18th Sept - Bus from Copacabana to Arequipa, Peru!

Dying. Brilliant craic last night though! Well worth it. Today was a transit day from Bolivia into Peru.

Before I caught the bus, ran into the sound Norwegian lad who'd been stuck in Copa for about a week cos himself and Canadian buddy didn't realise there are no ATMs in Copa and couldn't get more money out until the banks re-opened! They're completely sick of the place by now. They eventually got money wired from Canada. Now he was telling me they did some coke to celebrate. They did about 5 grammes each, ended up overdosing, the Norwegian had his stomach pumped after sleeping on the beach and burning the face off himself. I asked him how he felt. "It's weird cos all my internal organs are really sore!"
Plus they spent all their money and would have to get more wired from their family. But it's Friday so they'll have to wait until Monday at earliest to leave. The poor b&stards!

Anyway, I had money so I bought a bus ticket! It was a bit expensive but went for luxury bus for the 7.5 hr trip to Arequipa in Peru. I'm worth it like! After crossing the border to Puno ie 3 hrs in, they made us change buses to an absolute piece of shit, filthy narrow seats, no toilet. And the 4.5 hours remaining was actually 6.5! Nightmare!
Bizarrely, and very irritatingly when you're trying to sleep, they have travelling salesmen on the buses. This lad talked for over an hour and was selling some nonsense health supplement. Ah but there was a great deal on it. Seriously!

Chatted to the Peruvian lad sitting beside me on the bus. Great great lad, he had a new baby boy (4 wks old) but had broken up with the mother while she was pregnant. Also he has to work in Puno 6 days a week so takes this punishment bus every wkend to see his little lad for about 4 hours every Sunday, then immediately gets the punishment bus back! Fierce nice lad, I asked him if there was any chance I could use his phone to call a hostel in Arequipa? Better than that he called ahead, sorted me out with a bed, then walked me to the taxi rank when we landed. Taxi driver was sound out too - we chatted about cost of things compared to Ireland and about his kids and the usual nonsense! Well impressed with the soundness of the first Peruvians I've met! Tomorrow i reckon I'll have a look around the city and book a tour for the coming days!