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Our last day in Bolivia and our first in Peru, we lie in a little after the exersions of the last couple of days. After breakfast we go to a tour operator and enquire about bus tickets to Cusco in Peru - 65 Bolivianos, done. Sorry, but this haggling lark just doesn't come naturally to me. The bus leaves at 1.30pm so we pass the time, with me in the internet cafe tying up some lose ends and Claire in the plaza getting her journal up to date - this attracts alot of attentoin from the local school population. Our first stop on the bus is Bolivian immigration where we get our exit stamps and then walk a couple of hundred yards to Peru's immigration control to get our entry stamps and tourist cards. Our second stop is in a small town just inside the Peruvian border where I change all our Bolivianos into Peruvian Soles - another currency to get the hang of. The ride to Puno is uneventful the countryside appears to be much the same as in Bolivia as we skirt the shore of the lake.
Leaving our big bags with the tour company we have a few hours to kill in Puno so we head to the main plaza and watch Peruvian life go by, not much to report, except there are more western clothes, less traditional. We're getting cold so go in search of a restaurant for our main meal before catching the bus on to Cusco, and find a lovely little place - all terracota pottery and wooden chairs / tables, where I have the best trout I've had yet from the lake. Whilst at the tour company we make reservations for a hostal in Cusco where they will pick us up from the bus station at 3.30am. The bus ride is fairly uncomfortable with the guy behind giving me a back massage with his knees and the one in front attempting to knee cap me with his reclining seat at around 1am. My overhead light doesn't work so I can't read and have watch the video - a pirated copy of "Wild Wild West", mildly amusing. 2am and we're in Cusco, we telephone the hostel and they send a taxi to pick us up, whilst we wait outside getting hassled by taxi drivers to take their cabs. At the hostal we're told that there are no double rooms available until tomorrow so we'll have to make do with a single for the time being.
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