The week I turned 34 in Peru ;-)
Peru | Monday, May 25, 2015 | 8 photos
Wednesday we took a 11h overnight bus from Cuzco to Arequipa. Buses are much better in Latin America than in North America, nothing compared to Greyhound. There are 2 types of overnight buses: " semi cama" with a 160 degree inclination seat and "cama" with a 180 degrees inclination seat wit VIP service. We actually tried both. Another special thing about buses here is that there are so many bus companies about 15-20 because people travel mostly by bus. So you have a lot of options but better to choose the safest and well known ones. Choosing "the safest bus company" is always an interesting experience.
After Machu Picchu, we basically rested for few days and enjoyed good food in Cuzco like Japanese, Italian and of course French cuisine. Cuzco is a great city to visit, except it was cooold at night :-( since it is at 3400 m. We stayed in the "East Village" of Cuzco ;-) called San Blas, loved this neighborhood except the really steep streets. We also volunteered for one day in a school located in a poor suburb of Cuzco; we helped kids (4-15 years old) with their homework and we played with them. It was a very interesting experience to see real life in Peru but the coordinator warned us that most of the kids had a very strong personality since they live with parents who present alcoholism and/or domestic violence issues.
Now we are in Arequipa, just enjoying our time here for few days. Arequipa is at 2335m-7661ft so it's much warmer than Cuzco and not as cold at night, we actually had dinner on a patio with 2 other backpackers.
We stayed at the Plaza de Armas in a fancy hotel with a great rooftop (ahhhhh New York... ;-) with the view on the 3 surrounding volcanos; ¡increíble! :-) ... and with real wifi that works, hihi! This nice stay helped me forget I'm one year older now! Lol
Btw, Kurt and I don't have our phone number anymore; the only way to get in touch with us is by email. I know some people tried to text/iMessage me on my US iPhone for my birthday but it doesn't work anymore because I don't have it anymore; so email me or leave a comment on the blog! ;-)
We are not lucky again! May 27 and 28 there is another strike that is going to perturb the transportation. This time people are protesting against the copper and gold mines. So after our 2 day trek in the Colca Canyon, we will catch an overnight bus to Puno (Titikaka Lake) on the night of the 26; hoping everything will work out fine. Some bus companies didn't want to sell us bus tickets for the night of the 26 but we found one who did. We are taking the chance that the bus will be canceled and to be stuck in the middle of the Andes or in Arequipa for 2 more days; inshallah! ;-) We will let you know what happens.
