Bothy Hostel Arequipa

We got up hideously early at 5am, had breakfast and checked out of the hostel, ready to meet the bus at 6am to go to Colca Canyon. Apparently the best time to go is between 7-9am where there are likely to be more condors and less people in the way. This fact seemed not to have registered with the tour company, who not only picked us up 20 minutes late but insisted on stopping off several times along the way, first at a rather uninspiring little town where the residents were awake far too earl...

After the adrenaline rush of the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu, my body needed a rest. We took a 13 hour busride, not knowing so, to Arequipa, Peru. Turns out you should take a direct bus to Arequipa from Cuzco, without a stop in Puno. That stopoff took added about 4 hours. Not a good choice. We arrived in Arequipa at about 10 pm and headed to Bothy Hostel, a place my friend eric recommended. This place was pretty cool and looks like it has a great social scene. I met up with Raul, a friend of ...

My bus arrives actually on-time from Nazca and I easily get a cheap taxi to the hostel I was recommended and had reserved. The next day I get an overview of Peru's 2nd biggest city -- at least the center where I can walk to. I visit the massive and historical Santa Catalina monastery.

Enclosed and separated by high walls from the rest of downtown it is a city within a city -- analogous to the Vatican on a smaller scale. Inner walls are stained bright burnt orange or sky blue by organi...

Any of you who have followed my blog over the last six weeks or so will recognise a recurring theme - my bemoaning the state of my Spanish. After Huacachina, all swimming pool and gringoes, I decided it was time to address this particular deficiency in a meaningful way. Arequipa was to be ground zero for my first concerted effort to come to grips with the language. I signed up for classes starting Monday 11th. That left me two days to explore and party before school. Arequipa is an attractive...

Hey!

So after we left our little sand dune haven, we took an overnight bus to Arequipa, about 11 Hours. All started well... after a 2 hour delay, we got on, had some nice seats. Bus started going, we settled in and prepeared for some sleep. Now, Iīm sure you have all had a whiff of someones feet over the years, a sweaty wet sock in a synthetic shoe after a hot day... you know the one. I recall my worst incident in about 1994 with some socks near a fire place (which werenīt mine). The h...

We took another night bus from Huacachina to Arequipa. Although this was our longer bus ride to date (12 hours), the bus was comfortable and the time went by rather quickly. We arrived in Arequipa around 8am and checked into our hostel, called Bothy hostel. We relaxed at the hostel for a bit, and then began exploring the city. Arequipa is a beautiful city, the second biggest one in Peru. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides and it has real character to it. That evening we had a bbq at t...

Arequipa also known as the white city for itīs abundance of white sandstone is a completely different experience to the colonial Cusco and mad metropolis of Lima. The architecture is stunning, the feel is almost European and the sunshine makes you feel like you should sit around all day and simply soak it u after the rain of Cusco and itīs counterparts. However there were plans to make and a city to discover so Sunday was not a day to sit around and do nothing! Both Nikki and Frenchie were bo...

Arrived in Arequipa airport. The three of us jumped in taxi "Bothy Hostel, por favor". The taxi driver had other ideas. They get paid by certain hostel owners to bring you to their hostels. So he was telling us about a good hostel he knows that's economical. We got him to pull up outside the hostel we wanted anyway telling him we weren't staying anywhere else that we'd a reservation there (which was a lie). They'd tell you your bags will get robbed in that hostel etc. to get you to change you...

Back on the buses again we took a 9hour bus to Lima which passed through some amazing scenery down through the mountains and back to the coast with sheer drop-offs into the Pacific and a wee winding road high amongst the sand dunes! We arrived in sprawling dirty Lima and with in 90 mins we were on a bus to Arequipa. Cromotex buses took us on the 12 hour journey inland back to the comfortable elevation of 2380m. It was a bit of a funky bus with some Saturday Night Fever music - Pete was tempte...