The Tardis Bus

We arrived in Arequipa at 8 in the morning from the most horrible night bus journey to date (I guess that´s what you get when you´re stingy and take the cheapest chicken bus). None of the windows seemed to seal, and being a desert at over 3000m the wind on the bus was freezing!! Even with my down jacket! Needless to say, we didn´t arrive well rested. Coincidentally again, Theresa (the proud owner of Tessa´s hammock) was on James´s bus.

We didn´t waste much time in Arequipa, as our Peruvian visa was about to expire, and we set off for Cabanaconde and the Colca Canyon the next day with our Brittishy mate James (some of us quite hung over at this stage thanks to James and a random Peruvian named Marco Antonio who wanted to practice his english on us all night!!). We arrived late and found a sweet deal at a hotel, with the best shower I´ve had since my arrival on this continent (hot and with plenty of water!). N.B. This shower has been equaled in quality since (this morning actually).

The plan was to spend a few days hiking in the Canyon, which once claimed to be the deepest in the world, but has since been surpassed by some other canyon in Peru. The canyon is also famous for the Andean Condors, which boast a wing span of up to 3 metres. There are no roads into the canyon, but it is dotted with little traditional towns.

The first day we hiked for about 5 hours down into the canyon and along to this town called Malata. On arrival it seemed as though no one lived in this town, but eventually we came across the hostel (a windowless mud brick building with bamboo beds). Surprisingly we were the only tourists there, until some spanish campers arrived a bit later on. The woman who owned the hostal made us a great dinner and brekkie the next day. Her husband helped me out by nailing the sole back onto my tramping boot, as it had almost completely fallen off at this stage. He also gave me some sound advice, to please purchase some new boots as soon as I get out of the canyon!!

The next day we hiked to the other end of the canyon and then back, in the desert heat of the day, after deciding that we didn´t want to stay there after all. Coincidentally Theresa had booked a tour for the same days and we ran into her along the trail. It was hard work and we were glad when we arrived at Oasis, where we, and Theresa (coincidentally), were spending the night. Oasis is a ´town´at the bottom of the canyon. It is made up of tourist accommodation and swimming pools. We did have one reward for all our walking and that was seeing andean condors....soo far away that they were just black dots.....but condors none the less.

The next morning we ascended the 1200 metres back to the top of the canyon and it was damned hard work!! Britishy James was keen to get the next bus back to Arequipa and I was a little bit glad when there wasn´t enough space for Will and I ´cos I was STARVING!! Will and I got seats for the next bus and ate lunch.....But I soon wasn´t soo glad about not getting on the first bus....

By the time Will and I got to the bus there was a line across the plaza, people packing on the bus and the bus was already chocka! All these people had come from a neighbouring town for the independence day parade. Slowly, little by little, the line somehow disappeared onto the bus..... There were about 10 people still outside the bus door and we were yelling at the driver "We can´t fit on, can you please change our tickets for the next bus!?" very exasperated! His response was that we should "Suban!" ("Get on the bus!"). So we got pushed in the doorway with the other 10 people and for the first 10 minutes of our journey the door couldn´t close. A couple of Peruvian men were in danger of becoming road kill. Luckily all these people were not continuing the full 6 hours to Arequipa, but they all got off after about an hour and a half....PHEW!!

We did spent the next few days in Arequipa checking out the city. In comparison to other Peruvian cities we have visited, Arequipa was a really vibrant place, with loads of students and student bars and a centre full of white stone colonial buildings all overlooked by nearby volcanoes. On Sunday, after coincidentally running into Theresa (we weren´t sure who was stalking who at this stage), we walked to a lookout over the city and came across a delicious local treat called Queso Helado (Cheese Ice Cream). There are always plenty of sweet snacks for sale outside the churches on Sundays. We also visited a park in the central town which was crammed with families enjoying the good weather and delicious food. One thing we noticed in Arequipa and everywhere since.... French people everywhere....

As the next day was Peru´s Independence Day, we had fears that our planned trip over the border into Bolivia, a full day before our visas expired, would be thrown into disarray. In fact the whole trip was fairly plain sailing with the only drawback was that we had to stop in Puno for a few hours, complete with it´s open sewers and stinking market. Onward to Bolivia!