To cut several hours off my trip, I took a smaller, much cheaper bus from Chimbote to Huaraz.

INSANE. The first three hours, I wanted the bus to break down so I could beat the piss out of the driver without causing an accident. Afterward, he slowed down and I was happy that he cut so much time off the trip.

We were on single-track mud roads with 0 guard rails and dropoffs of thousands of feet in the Andes mountains. It was amazingly frightening at 3.00 am.

We stopped for a pee break at 14,000 ft. in the middle of the night.

Huaraz is a great town, I highly recommend a visit there. Take the MovilTours bus from Chimbote or Trujillo or Lima. Very comfortable and sane.