Ariquipa

I left Cusco last night on a Cruz del Sur bus. For $39 I had an 8 hour bus ride in a huge fully reclining leather seat. I edited some pictures, ran out of battery on the computer and reclined for a nap. I woke up at 5:12 when they turned on the lights. At the bus terminal I was handed a pamphlet for Marlon's House in Arequipa. Big Colonial building in town central.

A taxi ride cost me 5 sols, I'm sure I was overcharged and the hostel would have picked me up for free but I just wanted to continue my blissful sleep. A man stood at the front door and said they had no room ready, but one would be ready in an hour. He showed me a temporary room, that did not have a private bath and I slept for another couple of hours. When I awoke and walked out of the room he told me my room was ready and showed my upstairs.

For 25 sols a night I have a 300 square foot room with an extremely comfortable bed, a huge bathroom with unbelievable water pressure and 24 hour central hot water, no suicide showers here. There are five staff members and four guests. I don't understand the economics of it.

My breakfast was a couple of cups of instant coffee, coffee Peruvian, 2 pieces of bread that are kind of like fluffy pita loaves, butter, marmalade a fried egg and juice of fresh mango and banana. I chatted with Florio a fellow guest from Austria, who told me that he really liked this town and the hotel and we agreed on which towns did not impress us so that made his opinion carry a bit of weight. I am in the process of checking my email. As I typed this Rosario a staff member came up to my room and gave me my fanny pack, which has about $1,000 worth of stuff in it and my passport; I had left it in the staging room.

This could be my base camp for the next couple of weeks, lots of mountains to climb, valleys to explore. Free room service, hot water for Coca infusion coming right up.