04.04.2012
Night bus from Huaraz to Lima. Company: CIAL. Price: 40 soles. Departure: 22.30, arrival 6.30 am the day after (8 hours journey).
As usual, Peru buses are very comfortable and we slept most of the time. It's quite interesting to point out that to in Peru they register your passport number each time you buy a ticket, moreover they often ask you for a finger print before boarding and they even film each person sitting on the bus before leaving!!! Amazing security levels and top service, some buses even give you a blanket and/or refreshments and snacks, lots of leg space and seats going back 145/160 degrees and more...feels like being in a plane business class!
05.054.2012 - LIMA
The annoying part of Lima is that each bus company has its own bus terminal, which means looking for the next bus can get quite annoying and expensive as the terminals are far away from each other. Plus, it was Easter friday which meant almost all buses were full. Luckily, we got a taxi with an older driver (in a veeeeery old car) who advised us about Flores bus company (yes, like Giovanni's surname!) which is slightly lower class but with lots of buses running...it was actually not bad at all (nice buses and good service), and we got a ticket right away for our next destination.
As we had a few hours to spend in Lima before catching our next bus, we decided to take a taxi into Miraflores, one of the nicest areas close to the beach. We had breakfast at McDonalds with an excellent free wifi connection (good enough to make Skype calls home!) and then had a walk till a viewpoint over the seaside....well, what can we say, we absolutely loved that part of Lima! It feels like being in a European town with a coastal vibe, people walking on the street in flipflops, nice bars and restaurants with outdoor tables, and the view of the ocean...well...wow!!!
We hope to visit the rest of Lima (at least the historical centre) next time we will be there before catching our planes back home, so to have a better idea of the rest of the city. So far, we were surprised to see so much space (streets are spacious and bright, as opposite to Quito, obviously due to geographical setting).
We noticed they have pretty crappy little mini-buses as the most used public system, with controllers hanging out of the door and shouting the destination...these old minibuses really don't go with a city that looks quite modern! Also, the taxis are not all the same colour, which was surprising to us.
We then returned to the bus terminal and we had dinner at a small restaurant closeby, where we had a funny moment with the waitress, trying to understand what we were about to eat/drink :-)
# We have "palta" salad available
*...what is "palta"?
# Palta is....palta!
She really did not manage to explain what it was, as we speak Spanish and Giovanni is South American, she was quite surprised that we didn't know what "palta" was....well, guess what we received? An avocado salad!! Apparently not called "aguacate" in Peru :-) We also had a "carambòla" juice, which at present time we still don't know what fruit it is...(according to Google, it's called "starfruit") and we discovered that rice here is boiled together with garlic.
Bus from Lima to Arequipa. Company: Flores. Price: 90 soles. Departure: 14:00, arrival 6.30 am the day after (16.5 hours journey). (Our best bus experience so far, excellent seats and service)
06.04.2012 - AREQUIPA
We only stopped over for a few hours in this city, but we were really glad we did as it is a lovely colonial style town. Unluckily almost all churches and the famous monastery were closed as it was Easter friday (and apparently some typical festival would have started later in the day), but we could still relax, have breakfast and lunch outside on a balcony overlooking the main square, take pictures and enjoy the mild sunny weather of Arequipa.
"Switch off your cell phone, God wants to talk to you" ;-)
Some sort of ice-cream...yummy!
With the local cocktail "pisco sour" :-) (which I left because really tooooo strong!!)
Bus from Arequipa to Puno. Company: Flores. Price: 18 soles. Departure: 14.00, cancelled due to lack of people. (annoying!!) Rescheduled for departure at 16:00, arrival 22.30 (6.5 hours journey).
(This bus was a normal bus, so more unconfortable, but ok for the relatively short journey)
As we arrived in Puno on Lake Titicaca, we got to a hostel (finally a shower and a bed again!!) which gave us a nice room by a lady next door. We just had a quick walk in the centre at night, had a pizza and then went to bed, as our plan was to leave right the next morning to Bolivia!
As usual, Peru buses are very comfortable and we slept most of the time. It's quite interesting to point out that to in Peru they register your passport number each time you buy a ticket, moreover they often ask you for a finger print before boarding and they even film each person sitting on the bus before leaving!!! Amazing security levels and top service, some buses even give you a blanket and/or refreshments and snacks, lots of leg space and seats going back 145/160 degrees and more...feels like being in a plane business class!
05.054.2012 - LIMA
The annoying part of Lima is that each bus company has its own bus terminal, which means looking for the next bus can get quite annoying and expensive as the terminals are far away from each other. Plus, it was Easter friday which meant almost all buses were full. Luckily, we got a taxi with an older driver (in a veeeeery old car) who advised us about Flores bus company (yes, like Giovanni's surname!) which is slightly lower class but with lots of buses running...it was actually not bad at all (nice buses and good service), and we got a ticket right away for our next destination.
As we had a few hours to spend in Lima before catching our next bus, we decided to take a taxi into Miraflores, one of the nicest areas close to the beach. We had breakfast at McDonalds with an excellent free wifi connection (good enough to make Skype calls home!) and then had a walk till a viewpoint over the seaside....well, what can we say, we absolutely loved that part of Lima! It feels like being in a European town with a coastal vibe, people walking on the street in flipflops, nice bars and restaurants with outdoor tables, and the view of the ocean...well...wow!!!
We hope to visit the rest of Lima (at least the historical centre) next time we will be there before catching our planes back home, so to have a better idea of the rest of the city. So far, we were surprised to see so much space (streets are spacious and bright, as opposite to Quito, obviously due to geographical setting).
We noticed they have pretty crappy little mini-buses as the most used public system, with controllers hanging out of the door and shouting the destination...these old minibuses really don't go with a city that looks quite modern! Also, the taxis are not all the same colour, which was surprising to us.
We then returned to the bus terminal and we had dinner at a small restaurant closeby, where we had a funny moment with the waitress, trying to understand what we were about to eat/drink :-)
# We have "palta" salad available
*...what is "palta"?
# Palta is....palta!
She really did not manage to explain what it was, as we speak Spanish and Giovanni is South American, she was quite surprised that we didn't know what "palta" was....well, guess what we received? An avocado salad!! Apparently not called "aguacate" in Peru :-) We also had a "carambòla" juice, which at present time we still don't know what fruit it is...(according to Google, it's called "starfruit") and we discovered that rice here is boiled together with garlic.
Bus from Lima to Arequipa. Company: Flores. Price: 90 soles. Departure: 14:00, arrival 6.30 am the day after (16.5 hours journey). (Our best bus experience so far, excellent seats and service)
06.04.2012 - AREQUIPA
We only stopped over for a few hours in this city, but we were really glad we did as it is a lovely colonial style town. Unluckily almost all churches and the famous monastery were closed as it was Easter friday (and apparently some typical festival would have started later in the day), but we could still relax, have breakfast and lunch outside on a balcony overlooking the main square, take pictures and enjoy the mild sunny weather of Arequipa.
"Switch off your cell phone, God wants to talk to you" ;-)
Some sort of ice-cream...yummy!
With the local cocktail "pisco sour" :-) (which I left because really tooooo strong!!)
Bus from Arequipa to Puno. Company: Flores. Price: 18 soles. Departure: 14.00, cancelled due to lack of people. (annoying!!) Rescheduled for departure at 16:00, arrival 22.30 (6.5 hours journey).
(This bus was a normal bus, so more unconfortable, but ok for the relatively short journey)
As we arrived in Puno on Lake Titicaca, we got to a hostel (finally a shower and a bed again!!) which gave us a nice room by a lady next door. We just had a quick walk in the centre at night, had a pizza and then went to bed, as our plan was to leave right the next morning to Bolivia!
