferring buses multiple times; possibly having to spend the night in some desert town in the middle of nowhere; risking dangers of nighttime travel; and eventually arriving in Lima either late Thursday or Friday.

(2) For about $55/pp, take an overnight "ejecutivo" bus direct to Lima. No transfers, no stops (except to change bus drivers), no overnight stays anywhere. The double decker bus provides 2 levels of service. First class on the bottom floor provides reclining seats, blanket/pillow, electrical outlets, free wifi, flat screen TV, dinner and breakfast service. Like business class on wheels! Because the bus is direct, and doesn't pick up random people along the way, it is also quite safe. Luggage is actually tagged with a baggage claim check as well.

(3) For about $120/pp, fly from Piura (a 3-4 hour bus ride from Los Organos) to Lima. The flight is approximately 2 hours.

Guess what we decided to do? Yes, the "ejecutivo" bus was a nice compromise. We didn't want to spend $250 of our budget on a flight, but the $110 was worth spending for a comfortable ride all the way to Lima. Several bus companies offer this service. We went with Oltursa, but there is also Transportes Cruz del Sur.

There's only 12 first class seats, so we were glad we purchased the tickets a few days in advance. We left Los Organos at 6 pm; dinner was served around 8 pm on board; we did briefly stop in the city of Piura around 9:30 pm to pick up food, exchange drivers, etc.; then headed for the open road for hours and hours and hours...all night long. Breakfast was served around 8 am; and we started to see the metropolis of Lima around 11:30 am; although it took us another hour in the gridlock traffic to arrive at Oltursa's terminal. We finally arrived at 12:30 pm - 18 hours later.

[Below: view that we woke up to! Coast of Peru is miles and miles of beautiful desert, sand dunes, rock formations, etc.]

[Below: bumper to bumper traffic in Lima. Barrios on the hillside in the background.]