The Big Trip

Okay, here goes!

Al, Mary, Ron, and Verna arrived in the early morning on Tuesday, April 18th. After a few days of hanging around in Arequipa, walking in the fields and eating in "typical" restaurants, we were ready to begin our journey. The trip had been sketched out in advance, but due to a few miscommunications between the travel agent and myself, as well as my stubborness on a couple of points, we didn't have the whole thing finalized until about two days before we left. It felt a little nerve-wracking at the time, but come morning on Saturday, April 22, we were sitting in a bus bound for Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. To get a sense of the trip, I offer you this map. Find Arequipa in the bottom bit of Peru, on a green background. Puno is up and to the right. Cusco is about an inch straight up from Arequipa. Oriented? Good. Okay, so off we went on the bus.
Main features of the bus ride:
* An eerie preoccupation with security that prompted the company to camcord all of us as we entered the bus;
* Completely non-functional air conditioning
* A snack that consisted of crackers, bread, a biscuit, and Diet Inca Kola,
* Such great American films as I Spy and Men In Black played at top volume over the entertainment system,
* Bingo - a game which only those making a round trip could play, because the prizes would be given out on the way back to Arequipa.

A few shots from the bus ride:



Note the smoke rising in the last shot. That is the volcano Ubinas, located some 270 kilometres from Arequipa, considered one of Peru's most active volcanoes. It began to erupt in March, and reached its peak just the day before we went on our trip; the village at the base of the volcano was evacuated the same weekend we made our journey. Volcanic ash was causing health problems for the residents, and a few dozen llamas, alpacas, and vicuñas had died.

And then the bus broke down. We sat on the side of the road by a stream for about an hour and had lunch, which in a way was the best thing that could have happened to us; it was cooler outside the bus than in, and the kids had the chance to roam around for a while.


Eventually, two buses from other companies showed up and the passengers were split between the two. In the confusion, one of our bags was left on the broken-down bus, and there ended up being too many people on the new bus, so some were obliged to stand. We were also required to pay cash for our new bus ride, which would be reimbursed by our own bus company at the station once we arrived in Puno. There was some discussion amongst us as to whether we would actually be reimbursed, but we payed and got on our way. I personally found the new bus far more comfortable than the old one - no annoying music, open windows, fresher air - but eventually the road became quite bad and bumpy. The boys slept for a while on the new bus, which they hadn't been able to do on the original one, which was also a blessing. We have Mary to thank for Joffre's long nap, as she pulled out all the stops with fairy tales and nursery rhymes to keep him occupied. Then, when he woke up, she sang with him and kept him from getting too cranky.

After we passed through Juliaca, an uninspired industrial town that hosts the nearest airport to Lake Titicaca, we were more comfortable. Since we were now on a cheaper bus, many of the riders were not tourists on their way to the lake but locals on their way to Juliaca. For this reason, we now had considerably more room available. We finally pulled into Puno at around 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon. After a few moments' confusion in the bus station, we found the poor worried tour guide who had been waiting for us while we were delayed. Nobody, of course, had been able to tell him anything about our whereabouts, and he was worried he had somehow missed us. We got reimbursed for our second bus ride, but my bag had not turned up and so without further ado we hopped into our private minibus and headed out to our hotel, about 10 minutes outside of town. This hotel had only opened a week before, and is called Casa Andina Private Collection. It was pretty darned swanky, with a view of the lake, a classy bar, a huge roaring fireplace, and ridiculously large rooms. The Gunsons and the Keelers each got a room with two queen-sized beds, and our little family got a room with three queens.

Upon perusing the highly overpriced hotel menu, we decided to catch taxis into town for dinner and a bit of a tour around. A few of us were feeling the effects of being at some 4000 metres above sea level, so we were taking things fairly easy. We had dinner in a restaurant overlooking the main square, and then I picked up some diapers and toothbrushes, since those things had been in the missing bag. After warm baths and a stern word with the hotel staff who were apparently building new furniture directly under our window, we crashed hard. Those without small children stayed up for a bit longer and played cards, but everyone had an early night, as we had to be up at the crack of dawn to head out on the lake.