CUSCO, PERU

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[Teams must] travel 400 miles by bus to the city of Arequipa and find a shoe shine union for their next clue. With the bus station not open until the following morning at 5:30, all the Teams arrived there to spend the night, planning to buy tickets for the earliest bus leaving at 6:20 a.m. However, after speaking with the security guard, Rob discovered that a second bus, leaving at 7:00 a.m., arrived in Arequipa half an hour earlier than the 6:20 a.m. bus because it made less stops along the way.

While most Teams lined up to buy tickets on the slower bus, Rob kept his information confidential….To make sure the other Teams wouldn’t get this information, Rob also paid the local to keep quiet.
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Yawn. It’s early. We’re up before those chickens that we rode with on the truck yesterday.

At the bus station, B-Rob starts working his Survivor slime to bribe the bus guy and then lies about it. Meh. Flat-out lies. Bald-faced ball-capped liar. He makes enemies needlessly. (Too bad his wink sure is cute. A good wink covereth a multitude of sins.)

But you know the stupidest thing about this whole kerfuffle? The fact that right there in plain sight, the whole time, hanging over the ticket windows? Is this big giant banner, spelling out in big giant letters exactly the same thing that the security guy “secretly” told Rob:

CUSCO-AREQUIPA
VIA JULIACA
7.00 AM
S c/BAÑO-SEMICAM
DIRECTO

Jai: “Pssst, Cim? Uh. Does that say what I think it says?”
Cim: “Um. Yes. Yes, it does.”

Uh yeah, that would be a direct bus. Plus you get a toilet. We confirm our info with the ticket seller, but yeah. That’s our bus. Always. Read. The. Signs.

On the 10-hour bus ride through the Andes

Jai: We spend the 10-hr bus ride sleeping, gawking out the window, reading the guidebook (until I get motion sick), practice some Spanish, and chatting with some of the teams. Sharing snacks, maybe.

Cim: While eating snacks we roll our eyes at the brothers and the blondies flirting with each other. Then we go make friends with B-Rob because we don't want him as an enemy.