Bus Cama, Awesome!!!

I am now safely in Arequipa, but it was quite a trip getting here. Michaelle and I got tickets for a Bus Cama, which basically means a bus with beds. However, this is again one of those areas where Latin America and I differ on our understandings of some things. A bus cama pretty much means that your seat maybe reclines a little more than usual and there is this padded foot rest thing that flips down so as to convince you you´re in a bed. I was not fooled. This was maybe the most uncomfortable ride I´ve been on. I can´t blame it all on the bus though. A huge contributer to the horridness of the ride was the route itself. The trip was about 9 hours total... well 10.5 if you factor in the fact that the bus was an hour and a half late... but, in here that is expected. The first 3 hours were along a super bumpy road. It was so rough that the windows and everything inside the bus rattled for a full 3 hours. When this part of the trip ended, the next horror began. The bus had at this point reached the coast, so for the next 4 or 5 hours the path taken was one of inceasant curving, in and out and back and forth and breaking and accelerating, all in order to follow the country´s uneven coast line. I couldn´t get any rest because every minute I would roll from one side of my seat to the other, nearly rolling off into the aisle. This however was not the most unsettling part. The bus was (as Lonely Planet so aptly describes) "clinging torturously to the sand dunes dropping down hundreds of feet to the sea". Yup, it was possibly the most terrifying thing I`ve ever experienced. But we arrived safely and have been enjoying the city of Arequipa. The weather is gorgeous. Monday we are going on a 2 day trip into the Colca Canyon, the world´s deepest canyon.

Tomorrow we are taking a full day excursion up to the 5 star hotel in town to lounge by the pool ... What an adventure!

Ta-ta
laura.