A Day In The Life

22nd December was not a particularly interesting day for us - no exciting tourism activities - but it was busy and fairly indicative of a travelling / arriving day. Here's a complete timeline:

06.25: Woken up by alarm clock: shower, dress, pack
07.05: Leave Hostal Los Uros, Puno
07.10: Catch a trici-taxi to the terminal terrestre (two nuevo soles)
07.20: Arrive in the bus terminal
08.30: Sur Oriente bus to Arequipa leaves, half an hour late (inevitably)
09.15: Bus stops in Juliaca
14.00: Bus arrives in Arequipa
14.10: Catch a taxi (two nuevo soles) to Hotel Miamaka (luxurious, in theory $25 a night, but after some skillful negotiation - plus we look pretty scruffy - the price drops to $18)
14.30: Leave Hotel Miamaka and walk downtown
14.45: Investigate a two-day Colca Canyon tour with Castle Travel: $22 each
15.00: Buy the same tour from Santa Catalina Tours for $20 per person
15.15: Stock up on food at El Super supermarket on the Plaza de Armas
16.00: Back to the hotel to collapse in front of E!, CNN, BBC World etc. Having cable TV (or indeed any TV :) is something of a novelty for us
19.00: Go out to eat in Presto pizza restaurant (twelve nuevo soles for two)
19.35: Sit by the cathedral in the attractively lit Plaza de Armas
19.55: Walk back to Miamaka
21.59: Tom and Katherine argue about watching Alias on AXN
22.00: Argument won (by Tom)
23.00: Bed, asleep

PS. One nuevo sol is about 29 cents or 17 pence. A trici-taxi is a fantastic invention - a backwards tricycle with a bench stuck on the front. The poor driver had to pedal us and our huge backpacks all the way to the terminal - we felt rather sorry for him, especially as Puno roads are not exactly in top condition. The Colca Canyon tour we bought was great, more on that above.