19TH - 24TH MARCH

We took a taxi to the bus station as our bus was due to leave at 8.00 p.m. We had booked with Cruz del Sur allegedly the best bus company in Peru! We found it a strange thing that although Peru is a much poorer country than Argentina or Brasil, they have a far better method of getting your bags on the bus. It is all checked in beforehand so you don’t have the hassle of a mass scrum when either alighting or exiting the bus, this comes as a great relief as the South Americans are not known for their patience or ability to form a queue!

We sat through the company’s promotional video (again as it was the same bus company as our Arequipa one!!) which lasted a good 40 minutes - thankfully this wasn’t all about how great their buses were, it also showed you some of the country’s highlights. We were then given a snack then settled ourselves down for the film. After

the film it was time to tuck ourselves in and settle down for the night. Thankfully the bus wasn’t full so Rob grabbed the seat behind me so we could spread out over a double seat. We were given blankets and pillows and were looking forward to a few hours sleep. Unfortunately the bus driver seemed to be in rather a hurry and we found ourselves unable to sleep due to the twisty road and the bus swinging round the bends like nobody’s business! Also this bus had a heater and boy were they proud of this fact, the heater blasted out more unwanted hot air than George Bush! The bus was boiling, not just nicely warm but full of really dry hot air making it hard to sleep and giving most passengers a tickly cough - nice at 1.30 a.m.! We resigned ourselves to a bad nights sleep and hoped the time wouldn’t drag too much.

Not long after this, I heard a funny clunk from the back of the bus then it slowed