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Published: June 16th 2009
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So the flight from Santiago to Arequipa was as confusing as it could have been for me. I took a little airline, and as expected the English on the flight was minimal. I made it, so you know it was good enough but still...
First I flew out of Santiago intending to fly into Arequipa, Peru and was thinking that I should have to go through the international airport. When I was sure that the lady who spoke no English told me to go to the Domestic airport I thought, that makes sense since my e-ticket said I had two connecting flights, but the actual ticket printed off mentioned nothing about any connecting flights. The board mentioned nothing of my flight at all so when the guy checking my tickets told me I was in the wrong terminal I packed myself and said I knew what I was doing... in English...he looked blankly at me.
So I flew into Iquique then onto Arica where I went through the customs and into Arequipa no troubles.
Once in Arequipa I wanted to be dropped off at a bank, so I'm pretty sure that I got dropped off at the first
bank near the airport. Unfortuantly for me the main street was named the same as Arequipa's main street according to Lonely Planet. So I'm spending so much time walking back and forth trying to find the Plaza de Amas, which is big and should stand out. I couldn't find it and all the walking had worked me up an appetite, so I went to the first place that was packed full of Peruvians. I ordered, not knowing a thing that I was ordering except that the second part had something to do with Chicken since the only word I recognised was 'pollo'.
Well the meal was exquisite, the best way to describe it was a potato cake. It had a filling 2/3rds the way down which was peas, corn and maybe fish or chicken. Just as I started digging into this they bought out lemon and a sauce - I assumed the sauce was the chicken thing I ordered and layered it on pretty thickly. It was pretty spicy but this super simple food was Oarsome!
Then they bought out the second course... this was the chicken thing I ordered. Had to force it down cos I was
already happy with what I'd eaten. Well this dish was a bowl of rice and a layer of potatos followed by deep fried chicken followed by calamari!! Although wierd, this dish was simply amazing. Both of these dishes and a dodgy 'Lemonade' came to 6.50 soles. Thats about $4. If I knew where it was, I' recommend it to all.
Well finally I decided that it was time to book my night bus to Cuzco and meet up with David. Took a taxi - after contemplating walking *based on the fact that the Plaza de Amas was only 3km away as Lonely planet said... so anyhow the texi ride took me about 20 minutes and cost me about $2, so some might say it was worth it.
Tried to get a overnight bus, was told to come back at 8pm and I'd get me a ticket to Cuzco on a bed bus. Went into the real Plaza de Amas and just did the whole wonder around aimlessly thing. Met up with a girl from my crazy flight (she went to the International departure lounge so I felt better about being confused :D). I got to the bus teminal and when I asked if I could buy a ticket they just shook their head. This is the rudest I'd been treated in Peru, so this was strange. I missed my bus and couldn't make it to Cuzco, so David was stuck their without being able to speak a word of Spanish.
It was 8.30pm and I'm in peak travel season, looked through Lonely Planet to find places to sleep, the first two places I looked at said they were booked out (I think), so I got a taxi to one of the party hostels and got on it. A few beers later (I'd only had about 5 hours sleep in 3 days so far) and I was lying in bed snoring as loud as I could. The three other guys in the room just laughed at me the next day and a few people were concerned about my red eyes.
Spent the next day doing the whole wonder around the Plaza again, went to a couple of museums (saw the Ice Princess 14 year old girl sacrificed to the mountain gods 500+ years ago). American guy I was with said that he spent 35 soles on the worst bus ride of his life where a squarking bird and an open window kept him up half the night. I booked a bus for 40 soles, I was prepared for the worst. Turns out the night before I was rejected since the strikes were affecting all buses
Keyboqrd is plqying up noz so I ,ight edit this qt q lqter ti,e:
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