19 hours of joy

In the hit-parade of fantastic bus rides, the 19-hour trip from Cusco to Ayacucho stands out. It began nicely-- retractable seats, leg room, friendly assistants. But the last few hours to reach the isolated Ayacucho were rather memorable. Primarily because the weak bus had to snake around vertiginous mountain roads-- that had no barriers. As I was sitting by the window (which I always do to protect my bag while I attempt to sleep) I had a wonderful view of the cliffs we zoomed over. Every time we reached a corner-- approximately every 30 seconds-- the driver would cheerfully honk to warn any upcoming traffic of our arrival. I also averaged a seizure nearly every minute... Possibly to distract the customers from the danger sprawling below us, the assistant put on a video. My excitement mounted. What would it be? An old classic? A Mexican comedy? No. No, no. It was a collection of the best bull attacks on innocent people during the last bull run in Ayacucho. Everyone seemed to find the scenes of men dangling from angry bull horns hilarious, but it was a little lost on me...