BU Student Killed in Peru

LIMA, Peru -A packed bus skidded off a highway and
flipped on its side in Peru’s southern Andes mountains, killing 13 people,
including one American, and injuring 40, police said Monday.

The accident occurred before dawn Sunday on an isolated road near the highland
district of Santa Lucia, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) southeast of
the capital of Lima.

Police said a U.S. citizen was among those killed. She was identified by
the Minneapolis Star Tribune as Meghan Sennott, 20, the daughter of one
of that newspaper’s photographers. He was notified about her death by U.S.
Consulate officials in Lima.

She was a junior at Boston University, the paper said.

Officials were investigating the cause of the crash, but local media attributed
the crash to either the driver falling asleep or a mechanical failure that
had twice prompted the driver to pull over the vehicle, which carried about
60 passengers.

Buses in Peru often are poorly maintained, and drivers frequently speed
and pass each other on blind mountain curves.

Overall, 557 people were killed in rural bus accidents between July 2004
and June 2005, according to Peru’s nonprofit Center for Investigation of
Overland Transport.

from Fox
News

Our heart goes out to the family of Meghan Sennott.
Any
seasoned traveler knows taking a bus on the Gringo Trail is taking one’s
life in one’s
own hands.
Of
course,
there
is no other way to get around down there except hitch-hiking, which is
like dipping your life in grease before taking it in your own hands,
blindfolded.

As a seasoned survivor of myriad treks, long hauls and
multi-country bus trips on the Gringo Trail, the Pan-American Highway,
and smaller roads across the breadth and depth of South America, we have
compiled a short list of tips for the less experienced adventurer.

The Dowbrigade’s
Rules of the Road for Andean Bus Trips

• Try to find a bus younger than you are, and which has
  no visible welding or patched tires

• Make sure the bus has at least TWO decent spare tires
  before boarding

• Before leaving, identify the driver, and engage in some
  casual conversation, to establish his sobriety

• When in the mountains, avoid taking overnight buses
• If unable to avoid night buses, make sure to hit a
  pharmacy near the bus station
  before leaving, and stock up on barbiturates,
  pain-killers and anti-anxiety medication (no prescription needed)

• Bring your own bread, fruit and water, or fast, because
  the dives the driver stops at are all operated by syphallitic relatives
  as part of the Dysentery City chain

• Avoid taking buses the day before a holiday, because
  everyone will be drunk

• Avoid taking buses the day OF a holiday, because
  everyone will be drunk

• Avoid taking buses the day AFTER a holiday, because
  everyone will be hung over

• Finally, we have had great success (we are writing this,
  aren’t we) with a favorite personal technique; we always try to board
  buses which have among the passengers several Priests or Nuns, on
  the theory
  that
  this will keep the driver on his best behavior. It’s worked for me,
  so far….

Anyone with a yen for adventure would be well advised to get in touch with the Dowbrigade’s son Joey at his Andean Adventure Hotel in the Switzerland of Peru. Have a Great Trip!