Home Sweet Home Arequipa

... you imagine being the navigator and putting your faith in the driver´s ability to not slide off a cliff in a tin can? These guys have serious huevos my friend.<br><br>The rest of our time in Arequipa was spent relaxing. This was more difficult for me to do than for Jessy due to the fact that I was continually ravaged by bed bugs. Our first two nights in Arequipa were spent in Hostal Reyna. After the first night I woke up with itchy welts all over. I have been through ...

Arequipa is another beautiful colonial city, complete with impressive central square and cathedral set amongst cobbled streets. There is a monastery which is like a walled city in itself, and a museum containing the Inca child sacrifice, found mummified in ice high up in the mountains.<br><br>From Arequipa we depart for our trek to into the Colca Canyon, the second deepest in the world at 3500m, although our trek takes us into a shallower part ...

... tons of fruit in the house, so I am not experiencing any withdrawal from my addiction &#8211; only new fruits to appease it.<br><br>I also met with the couple who started the volunteer organization here and for whom I will be working while I am here. They have much for me to do, so I do not think I will be bored. They live and work just outside of Arequipa in an area called Alto Cayma. I make my first trip there tomorrow. I hope I can live up to their expectations!

... help to which bus is easy, but once you are on the bus and thinking it is going to go one route and then takes another it is hard not to want to jump off and start again. But even though this particular bus made many turns down one street and then another in the opposite direction of the way we were going and then made some u-turns, we got to where we wanted to go. A while back we decided that another ruins wasn&#8217;t something we actually wanted ...

... to Monasterio de Sta Catalina, which is about 2 blocks away from the Plaza. Time here seems to move at a snail´s pace .. and I love it ! After having done so much and walked a hundred blocks, we would check the time and the clock had barely moved ! Ok, I´m digressing. Monasterio de Sta Catalina used to be a monastery built for rich nuns. This is the convent where the rich families in Spain would send their daughters. Each nun would have up to 5 ...

... which again gave great views and wasn´t too strenuous. <br><br>Then we drove back to Arequipa which was long. About 5 hours, mostly on **** bumpy road which was bad for people´s altitude sickness, which was quickly becoming stomach and poo problems for some.<br><br>The following day we took a flight to Cusco. The first take off was shakey and concerning. It was a 20 minute flight to somewhere, then a stop, then another 45 minutes to Cusco.

Alan's blog: After a very long over night bus ride from Nazca, we arrived in Arequipa at about 9 am.. Not that the bus was uncomfortable, it's just that sleeping was difficult - trying to find a comfortable position long enough to doze for a while. We met Ellen &amp; Leslie at the hotel - hugs all around; the group is now complete! A free day to explore. Everyone went off in different directions. Leslie and I went with Ron &amp; Ellen to tour the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. It's an ...

... as well &#8211; but then again there is a first time for many things. Apart from the popular local music, I had started to notice that when they did play popular &#8220;western&#8221; music, the Peruvians seemed to be stuck in a musical time warp. Eighties and early nineties music such as Milli Vanilli and Vanilla Ice was often playing which brought back some childhood memories. We left early as Daphne and I were to start the Colca Canyon hike the following day.