Arequipa Day 278 23/06/2015

Our bus to Arequipa didn't leave Puno until 1500 so after breakfast and packing we headed to the Museo Carlos Dreyser, just round the corner from the plaza. It's a small museum exhibiting an interesting collection of archaeological artifacts and arts. Upstairs there are three mummies, all as in death in a foetal postion, an eerie sight with petrified skin as well as bones still intact. From here we stopped at the cafe at Casa del Corregidol, where we'd had lunch yesterday, for drinks enjoying the morning sunshine. Despite the temperature only being c14 degrees as we are at 3800m, it's very warm in the sunshine (although temperatures plummet at night). We'd spotted a Cruz del Sur ticket office in town and decided to buy our tickets for Arequipa to Nasca and on to Lima. Diane was particularly chuffed when the lady serving us expressed surprise at her age (didnt do the same when Simon said his!!). Back at the hotel we did yet more research for the Galapagos, finally deciding on a cruise only to find that it had already been optioned. Fingers crossed it gets released as it's a good deal and neither of us are keen to start the search again! We had lunch along the main pedestrian street before getting a taxi to the bus station with Simon and the taxi driver chatting away in Spanish for the full journey. The Hacienda Plaza de Armas has been a nice place to stay, very warm, clean, lots of hot water and a good location on the corner of the plaza but lacked any real atmosphere. At the bus station we paid our departure tax (1.5 soles each) and checked in our bags with Cruz del Sur. As we boarded the bus our bags and us were scanned and we were videoed and photographed as we had been when we left Cusco. Clearly it must be standard practice for Cruz del Sur. We set off on time heading to Juliaca. Luckily the riots we'd seen on route to Cusco appeared to have dispersed and it was relatively calm. From here the bus headed south over the Andes range. It wasn't long before the sun started to drop and after a lovely sunset, we were soon travelling in the pitch black. We'd gone for the cheaper second class seats upstairs which meant we were subjected to the set films, two in spanish followed by the Percy Jackson, The Lightening Thief in English. Food on board was a bit disappointing, a ham roll and rice pudding. We arrived in Arequipa on time at 2100 and, despite advising our hotel that we didn't need picking up, were greeted by a taxi driver. After collecting our bags and having a quick look to see if the ticket office was open (it wasn't!) for the local buses we headed to the Casona Solar just south of the main plaza. It's a lovely place in an old colonial building with two large courtyards and exposed sillar brickwork. We had a quick couple of cervezas, checked emails and were delighted to read we'd been able to book the cruise to the Galapagos and headed off to bed, happy but travel weary.