We made it through passport control with little fuss and after another 20 minutes on the bus we arrived in the border town of Tacna, two hours behind Chilean time. Our first impressions of both Tacna and Peru were not great at this point. As soon as we got off the bus we were being hassled by people. One guy in particular asked if we needed a bus and, as we did, we said yes. He then insisted that we follow him. As we couldn't speak Spanish and he couldn't speak English, we couldn't get rid of him and had little choice but to follow him over the road to the bus terminal, where he led us to a desk to buy tickets for a bus to Arequipa. The next two hours were spent in the bus station waiting to leave. Here we continued to be hassled by restaurant owners and people selling random tosh like jewellery and watches.
The bus journey took around 7 hours to get to Arequipa. This involved driving up, down and around some mountains, which was a little nerve racking to say the least, driving close to the edge and, as we were at the front on top, we had a good view of the drop the other side of the barriers.
Thankfully we arrived in Arequipa safe and sound around 8:30. We got a taxi to our hostel, dropped our bags off and walked into town to find something to eat. Luckily our impressions of Peru soon changed from what we had first felt earlier. Arequipa has a good feeling about it and everyone seems really nice.
Our next day mainly consisted of relaxing, eating and wandering around, following 14 hours of travelling the previous day. On the second day in the city we went on the walking tour. This one was a little different to others, as we stopped in a number of restaurants and cafes, for samples of food and drink, and also saw some llamas and alpacas in a local place where they made clothes from the wool. It was very interesting. After this we ate, and then watched a movie in the evening.
Today (1st April) we head to Puno to see Lake Titcaca, the highest navigable body of water in the world.
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