Lima to Mancora

in

Company: Cruz del Sur
Type: Cama
Price: 180 Soles each
Duration: 21 hours

Details: We boarded at mid day from the Cruz del Sur terminal after 2 full days in Lima that had been crammed with a lot of amazing food. The downstairs cama floor was really nice, decent seats and our own personal TV screens. We watched back to back films (many were in English) throughout the afternoon and got given dinner (chicken, rice and salad) at 8pm. We thought we were going to be given lunch, so by the time dinner was served we were pretty hungry. Unfortunately on this particular journey we had forgotten to bring emergency rations! We managed to get a bit of sleep overnight and when we woke, the foggy weather of Lima was fully left behind, and we were greeted with blue skies, beaches and sunny weather. We were give breakfast at 8am, and after arriving at the final stop in town we headed to our hostel, looking forward to the surfing lifestyle of Mancora for the next 4 days.

Ica to Lima

in

Company: Cruz del Sur
Type: Semicama
Price: 40 Soles Each
Duration: 5 hours

Details: After a fun three days sand boarding and chilling by the pool we left Huacachina in the cold early morning mist. The taxi driver dropped us off at the terminal in Ica (we thought he'd ran off with our change, but eventually came back to our relief!) and we waited for half an hour in the terminal before checking in our bags and boarding. We left promptly at 7.30am and settled into comfy, reclining seats. It was only a single decker bus, clearly not meant for long distances but with free wifi on board as well as breakfast, personal TV screens and USB ports, Cruz del Sur continued to make life on the road a little bit more comfortable. It was a short ride (just over 4 hours) which made for a lovely change as we'd had a lot of long bus journeys recently. The buildings and traffic started to get more dense around us, signalling we had arrived in the Peruvian capital of Lima.

 

Arequipa to Ica (Huacachina)

in

Company: Cruz del Sur
Type: Cama
Price: 120 Soles each
Duration: 11 hours

Details: Following 3 great days of exploring the Colca Canyon from Arequipa, it was time for another night bus to Ica, home to the desert oasis of Huacachina. Unfortunately there had been a communication error with our hostel host and our tickets hadn't been booked before we left on our three day trek, meaning the full cama seats with Cruz del Sur had sold out. We'd been so impressed with Cruz del Sur that we decided that their semi cama option was most likely still better then other companies, and so booked up seats with a local tour agency. We waited in the Cruz deal Sur lounge after checking in our bags at the desk, and boarded 10 minutes before departure on a pretty much empty top deck. As expected, the seats were great and we still received a hot chicken meal at 10pm and a blanket. After our usual routine of trying to sleep for 6 hours we stopped in Nazca at 7am, and were given a cookie and sandwich for breakfast. The landscape had become really arid and mountainous and as we watched the little towns pass us by we could tell we were headed the right direction for the desert. We arrived in Ica around 9am and jumped in a cab to our final destination. After around 10 minutes the incredible sand dunes came into view, and we looked forward to a few days of sand boarding in Huacachina.

Cusco to Arequipa

in

Company: Cruz del Sur
Type: Cama
Price: 120 Soles each
Duration: 10 hours

Details: Being one of our favourite cities of the trip, we were sad to leave Cusco behind. It had been a great launchpad for Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley and a Jungle trip to Puerto Maldonado. We were impressed to find that Cruz del Sur had its own the private terminal which was very clean and well organised. We had the back 2 fully-reclining seats, massive amounts of leg room, blankets and pillows, and our own touch screen TV. We left Cusco at 8pm and checked the films on offer, some of which luckily had English subtitles. We were also impressed that we had the option of a chicken, beef or veggie meal, which turned out to be surprisingly good. Despite the very comfortable set up we still only managed to get a few hours of disjointed 'sleep'. We arrived around 6am in Arequipa and after checking in to our hostel,  were able to head straight to our private room so gave ourselves a few hours proper sleep.

Cusco to Puerto Maldonado (Return)

in

Company: Movil Tours
Type: Cama
Price: 70 Soles each
Duration: 10 hours

Details: After a fantastic time exploring the sacred valley and Machu Picchi we decided to head into the jungle in hope of catching a glimpse of some of the interesting wildlife in the Amazon basin. After a quick cab ride from our central hostel, we paid the bus station tax and starting boarding the bus. We had beers for the road which the security guard unfortunately confiscated, and proceeded to drink minutes later! We had good seats downstairs at the front giving us a bit more space, and after being given blankets we settled in for the night trying to find that 'comfortable' position to sleep. 9 hours and not much sleep later, we were awoken by a passport officer with a huge machine gun. A slightly unsettling way to be woken up! With the doors open we could feel the humidity outside: we had reached the jungle! We arrived at 7am, and made our way to the town centre to be picked up and driven to our jungle lodge.

Puno to Cusco

in

Company: Transzela
Type: Cama
Price: 55 Soles each
Duration: 8 hours

Details: Following our adventures exploring the islands of Amantani, Taquille and Uros, and seeing as there's little to do in Puno itself we took a night bus from the terminal in town. Luckily for us we found the bus had amazing 160 degree reclining seats, which we found to be rare for Bolivia! We were given blankets before we set off, and even had a hot dinner brought to us after about an hour into the journey. We were very relieved to have such a comfortable journey after a week or so of feeling altitude sickness.

Copacabana to Puno

in ,

Company: Dorado
Type: Economy
Price: 25BOB each
Duration: 3 hours

Details: After exploring the city centre and Isla del Sol from Copacabana we took the 1.30pm bus from the town centre towards Puno. By this point the altitude had hit us pretty hard so weren't feeling the best during the journey, but took the time to try and rest up while we could. Once we got to the bus we were greeted by a friendly bus driver called Oscar who helped us sort our seats and bags before setting off. Half an hour later? we crossed the border into Peru, The driver Oscar was very helpful again, giving us good tips to change our Bolivianos at the border with a great rate, and invaluable information on getting a bus from Puno to Cusco after our floating islands tour. As we made our way we had great views of Lake Titicaca on our right, and saw flamingos and Cholitas working and harvesting quinoa on the farmland.