April Fool's Day, leaving Arequipa

Although this town is probably pretty cool, the vibes so far lead us to believe we don't belong here. Andy's bad luck, the lack of bars and the inability to camp for free are enough to scare us off. The plaza here and the people we've met in the hostal are EXCELLENT, but we're off on a bus to Cuzco or somewhere nearby today. We haven't yet walked to the bus station to buy tickets, but that's the plan.
Last night was a GREAT night. After tooling around all day searching for cold beer and helping Andy to perk up from losing his money and his ATM card, we made it back to the hostal with 3 liters of beer each and started drinking. We played a myriad of classical and chamber music while carrying on, which attracted one hostal guest after another. Another beer run later, we had a group of probably 15 others hanging out with us. There was a great couple from Greece named Antones and Evita, two great peeps from Holland named Diane and Tim, two 20 year old German girls named Charlotte and Lara, a guy named Ben, another guy, Mike, a third guy, Greg, the only other American there, a delightfully pretty girl named Candle, and other wanderers in and out of our circle. They all followed suit and bought beers to return to the hostal, so we all got saucy and loud together LATE into the night. At one point, Pat grabbed his bottle of whole jabañero peppers, the hottest on earth, and Greg, Ben, Pat and I all ate one whole. It's not exactly a pleasurable experience, more like getting slapped on a fresh sunburn in your mouth, but it sure livened up the party! Then, three of us figured, well we already ate one, let's do it again. And then eventually we ate a third! So, 10 jabañeros later, we were all spiced up and feeling brave. THEN, an earthquake hit and we all felt it simultaneously! Amazing, simply a charmed night. Great bonding experience with people all over the world. Makes me thrilled to be alive.
The guys all went off to bed and Candle and I talked for a few hours. She had a bus to catch today very early and wanted to make it an all-nighter, so I kept her company until the ol' eyelids began to droop. Then bedtime.
Now I'm off, time to end the transmission. We're all fired up to get back on the road, even if the bus ride is loud and hot. With any luck, we'll be in Cuzco within the day.

Thanks for reading, y'all come back now, hear?

Brad to the BONE