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So another early start on the bus and back to the border we go. Luckily I had no problems this time and no money needed to change hands.
Bang bang in Peru.
The road alongside lake Titicaca is pretty......apparently. I fell asleep for most of the way, but I am sure it was nice.
As we arrived in Puno I was really happy I had decided not to stay the night, it did not look much.
I had to change buses and was given a ticket to change when we arrived. Typically I ended up with the worse bus company there was. They should have named it gypsy bus company because that is who its passengers were.
I tried getting some money out and my card did not work, so had to use my emergency one which I was not happy about.
I wanted to get a sandwich and a drink while we were waiting, but no one wanted to change my nice fresh 100 Soles notes.
Luckily I found one stand that was happy about it and got a nice luncheon meat sandwich while I waited for the gypsy bus.
It was a nice hot day so I had my shorts and t shirt on, so was amazed to see everyone getting on the bus in jumpers and leather jackets, they must have been boiling.
What I do know is that they all smelled a bit. I managed to open a window near me and as we set off there were plenty of seats so it was not too bad, but then about an hour later we stopped off and they all piled on.
It was so hot and I was starting to get really claustrophobic, I was not sure if I could take six hours of it.
Then I kept hearing this beeping noise all the time, it was driving me mad on top of everything else. I realised it was the warning beep for the bus hitting 90kph, but it kept bleeping all the time and not just once.
The fun continued.
A woman came along and gave us all sweets. Bit of a surprise for such a cheap bus I thought as I shoved one down. Yep too good to be true she did not work for the bus and was collecting money for something so i had to put a coin in, but I had no small coins so conned again.
Then it just went on and on.
An old bloke came on and spent a whole hour on a loud speaker selling his "colon" tablets. Good for cholestoral, good for digestion, good for everything it turns out. I was ready to kick him down the stairs but nobody complained about him. Some even bought the tablets after that.
Then more people got on with more sweets, I was really getting pissed off with it. It was like being forced to watch a shopping tv channel that sells crap to retarded people.
So another bus ride from hell.
As I got off and waited patiently for my bag, old women were elbowing me out of the way and it was a proper free for all. I dont like that.
I was patient as long as I could and then just joined in knocking people flying as I leaned in And grabbed my bag. It was chaos.
The taxis and the chaos reminded me of Kathmandu, I was immediately on edge and decided I did not like Arequipa, there was something I did not trust about it, especially when the taxi driver told me to lock the doors half way through town.
Next day the town was a completely different place. I loved it. Huge snow capped mountains to one side, beautiful old buildings lining all the streets, and cheap as chips.
I bought a lovely pork sandwich and went to the main square to eat it.
In the main square I am sure they have more pigeons than trafalgar square, they are everywhere, you can hardly see the floor. Horrible things, like rats with wings, they should all be poisoned.
Next minute the kid sat next to me buys some seed and starts throwing it everywhere. It went mental, the pigeons came from everywhere flapping in my hair, in my face, on my soldiers, pecking at my feet.
How one of them never crapped in my sandwich I will never know.
My stomach was still not right so I decided to stay a couple of days extra until it wore off. It was a good excuse and was determined even if it almost killed me to catch up on my blogs and everything.
I could not decide if I should go on the local canyon tour. Partly as you had to leave at 3am and partly as I thought I was getting jaded with tours. Everywhere you go has somewhere to see, but after a while it all starts to look the same. Plus I am a miserable old git as well, and it takes a lot to please me.
Anyhow I did a bit of research and it looked quite impressive so went ahead and booked the tour for the next day.
That night I had agreed to meet up with a Polish chap I met in the jungle called Blazej for a few beers, and was in two minds wether to just keep going or to actually bother going to bed for a couple of hours. What a horrible time to leave, 3 am...
It was happy hour so all cocktails were two for one, so you can not be in Peru without having a Pisco sour or two. So quite a few cocktails later Blazej wanted to hit the Casino. Tempting as it was, I went back to the hostel to try to get a couple of hours of sleep.
I hardly slept at all knowing I needed to be up so soon, so was packed and sat in reception at 3am waiting for the bus.
Half three came and I was not surprised to be still sat there. Quarter to four and I was getting a bit worried, but when four arrived I asked the night porter to check if there was a problem.
He scratched his head a few times and then disappeared. Fifteen minutes later I was getting ready for going back to bed.
I had been in two minds to go on the tour or not, so this seemed like fate that I should not go.
Next thing the sister of the owner came down rubbing her eyes and grabbed me saying we needed to go find a taxi. The office were saying the hostel had never booked it apparently, but they had woken up the girl and she insisted she had.
Anyway it was a cockup and she would fix it.
Damn goes me going back to bed I thought as she was waving taxis down in the dark of the night.
Apparently there was another tour bus they had told to stop and wait for me on the edge of town, so that is where we were heading.
Half an hour later we found the bus and I jumped on. Everyone looked really fed up. Of course they had been sat there for ages just waiting for me, so I was not mr popular at that moment in time. I explained how it was not my fault, but no one said a word, they all just stared at me.
I was so tired my eyes itched and I felt really sick as we swerved along the mountain road. It was a long drive so I managed to get a little bit of kip.
We stopped for breakfast but I felt so sick I could hardly eat, then we shot off to see the condors. I was really not bothered about seeing them, which was just as well as most of them must have been on holiday that day, as usual.
If you had the hubble telescope on you, you may have managed to make out one at the top of the mountain. Another load of marketing hype and bulls*** to fill the buses.
We headed off and then I changed buses to get on my proper tour. We had a really good tour guide and I must say that a canyon at the bottom of a valley was pretty impressive.
It was a nice trek, but my legs were not used to all the punishment of hiking a thousand metres down a steep canyon and towards the end I was looking like shakin stevens with my legs wobbling with a mind of their own.
Luckily we stopped around three and were done for the day.
I was beyond knackered, so as soon as we eat dinner at seven I went to bed.
Day two was fairly leisurely but my legs had not recovered from the night before, but we stopped at a really nice hostel down in the valley with a Swimming pool, so had a nice relax.
I was dreading the final day which was walking back up the thousand metres, partly as I was getting out of breath after about ten yards, and partly because of my duff ankle and now aching muscles.
I hoped the pool and early night would have sorted me out, but as soon as I slid out of bed at 4 am to put my shoes on, my legs hurt.
I had not realised just how unfit I was, plus you never want to think you are getting older.
I was so hoping to have been the next Dorian Grey.
I shoved a cereal bar and an orange down praying for some turbo charged energy and off we set under the moonlight.
I went at the back of the group and was amazed to be keeping up with the others which made me feel better, until our guide said that as we were now out of where lots of paths crossed he would now stop slowing us down and we could go at our own pace and he would see us at the top.
Well, within minutes they had all shot off in to the distance.
Slowly the group behind us started to pass me one by one. Then the next group. I was less worried about the shame of coming last and more worried if I was even going to make it at all. It just went on forever, step after step up the mountain side.
Three hours later I finally made it and we went off for breakfast.
As we were sat at the table I was still trying to catch my breath, and then my hands started to go numb and I felt my legs lock up.
s*** I am going to have a heart attack I thought.it lasted for about ten minutes and the seemed to get a bit better much to the relief of the others who were getting ready for some mouth to mouth.
After breakfast we headed back on the bus, when the next disaster started. My stomach was still not right from the jungle, but now it went in to overdrive. I was in excruciating pain for the four hour journey. As soon as we arrived back in Arequipa I ran back to my hostel and just about made it.
I felt worse and worse as the night went on but took the risk of booking a bus to Cuzco the next day.
Next day I was worse than ever so went and got some antibiotics from the pharmacy using my acting skills and just prayed they would kick in in time for the overnight bus......
Next stop Cuzco.............
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