I was in time for a 2pm bus back to Arequipa but I have booked a night in Cabanaconde so the balance of the day was rest and relax. I must've hiked downhill the day before in snail pace as there were no sore muscles, no sore knees.

There isn't a lot in Cabanaconde. Aside from the Parroquia San Pedro de Alcántara church next to the Plaza de Armas, there are some shops around the plaza.


The buses also depart from here. Bus tickets are sold at the shops around the plaza, you won't miss them as there are many signs indicating which shops sell bus tickets. I bought a ticket from Andalucia for bus departing at 9:00-9:15am. I got the tickets the day before at about 3ish, the shop is usually closed but will open when there is a bus arriving. The Andalucia bus from Arequipa is scheduled to arrive at Cabanaconde at 3:15pm. There were also people who bought tickets on departure day. You can pick the seat that you want. I paid S/20 (~USD 6 / ~AUD 9/ ~RM 25) for the bus fare.


I had lunch at a nearby shop, Sol y sombra. The lunch set menu is the cheapest I had in Peru at S/8 (~USD 2.50 / ~AUD 4 / ~RM 10) consisting of soup, main meal and a drink. Dinner was at Hostel Pachamama itself. I ordered a la huancaína con pollo (chicken breast and yellow pepper with huancaina sauce) served on pasta, S/19 (~USD 6 / ~AUD 8/ ~RM 24). I asked for a smaller portion so it looked little. Huancaína sauce is made of cheese, yellow Peruvian pepper and milk.


After breakfast the next day and checked out, I walked to Plaza de Armas to take the bus back to Arequipa.


The bus finally departed at 9:22 am. From Cabanaconde, the bus passed through other little towns - Pinchollo, Maca, Achoma, Yanque before arriving at Chivay. The bus only stopped to drop and pick up, not any longer.


The kind gentleman next to me in the bus would tell me the name of each of the town when the bus passed through. I showed him where Malaysia is, he pointed out the corn fields and asked me what was the produce in Malaysia. Anyway, here are some photos taken from the bus.








With view like this, no one is falling asleep. I was on the left hand side of the bus. The bus arrived in Chivay at about 11ish. I don't remember exactly when we arrived but we were there for at least 30 minutes before departing. At Chivay, we were told to get off the big bus and were re-distributed to colectivos to get to Arequipa. The bus left Chivay at 12:06pm and arrived in Arequipa passed 3:00pm.

There are at least 2 bigger scale bus stations in Arequipa but they are near each other so it isn't too bad if ended up to going to a wrong one. After arriving in Arequipa, I walked to Terrapuerto where my bus to Ica will be departing. I checked in my backpack, then took a taxi to the historic centre. After a couple of hours, I took a cab back to Terrapuerto to catch my bus to Ica.


Side note: There needs to be cheaper Peruvian food in Melbourne!