Waking up at 2am on the bus is becoming a bit of a regular occurrence in the last week. Most people were sleeping but I was too cold to sleep the cold had got through to my bones and I was to uncomfortable to sleep. At about 6am we arrived into Arequipa and wow what a beautiful landscape - a large town situated within a valley and 4 Volcanos. We found a bus heading to Colca Canyon but it wasn't until 8:30am so we decided to head into the city and have a look around. Unfortunately everything was closed but we got to see the main square and a few other bits and pieces. We rushed back to the bus station only to find all the tickets for the bus had unfortunately been sold, we couldn't believe it- luckily we found another company with a bus leaving at 2pm so we brought the tickets. It actually worked out well as we both wanted to see more of Arequipa - we caught a bus back into the city - checked out the local markets, sat in the plaza, people watched, went to the tourism office, used the Internet to book our hostel in Cabanaconde and then made our way to the supermarket and viewing area (of the 4 Volcanos). We spent the afternoon relaxing, looking at the beautifully snow capped mountains and enjoying the sun. The time came to head back to the station and board our bus - we only just made it with 10 minutes to spare. The bus was rough and they once again crammed it full of people. Unfortunately I couldn't sit without my knees smashing into the seat infront of me - there was absolutely no leg room so I had to sit across and steal a little of Chris's leg room. We stopped at about quarter of the way where a number of people got off only to be exchanged for a huge amount of people - so much so that there was twenty or do people standing in the aisle. This park ranger lady got onboard and made us buy these tourist tickets for the canyon which unbelievable cost us $30 - an absolute corrupt money pulling scheme from tourists. I was really annoyed with this fee as it was double the price from last year and the money was obviously not used or given to tourist infrastructure or rehabilitation/preservation of the area. These 4 Peruvian guys got on the bus and hovered around us trying to talk to the foreign girls infront of us, what happened next was quiet unbelievable - two of the guys distracted us and the others whilst one gave symbols to the young kid of the group who was reaching up and into our bags on the top shelf. I stood up and yelled and did the two finger to eyes symbol - that means: "I see you trying to steal my s***" amazingly this didn't deter there scheme and repeatedly I had to get up and get this kids hands off my bag - this went on for the next 3 hours of our night bus ride making it very stressful and unpleasant.we arrived to Cabanaconde and amazingly the owner of the hostel pachamama who I had sent an email to was standing there waiting for us. We had met a French and American guy on the bus and they joined us to the hostel. Unbelievably the young kid who had his hands in my bag during the journey actually worked for the hostel and showed us to our rooms - a very uneasy feeling. The hostel wasn't much but the beds were ok, the Resteraunt and bar were nice (separate building) but unfortunately I got a freezing cold shower that I wasn't happy about. I went down and brought some tuna and veg for dinner as the Resteraunt prices were very high. We met a girl from Australia and a young Welsh girl who both incidentally ended up sharing our room. We chatted about our travels and decided as we were all walking in the same direction tomorrow then we would all walk together. By 9:30pm we all called it a night and did our best to get warm and get some sleep.