17/09/2019 – Nasca to Arequipa, Peru

We got woken up at around 07:30 to breakfast being served. We had a little box with a jam roll and some biscuits in it. Our night had been fairly uneventful, but had been more of a rest than a proper sleep. All the same it had been bearable. I think one noticeable difference between this and the more expensive bus was that our belongings felt a little less safe, as it was more like a coach then a bus with our own area. We had breakfast and then another hour or so in the bus stopped moving. With the curtains closed, we assumed we were either dropping/collecting people at a terminal or filling up with fuel. After a little while, when other passengers started walking up and down the bus using the toilet and getting off, we decided to see what was going on. I’m not sure what had happened, but it was something to do with the engine, we had broken down.

The bus was too hot to sit in so we all sat outside, on the side of the road. All the Peruvians grabbed their luggage and hitchhiked the further 20 minutes to Arequipa, leaving us, the bus steward, the driver, an Italian couple and a guy from Argentina waiting. I read my magazine whilst Josh took some photos, everyone just whiling away the time. Eventually we got scooped up by another bus from the same Tepsa bus company, laughed as we all sat in the empty first class seats, and got taken to the Arequipa bus terminal, arriving at 13:00 instead of our scheduled 07:30! We were tired and hungry, but glad to have finally arrived. We found a taxi, negotiated a price, and set off through busy Arequipa. We got dropped off in a residential area at our accommodation. When we didn’t have the exact money for our negotiated price, the taxi man refused to give us the correct change, so completely mugged us off! It is so frustrating when we are treated differently to the locals, and such a hindrance that although my Spanish is improving it is not perfect so it is difficult to reason (although I think I would have found it a challenging situation if we were speaking English let alone Spanish!) This plus the vulnerability of us not knowing where we were and not having identified our accommodation exactly yet, meant we shrugged off the extra £2 he had taken for himself. We knocked on the door, which was like a cut out inside a metal garage door, and eventually a young couple came out. It turns out they were also guests. They said they couldn’t find anyone inside for us so instead gave us the Wifi code. We then called our host who said to wait a moment. A couple of minutes later a taxi pulled up and two little Peruvian ladies got out and welcomed us in. We were introduced to Linda, the blue eyed sheep dog whilst we waited and they serviced our room quickly. Then we got shown into our room. It is a comfortable double with en suite, cupboard, table and tv. It is in such a random residential corner of the ideal centro historico district, and is more of a home with some spare rooms and a communal kitchen, a bit like an air bnb. We showered and then wandered into the centre to a lunch spot called the pasta canteen. We felt comfortable in there straight away. The place was very rustic and the simplistic menu was impressive. They do 3 homemade pastas and 3 sauces, from which you pick one of each, and then a selection of toppings that you choose yourself. We were served a side salad in a little mason jar and then enjoyed our big bowls of pasta. We paid up and walked just down the road to a café called La Despensa, where we got lovely coffee and cake, and bought some croissants and bread for tomorrow. We walked down through the beautiful main plaza. The area is a bit touristy, similar to the buzzy vibe of Cusco, but a bit more beautiful in my opinion. The cafes and restaurants all look so inviting. I am excited to explore a bit more tomorrow! We went to the supermarket for some breakfast supplies and groceries, then walked home enjoying the orange of the sunset and the surrounding mountain views. For the first time in our trip there was a washing machine in our accommodation for us to use, so set a big load off, and chilled in our room for the rest of the evening.