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Published: January 18th 2009
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Our 6 hour long bus trip to Puno S53 (N$26.50 each) was due to leave Arequipa at 0900 so we were up fairly early on the off chance that it was actually going to be on time. We were going to give Cruz del Sur a go as their timing worked in for us and we were pleasantly surprised to be on board and on the road by 0915. Furthermore, Sam and Janaya (who we had met in Lima earlier in the trip) were also on the bus so we had some company.
All good things must come to and end and we were all curious when, two hours into the journey, the bus pulled over to the side of the road at a toll stop and turned the engine off. We were not allowed to get off for ten minutes or so but eventually we were released and saw the damage - litres of oil spat out at the side of the road. We were quite literally in the middle of the desert. To make matters worse I was down to my last two cigarettes.
We were told (through the travellers grapevine - not through Cruz del Sur
- that a new bus had to come from Arequipa and we would be waiting for at least two hours.
Having rationed my last two cigarettes to last all of 15 minutes I wandered off to the toll booth to see if I could sign language to them that I was out of cigarettes and things were getting desperate. Sure enough the bloke at the booth pointed me in the direction of a tin shed 400 metres down the road, and with bugger all else to do for a few hours I headed off. The heavy wind was at my tail and despite the altitude I managed the walk fairly quickly.
God bless the 80 year old woman running the store - 2 packs of cigarettes (just in case), 2 waters and - get this - 2 beers for S11 (NZ$5.50). The headwind coming back was throwing dust and sand in my face but the thought of being stuck in the desert was suddenly slightly more appealing!
Sam and I dealt to the beers and we even had a brief visit from a herd (?) of alpacas. Eventually the second bus showed up and we were on
the way again.
We finally reached Puno at 1700ish and jumped in with Sam and Janaya as they had prepaid their hostel and transfers. Unfortunately they were not taken to the hostel they had booked and were trying to sort things out so Jo and I walked around before finding Hostel Monterray on the lively pedestrian street Calle Lima.
A mix up between US$ and Soles meant that the room we were shown was out of our range but we settled for a big room (with five single beds!) for S35 (NZ$18 per night.
We caught up with Sam and Janaya for dinner at 1900 at a pizza restaurant - Ollantay - that also sold local food. The other 3 shared a couple of wood fired pizzas and I went for the trout. The restaurant was run by a local family and the kids seemed to want to spend their time making a nuisance of themselves so our waitress spent half her time making a delicious pizza and the rest of the time looking after her kids.
We had an early night as we were being picked up at 0645 the next day for a tour
of Lake Titicaca S35 (NZ$18) each.
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