Pick up 05:30 arrive Puno 13:00

Not a wink, not a wink of sleep. Last night, as you all know, was Halloween and the party in the hostel went on to after 3am and I had to be up for 04:00.

Heading to Puno this morning – 7hr relaxing bus journey

Outside the hostel was full of Halloween party revellers that hadn’t made it home yet and looked more scary than when they had originally set out 👻

First priority was to stop at the local market for breakfast

Then we began travelling through some wonderful landscape and it was a pity that I had to photograph the view through the tinted windows of the bus.

If I had had my own transport or personal guide it would have taken me at least 3 days to cover the same route.

It was just a case of sit back, enjoy the view and relax or nap.

I had managed to get an amazing seat on the bus, right at the front with extra, extra leg room, no-none beside me, a reclining seat that almost went horizontal and no- one behind me to make me feel guilty when I stretched out.

We trundled along at good speed during high I had quite an in-depth conversation with the tour operator who was sitting adjacent to me. We discussed politics (which I know very little about) the pros and cons of marriage ( which I knew everything about) and he told me of a tourist (holiday romance) girl he met that had gone back to Glasgow and broke his heart. We spoke about Crime in Arequipa and revenge killings, stray dogs that weren’t really strays but were let loose to roam the streets every day but returned home for food and shelter in the evening. I listened to his opinion on Mary Queen of Scots and the result of the referendum, the importance of your heritage and also the multicultural effect on countries around the world – 😳. We discussed way to much when all I wanted to do was admire what was outside my window.

As we drove through the amazing landscape of the Andes the sun was reflecting g off the huge mountain twins range that just went on and on and on.

Arriving in Puno at 1pm

I was so tired and was dropped off at my hotel – Conde De Limos. It was a pleasant change from the hostel in Arequipa and I was looking forward to resting in my room but first I needed to buy a brush to clean my camera. I left he hotel and headed to the square but there was no-where that sold anything nearest I needed so I headed back to the hotel.

I bumped into 5 girls from my hotel who I had seen off and on througout this hope on business and they very kindly asked me if I wanted to go to dinner with them tonight.

What a lovely suggestion of I went down to the reception to borrow a hairdryer. Heaven knows what I was going to wear as all my clothes were crushed in a heap in my rucksack.

A shower, hair washed and dried and I put on the least piece of crushed clothing I could find and headed to the lobby for 7pm.

The girls had chosen a local restaurant only 100 yards or so from the hotel – perfect.

What a fun evening swapping stories of our adventures so far and the ones that lay ahead of us. I stuck to chicken and Pasta and a small local brewed beer.

We were all tired and headed back to the hotel around 9:30. Besides, we were all up early to go on yet another trip. Me, a full day on Lake Titicaca.

Lights out and straight to sleep.

Nite 😴