Horror trip from Arica to Cusco

The day of departure has come. Our bus from Tacna to Cusco leaves at 7:45 p.m. Lissi has tasked Asma and Scholle with taking care of the trip from Arica to Tacna. The plan is to take an Uber directly from the surf camp to Tacna. We chill in the Airbnb all day and do absolutely nothing. Juan points out to us that there is a 2-hour time difference in Peru and that the bus doesn't leave until 9:45 p.m. according to Chilean time. It would have been better if we hadn't known this!!! Asma and Scholle take all the time in the world and look for an Uber at 7:30 only to find that there isn't one 🤫 The plan now is to take an Uber to the bus station in Arica and from there take a collectivo to Tacna . Unfortunately there is no Uber to the bus station because the surf camp is just at the bottom of the world... A friend of Pancho is kind enough to drive us to the bus station. We get into a collectivo and meet Claudio, a miner from Antofagasta. We should send greetings to his work colleagues via video - memes inevitable 🙄. We have to wait in line for quite a while at the Peruvian border until we can finally get back into the taxi. Time is slowly running out...

After another 30 minutes of driving, we are let out at the Terrestral bus terminal in Tacna. We still have 15 minutes until the bus leaves for Cusco and no water or food for an 18 hour journey. At the terminal we desperately look for the Grismann bus company. The counter is closed and locals direct us to the International Bus Terminal, which is just across the street. There we are sent back again... We run back and forth. A woman calls the bus company, but no one answers. We should take a taxi to the Inca bus terminal - we still have 5 minutes until departure. So we run into the next taxi, drive to the Inca bus terminal and find out that our bus company's counter is also closed here and there are no buses. What a joke! Scholle tries to explain our problem to a woman from another bus company. She calls the bus company. Apparently the bus is muerto...whatever that means 😃 In any case, there are no more buses running today. We're supposed to come back to the bus terminal the next morning at 10 a.m. and then we can take the bus without having to buy tickets again... whoever believes it.

We want to buy SIM cards because we don't have internet again in Peru. But this is only possible with cash. We do not have that. There are no ATMs anywhere. So we take a taxi to the nearest ATM and then get driven to a hotel. Screw it, we'll treat ourselves to a 4-bed room in a 2-star hotel and then go grab something quick before everything closes.

The next morning the lady at the bus counter can't help us and tells us to wait for her boss. Oh well...we'll grab some snacks in the meantime. Back at the bus terminal, Caro, a Peruvian woman, who seems super likeable at first glance, but then shows funghi tendencies, chats us up. Caro is pretty drunk and probably on some kind of drugs. She really wants us to sit next to her on the bus. At her suggestion, Lissi buys a bottle of wine for the bus ride.

After several discussions, we each have to pay an additional 10 euros to be able to take the bus. Our bus ticket clearly states that the bus leaves at 7:45pm from the International Bus Terminal and not the Inca Bus Terminal - so this is clearly not our fault. If we don't feel like having further discussions, we'll pay the extra charge.

On the bus, Caro simply puts her legs over Asma and on the seat in front of her. It is unbearably hot and stuffy. At the border to the next federal state? we have to run our luggage through a scanner. Caro forgets her suitcase and Asma has to help her bring her suitcase to the scanner. We take a break somewhere in the Andes. Caro asks Scholle if she can lend her 10 soles for food. She will definitely get them back in Cusco. Back on the bus, it's Scholle's turn to sit next to Caro. She sits down and notices that the whole seat is wet. Caro probably spilled the tea he had just bought on the seat. Caro doesn't say anything about it.

After a really unbearable bus ride (no oxygen, smell of sweat and urine) we finally arrive in Cusco at 6 in the morning. Caro quickly deteriorates - of course without paying off her debts. We are just happy to have finally arrived.