Arequipa to Puno
Most Peruvians travel by bus and the bus system in between owns runs quite regularly. Several are also quite ready for tourists and although can be a bit more pricey–are generally well worth it. Cruz del Sol was my main method of transportation around the country. However, since much of this trip was “plan as you go” I had a feeling that there would come a time when my beloved Cruz del Sol was not available. Unfortunately, that happened on the way from Arequipa to Puno. We had already extended our trip in Arequipa for a day because of exhaustion from waking up early and long days…and Lake Titicaca seemed super exciting, so extending another day was not really an option.
So we sucked it up and took another bus company to Puno. This time, we took Civa. Although the company boasted wifi on the buses–it was clear that the economy tickets we purchased did not include a trip on one of those nice buses.
To give you an idea of how not nice this bus is, imagine a bus that looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in 10 years. Then add no AC to that and only a few windows that worked. Then add to that that this bus stopped everywhere –most of which were stops that were not at a bus station or terminal. Honestly I do not know how these folks knew where to catch the bus–we saw two guys running thru the desert when they saw the bus.
Oh, and at all of the major stops, the bus allowed random people to come on the bus and sell items. One guy that came on the bus I think was like a “bus preacher” — imagie that guy that used to come to your college campus and tell all the sinners to save their souls. Well, I imagine that is what he was saying–it was all in spanish LOL. At one stop, the driver closed the bus door to the double decker not knowing the food lady had not gotten off the bus yet. She had to bang on the door for about five minutes before he realized it and opened the door to let her out…
And then, the driver would stop almost anywhere someone requrested. There was a “phone” to buzz the driver and there were people getting out at random places at random times…
Civa was definitely an experience to say the least. But if you are traveling in Peru, do yourself a favor and travel Cruz del Sol…if you venture to oneo f the others, don’t say I didn’t warn you lol.