Day 62 - Copacabana, Bolivia to Arequipa, Peru

Time to move on from Copacabana. Early start as we have the 8.30 bus to Puno to then change buses to head on to Arequipa. A quick round up of the empty bottles in our room shows how much water we have been drinking. This doesn't even include the ones we drank throughout the day. 

Spot the fake travellers with suit cases. 

We have a full day of travel today. First stop on today's very long journey is Puno in Peru, 2 hours and about 140km away. 

After about 20 mins we get to the border and have a very simple and quick crossing into Peru. 

Does anyone else think this looks like a giant sign that says penis (probably just me!)? Nice snow called Andes in the background. 

It takes about two and a half hours to get to Puno. We are very much enjoying the scenary as we wind our way around Lake Titicaca. 

Random door into the rock. 

We get to Puno which is a complete dump. So glad we decided to give this place a miss. We have a fair bit of faff trying to find the company we booked our tickets with and exchange our receipt for our proper bus tickets. After we track them down in the arse end of the station (not a good sign) and get to our bus we quickly realise we have been absolutely done again by the woman in Copacabana. The bus is an absolute hole. It is disgusting. We didn't even want to sit on the seats. Nat took one look at the seats and started to gag and for once it was competely valid. So much for the VIP tickets we brought!

We are also sat right at the front which is not ideal. Just one look at the wind screen puts us a little on edge! Maintainable doesn't seem to be this companies top priority. Also no air con and it is roasting on there. The smell was already bad enough let alone adding a bus full of sweaty people to the mix!

Anyway, after lining my seat with tissue due to the disgusting stains on it coupled with dampness we set off for our seven hour journey. 

Putting the bus aside the scenary is absolutely fantastic. Some of the best and most varied and interesting we have seen on a bus journey so far. We are amazed at how flat it is along the way (to start with), especially as we are driving across a mountain range. 

The other thing that we have been done over with is that the bus isn't even going direct to Arequipa from Puno. We have to go via an absolute dump called Juliaca. No one should ever go to this place. It's really busy but run down and a pile of rubble. It looks like a third world country.  

Unfortunately for us Juliaca is about 50 north of Puno when we need to be heading south. We did not need an another 100km adding to our journey. 

The journey from Juliaca to Arequipa is then 270km and ends up taking us five hours. 

We literally follow the valley for at least three hours which has a river and railway line that follow us all the way to Arequipa.

Slowing down for a cow crossing the road. 

We follow the railway line the whole way and only see one train. Shame there are no public trains running as it would be a phenomenal route. 

Getting closer to Arequipa, we see the  misty mountain rising above the clouds in the distance. It is huge. 

As we cut through the mountains we soon realise why it is called El Misti. 

This bit of the journey now starts to get very scary due to the windy roads and the drivers ridiculous over taking. We witnessed (thankfully more from other people than our driver) some absolutely suicidal over taking. They are mental. We are hating sitting at the front right above the driver at this point (double decker bus) as we have far better visibility than he does. Ignorance is definitely bliss on coach journeys. 

On the outskirts of Arequipa is a monstrous cement works which looks like something out of Lord of the Rings. 

Cool road cut through the rocks. 

We finally get to Arequipa. It's been a ten hour, 460km fairly gruelling journey in total. We get to the bus station and manage to book our bus tickets to Cusco in a couple of days time making sure we get a nice bus this time!

We get the our lovely hotel called Tierra Viva Arequipa Plaza. This is such a good little hotel chain we have found - great value and great location.

http://tierravivahoteles.com/hotels/tierra-viva-arequipa-plaza/

Central Arequipa is gorgeous which makes the journey worthwhile. We also have a very happy Nat. Back with reliable hot water and able to do her hair!

 

We are pretty knackered so go around the corner for a bite to eat. Such a great choice of restaurants here. Really is lovely. We eat at a Peruvian place called Lazos. 

And have a huge meat feast!  Under those kebabs is a 300g steak, sausages, black pudding and the less appetisng cow intestine. Everything but the latter two are delicious. 

Where's Walley? (New birthday t-shirt) :-)

We are really looking forward to exploring the town properly tomorrow. 

PS. Just read a review online and Julsa (the bus we had) is apparently the worst bus company you can use in Peru which is saying a lot as there are hundreds of them!! Lesson learnt. Always check what bus they are putting you on although that is a lot easier said than done!! For future reference Cruz del Sur and Exclusivo are the best. Needless to say we are booked in first class with Exclusivo for our trip to Cusco.