The train from Cuzco to Puno was an interesting start to a very long trip to Santiago. It took about 12 hours, and passed through beautiful and desolate mountains in the southeast of Peru. We had a lovely meal with silver, china, the works. Made us think of the bygone days when trains were considered "cool". We also got to hear some great Peruvian musicians waltzing up and down the aisles with their guitars, Andean panpipes, and drums. They sang beautiful harmonies. Then (of course) they asked people if they wanted to buy their CD (did we mention the entrepreneurial spirit of Latin America?). The drummer gave the CD to Alan to look at, who then held it up for Lisa to see, who was sitting 10 ft away. As Alan did this, the drummer grabbed Alan's arm and gently lowered it. Gently as in the force applied by a meteorite as it blasts a whole in Siberia. One can only assume these guys were not really supposed to be selling their CD on the train, and raising it was considered "not a good idea". We didn't buy the CD. Still, they were nice guys.
We are now in a "luxury" bus from Puno to Arequipa. Six hours. DVDs and seats that recline. Who could ask for anything more? Well, food and water would be nice on a six hour trip. But hey, at least they gave us some crackers. We spent the better part of today riding across Lake Titicaca (love that name!) on a boat with some friends we met on the train from Cuzco. It was more fun from a social perspective than from a sightseeing perspective. We all chartered this boat fhinking it would be the quick way to get to the island called Taquile where there are supposed to be interesting local people with a colorful culture. We started off fine, cruising slowly out of the harbor. After around ten minutes I asked if we were going to go any faster. I knew we were in trouble when he said, encouragingly, we're still in a controlled speed zone, but once we get out of this we will go a little faster. Little being the operative word. We did indeed speed up, soon enough. From 5 mph, to maybe 6. We could hardly control our excitement. We finally made it to the island, hoping to spend some time exploring, but were sad to find that, on the way back, the boat would go the same speed, meaning that it would take another 2.5 hrs to cover the 300 yd return cruise. So we had about 4 minutes on the island to "explore". I tried sprinting to the island's high point behind a Swiss mountaineer, so we could at least have a peak at the village. I made it up, but left most of my left lung on the trail (there are no cars, let alone roads or taxis here). The alititude, 3800 m, may have had something to do with it. The other folks opted to stay close to the boat. Four minutes goes fast. I think Lisa petted a goat or something. We made the return "voyage" without incident, and got to the next leg of our trip smoothly...
The bus from Puno arrived in Arequipa at around 10 at night. We had a short wait before our next bus, to Tacna, very close to the border with Chile. This layover was enough time for Lisa to enjoy one of those relaxing money-changing experiences. You know, the one where we don't have any money except US $20 bills, and want to buy something that costs about $.75 without getting 2,250 Peruvian monetary units which we'd probably never get the chance to spend. Try getting people to return some, much less most, of your change in dollars (which many people in Peru use). Relaxing, indeed. We failed, and "unbought" the merchandise. Alan decided we needed water more than $20 and went to a different lady with a nicer face. Face, shmace. Same deal. It sucks to have run out of money just before we were done needing it.
So, another six hour bus ride and we're in Tacna at 3:50 am. One can imagine a slight brightening in the eastern sky. We were told if we took a private taxi across the border (for $20) we could make it to the airport in around 45 minutes, i.e. well before 5 am. What we weren't told was that there was a 2 hr time change between Peru and Chile. In the wrong direction. What we also were not told was that the border guards don't start to do business until 6 am. Peru time. That's 8 am, Chile time. With a 7:30 flight, we realized we were really going to have to drive fast once we cleared the border (remember Einstein). C'est la vie. It hurt to watch the people who took a bus for around 4 cents pass by us as we waited sleepily for the border to open. It hurt even more when, as we sat there, we heard our plane for Santiago take off. Worked out OK though (well. after Lisa ripped Alan a new one for not planning this part thoroughly enough). We were able to get another flight out at midday. Gave us some time to wish we could sleep.
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