Sunday 20 May, 2018, Puno to Cusco.

It’s 7am and I’m already at the coach terminal as I woke early, showered and made (for the first time) quick cooking oats for breakfast (with banana as a sweetener). The Airbnb here in Puno wasn’t the best – some Peruvian hosts probably need some coaching on what Western world visitors expect as a bare minimum. Having said that, the shower was good here (once you managed to get it adjusted to the desired temperature). I hope my next accommodation in Cusco at a hostel is better. I should get there around 4pm. As I sit here the calls for business ring out around the terminal building from the various coach companies like the Muslim calls to prayer – chants I can’t understand but that sound imploring.

It's 6pm and I’m in Cusco and after half an hour on the coach was beginning to think the NZD$345 train fare maybe wasn’t such a bad idea after all – the road was so bumpy I thought my fillings would fall out – corrugated for about 4 or 5 hours of the trip. Not just intermittent, continuous. I was seriously worried that the vibration would damage my laptop. Thankfully I’d carried my headphones in my carry bag with me and so was able to use them all the way to listen to the music I enjoy – so nice to enjoy the luxury of VIP class on the coach, which is very similar to business class on a long-haul flight. Big, wide, comfortable seats that recline back as far as 160 degrees, seat back TV screens, pillows, rugs, meal and drinks service – really luxurious. I may be spoilt for any future coach trips in Peru after that. The scenery on the trip was spectacular – the Andes are a spectacle. I only took a couple of photos because in the end it was all so beautiful that there wouldn’t be any point in taking more. After arriving in Cusco the usual swarm of taxi drivers approached looking for business but of course I had no address to go to. I just walked across the road from the coach terminal and checked into the first Hostel I saw – 30 soles per night for a small single room on the 3^rd floor and bathroom and toilet only a few steps away. It looks clean and the shower looks to have hot and cold water (it has two taps, at least). I think I’m the only person staying here. I’ll look at a few others tomorrow and decide if I can do better for the same price or slightly more (a bigger room with a double bed and en suite, perhaps, or with breakfast included). I had a quick walk around the adjacent streets after dropping off my bags and found I am only 100 metres from the main road which has lots of (expensive) restaurants on it and plenty of hotels and hostels. I walked a little further and found a nice clean restaurant full of local diners enjoying a late lunch (or early tea) and ordered the 1/8^th chicken with (of course) fries as I could see that it had a salad bar as well. I also got a bowl of chicken and rice soup, so it was very good value for 8 soles, and all I could eat. The chicken was a generous portion of nice moist breast. Nothing else to report today so a shorter post than usual. Ciao. 

First class service in VIP class on Cruz del Sur coachlines, Puno to Cusco.