2012 Peru Day 4 Afternoon

By travelerdon on May 25, 2021

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Where has the morning gone? Oh yeah, the Nazca Lines, those wondrous artifacts that make you wonder! But that morning flight is over, time to move on! So our ride takes us to the Ica bus station. We board a luxury double decker bus and luck out by being early enough to board first! So we scamper up top and grab the front seat on the top deck! Our tour guide introduces himself and all is good.

My cameras get a workout (which they love!) and capture the local sights along the way inclusive of a roadside memorial for someone who passed away! New buildings of homes is simple here where it never rains and the building appears to be made of bamboo but I don’t know where that comes from!

An interesting addition to this bus is it has a kitchen on the bottom level in the back and they actually prepare hot meals and deliver them to your seat! We pass through the villages of Chavina, Puente Angosto and Concar, where we see trucks transporting strange loads that seem to include animal hides. What’s up with that? We never get an explanation. But the sun sets on us as we climb up into the mountains.

We have lost daylight and our cameras are totally bummed out, but the story goes on. we zig zag up this steep mountain road that has one lane in each direction. Our driver below us is a brave and bold soul that will let nothing slow him down. He must be able to see the road better than us (even though we are in the top of the bus and I swear can see everything available) and he starts passing slow commercial trucks even on the hairpin turns! We cringe and wonder if we should have chosen this view! But the ride goes on for hours up these steep mountain roads and we survive it!

Finally we arrive in Arequipa, Peru and the bus pulls up to our latest hotel and Elee and I are the only ones to debark. We are standing in front of an old mansion that has been turned into a hotel. We have to press a button and get admitted and we are shown to our room along with our luggage. We are treated like royalty and we are amazed! The room is spacious and it is another luxury space. The bathroom and toilet have the same restrictions as all of Peru though and we get accustomed to Peru!