August 17, 2006

August 17, 2006

After two days of hiking and returning to high altitude Cuzco, we need a slow day. After breakfast we walk downtown to buy bus tickets. My nephews are on the budget tour so we are taking the overnight bus to Arequipa instead of flying. Unfortunately the First Class seats are sold out. My nephew, Ryan assures me these are luxury buses and not to worry. Ryan is an archeology grad and has spent three summers here.

Later we tour the Cuzco Cathedral in the main square. The cathedral is nice but I think we have seen all the Spanish colonial churches we need to. Afterwards we head back to the hotel to read and chill out. At the hotel Aimee trips on the two steps going into the dining area and falls face first. Her right ankle is now the size of a baseball. She had no problem climbing up to the top of sheer Huayna Picchu yesterday, but these hotel steps do her in. I guess I should be glad she didn’t trip going down Huayna Picchu; I might have lost her.

About 7:45pm we catch a taxi to the bus station and run into one of the normal hassles of traveling in the third world on your own. At the bus station, we are first sent to buy a departure tax stamp. The bus line agent then sends us to Platform 1 to catch our bus. Soon after, the bus headed for Puno pulls into platform 1. When we inquire about the bus to Arequipa, a little man picks up my luggage and heads out to a taxi. The taxi takes us to another very small bus terminal a few blocks away. We try to check our bags with an attendant, but he points us to the front door. There we find we have to first exchange our voucher for a bus ticket. We scurry back to the baggage check and then onto the bus. As soon as we sit down the bus pulls out. That was too close!