Las Torres de Ugarte Arequipa

... lead to a very secret and protected world.&#8221;<br><br><br>They looked at each other and laughed.<br>I ignored them. <br>The reminiscing had taken me back to that moment. I was a goner.<br><br><br>&#8220;It's the most Spanish influenced city I've been to so far. The churches and the cobbled streets are absolutely amazing. In short, I loved it.&#8221;<br><br><br>They continued to look at me with smirks on their faces. <br>I stood up and walked away.

... I enjoyed the food from my family much more. We headed out in their 1972 VW bug and toured the countryside of Arequipa. It was far more diverse and interesting than I thought and the neighborhoods varied from farms with livestock and traditional indigenous folk, to upscale neighborhoods with shopping malls (sagafelabella) and chic cevicherias. Overall, we spent about 4 hours driving around the city in their cramped old car fitted ...

... the books, to producing these handcrafted masterpieces. One card can take anywhere from 1 to 7 hours to produce. Some are done by folding paper, other by painting or stenciling, and others by stitching. They have certain patterns that they frequently make and others that they design and produce for a specific occasion.<br><br>The cardshop isn&#8217;t just a job though, it is a community. It gives the girls a secure, friendly, welcoming environment ...

... the restaurant looking over the river - so the setting really made it. We also saw one of the star birds of our trip so far - the peruvian sheartail - which is a little hummingbird with one of the really long split tails! We then set off into the town and visited the monastery first which was a fantastic building because of the colours - lots of contrast terracota plazas and bright blue walls ...

... the canyon by riding the thermals rising up due to the intense morning sun. For the first half hour we spot nothing more than a small one, but then one-by-one fully-grown adults start appearing until there are about 15 floating both above and below us. After day after day of seeing humans they obviously are no longer concerned we pose a threat and perhaps are just being hopeful that ...

... itself was amazingly beautiful, arriving when we did we were able to see some parts in the natural light, some with sunsets overhead, and others in the darkness, lit by candle light. The walls in the streets and squares had been restored to its original colours of deep reds and bright blues, with amazing murals painted in archways. Simply stunning. And with its maze-like qualities you could easily spend a few hours sitting in the quiet (for most parts you were unable to hear ...

Arequipa is an amazing city, I think. Even though I've heard different critics of it. It's clean-ish, tourist-friendly and very pretty. Everything evolves around the main square, Plaza de Armas - the hotels, tour agencies and the restaurants are north of the plaza and the market south of it. Here I've had some good times, got to know some great people - a woman from Switzerland, a couple from England, a girl from France, girls from Ireland and a guy from Peru ...