Arequipa-Cusco

2029 Will note FWLIW that I am leaving from Terminal Terrapuerto (not Terminal Terrestre). Was hoping seat next to me hadn't been sold but a young woman (with a megaphone) has just got on. Not a massive deal. Staff chap just came round videoing all the passengers and reading off the seat numbers as he did so. I guess if security has been a problem on buses in the past it's perhaps understandable and I feel less narked about this than airline security but still, not 100% happy about it.

0120 GPS says we are in Juliaca. Can't sleep. Pissed off. Hate overnight buses. Triple whammy: a) arriving arse o'clock in morning b) have to sleep on back c) can't just read until I drop off c1) because the Scribd app appears to override the auto screen timeout and it would drain battery c2) because the phone would then drop into my lap and potentially end up on the floor and be stolen or accidentally trodden on.

I assume it's geography but I get the impression there are no direct roads between most major Peruvian cities. Juliaca is nowhere near on a straight line between Arequipa and Cusco. And I have a horrible feeling going from Cusco to Lima involves travelling via Nazca. Meh. Sufficient unto the evening... I'm not making any big plans for today, I want to get checked in and I'm kind of looking forward to lunch and I might have an early night.

0802 Woo. Gmail app has lost chunks of this as written during night. I love solid, reliable software. Maybe I just deleted them in my sleep, that must be it.

Anyway, I'm at Cafe Balcon del Sol near hostel. Couldn't check in but left bag there. Walked from bus terminal as initially a big horde (well, 5 or 10, terminal not v busy, terminal Santiago I think) of doddering fuckwits stood around in the entrance and I wondered why they weren't taking taxis. Then they all disappeared. Then taxi drivers kept offering me their services but I didn't trust any of them after the actually more damaging than helpful advice about taxi robberies in Arequipa. Naturally the streets near terminal are designed to isolate and kill pedestrians, either by impact or by starvation while stranded on a traffic island. Also the street dogs here seem to like to have fights with each other, which adds an extra little dimension of terror.

Reverting back to what got lost from writing on bus, I was definitely awake til gone 3, probably til gone 4, maybe even 5. Was tired but couldn't sleep, I hate sleeping on my back and main problem with buses is I can't read til I fall asleep as a) scribd app would then drain battery, since it arrogantly overrides the auto screen off you configure b) it would drop into my lap and possibly from there to floor and hence be stolen or trodden on once I fell asleep.

Alternately stifled and frozen by the air conditioning. I spent most of the night talking myself out of panicking that I couldn't breathe properly due to altitude. (In a sense it is reassuring I was able to lug my bag over from the terminal with no problems.)

Urgh, papaya juice with breakfast (no simple choice like orange, was this or pineapple or something else) and I forgot it has an aftertaste that doesn't agree with me. Mind you, right now very little agrees with me.

Totally irrational but right now I fucking hate Cusco. It seems a bit of a tourist trap round hotel and the rest of it seems a bit run down and pedestrian unfriendly and the street dogs bother me in a way they don't normally in a city during daylight.

Oh, and for whatever reason I am near continually ejecting gas from my anus. I only don't call it farting because fortunately it doesn't seem to smell. Probably due to diet switching between fruit heavy and not. Fucking annoying though. Been going on all night (good job it doesn't smell). I don't need a shit, went to bog at terminal and confirmed it.

Did eventually get to sleep as woke up something like 530 or 6 feeling a bit better. We got in maybe something like 645 or 7.

It seems quieter that I would have expected near hotel, maybe it's not peak tourist season or they're all in bed. In really foul irrational mood so don't trust anything I say. Feeling bit better than I did on walk over but still not great.

Oh, and the phone GPS decided to crap out overnight so GPS track has gaps. I had to toggle airplane mode on and off to get it to lock when I wanted to confirm we were in Cusco not somewhere else when everyone entered 'about to get off the bus' mode half an hour before we actually got to the terminal. Crock of shit.

0839 Bill 8, made it 10. They couldn't change a 20 and I think the woman ran off to find change for a 10, but not clear, I just left (incidentally falling over on wet tiles at bottom of stairs, fortunately not too heavily - and fwiw I haven't had a drink since Sunday night). Wandering aimlessly now.