Bad Case of Wanderlust (My Trip Around the World): Arequipa, Day 3 & Puno, Day 1 (Dec 1 & 2nd): Pride goeth before the fall

After our trek into Colca Canyon, my travel buddy James and I decided to take a day off relaxing in Arequipa before heading to Puno and Lake Titicaca. The day consisted of getting some sun, having the lovely staff of Wanyu River arrange our bus for the following day, sending out laundry, practicing yoga (for me, anyway), listening to music, Skyping, blogging, and venturing out only to buy water and to eat at a nearby traditional vegetarian restaurant, where we got a 3-course meal for a whopping $1 each.

By 7:30am the next day, we were off again. We had been lucky enough to be served breakfast earlier than it was technically available by the eager Wanyu River staff. (Really, I can't speak highly enough of them; if you are ever in Arequipa on a tight budget, you must stay there.)

One 6-hour bus ride later, we arrived in Puno, and not a moment too soon. Seriously, this particular Cruz del Sur route did not feature wi-fi, and they aired "27 Dresses" and "Tidal Wave" as the enroute entertainment, the latter of which is a Chinese movie which had been dubbed in English with Spanish subtitles!

Anyway, we were met at the bus station by Antonio, the manager of the unfortunately named Kuntur Hotel, who escorted us there in a taxi. This was the first time I had lodged somewhere other than a hostel on the trip, and both James and I were overjoyed to find a bathtub in our room. Alas, it was all a ruse, as the bathtub was, in fact, present, but the drain plug had been purposefully broken so as to prevent guests from using up all the hot water. It was understandable, but disappointing.

We did a quick turn around the Plaza de Armas of Puno and ran into Kaisa and Rachel, our friends from Pariwana in Cusco. We had a desert and coffee with them and made our plans to reconvene for dinner and drinks that evening. Upon returning to the hotel, we made our arrangements for the following day on Lake Titicaca with Antonio, and got ready for the night.

Due to a transit-worker strike, Kaisa and Rachel had been stranded in Puno for 5 days and finally had a ticket out the following day. But their familiarity with the city came quite in handy, as they took us to Amaru, a wonderfully quirky Peruvian Rastafarian bar that James and I would have been unlikely to discover on our own.

There we met the adorable-- and very affectionate Manuel-- a bartender at Amaru, which the girls had been patronizing loyally since their second day in Puno.

Amaru's happy hour, involving some very strong mojitos, led to us forsaking our dinner plans, ordering in pizza, closing down Amaru, and taking the two bartenders with us to the disco down the street.

By the end of the night, I was very, shall we say, happy, and ended up dancing for almost an hour with a group of locals. One girl, Grecia, and I actually got on so well, that she literally gave me her earrings as a sign of friendship. The only disclaimer: by the end of the night I was so very very happy that I got a little over-ambitious with the dance moves and rather hysterically, ended up on my bum. Yup, that was when I knew it was time to go home. Besides, the night was so much fun, it was totally worth a sore behind. ;)