Yesterday morning Juliet and I were so chilled thanks to our lie in and amazing hostel breakfast of banana pancakes with dulce de leche (South American caramel) sauce. We then headed into the town to go to the post office, and ended up in a busy and bustling plaza mayor. It felt like something from the olden days with men in suits reading the newspaper while getting their shoes shined in the middle of the park, families with bread feeding the millions of pigeons around and the cutest old man with a little ice cream stall around his neck. It was actually all very picturesque.

At the post office we bought our stamps, (to get a postcard to the uk it needs three stamps!) posted our postcards… Fingers crossed they arrive everyone… And then headed back to the hostel through the sun, to get our belongings ready for the bus.
This bus was definitely not like the others we’d been on, with a hole for a toilet, a broken tv, non existent air conditioning, and every single person on it asking us what seat we were. Luckily we were 1 and 2 and so had leg room again, however when the bus started moving we realised this might not have been the best option. Arequipa is a beautifully sunny town and the sunlight was beaming in through the windows into an already absolutely boiling bus, with absolutely NO air conditioning or windows. It was so hot I thought I was going to pass out. AND to make matters worse, for the first two to three hours of the journey, we had a speaker (or a shouter if we’re being exact) who was standing in the middle of the bus shouting to everyone about illnesses and diet, he even had flash cards. Juliet and I put our iPods in so loud and prayed that it would get cooler…
Eventually the shouter finished his talk and the sun started to fade as we travelled further South and the desert surroundings were replaced with beautiful lakes and hills and the journey got a lot better – we even arrived early for the first time in South American bus history!
All was good and our travel company for the lake had arranged to pick us up from the bus station and take us to our hostel so we didn’t need to worry about anything. As we were early we waited, and waited, and waited for then to arrive. Forty five minutes passed and it was getting ridiculous considering the hostel is only ten minutes away. We then used a pay phone and rang them to find out that we weren’t on their system but they’d double check and call us back. Calling us back wasn’t getting us out of the bus station so Juliet and I decided to just get a taxi… Over an hour after we arrived at the station. It was 9.30pm by the time we arrived at our hostel which is actually a hotel! (Although if everything had gone to plan we could’ve been there much earlier) Juliet and I have our own (tiny) room, with two double beds and so we’re extremely happy this morning after a much needed sleep, for once not in a bunk bed!
Today when we finally get out of bed we’re planning on visiting the travel company to confirm our tour tomorrow… Fingers crossed we’re on their system for this!