El Corregidor Arequipa

... hung out a couple of times with the Davidson group that is here. They are all 19-22 years old – man do a feel old – but they are all very nice. We went to lunch on Wednesday at a new restaurant in Arequipa opened by a world renowned chef, Gaston Acurio. He has restaurants in Lima, the US, and in Spain (and maybe other places as well). The food was amazing and actually pretty big portions – and my bill was only like $11! That was a fun, but tame ...

... opened its doors the area became quiet and we enjoyed and took many-a photo of the amazing views over the city and to the mountains in the distance, particularly El Misti. There was an old bloke sat on the steps nearby sporting a crumpled navy suit and a little hat, playing the violin with a combination of such dignity and merry ineptitude that you couldn´t help but laugh. I managed to get a sneaky photo, masquerading as a shot of the mountains behind, then ...

... and the surrounding is stunning.<br><br>Annemieke has some stomach problems (again..), so the bus ride to Lima and the flight to Santiago weren't great, but we now have a nice apartment in Santiago and are going to eat healthy this week, so lots of fruit and vegs!<br><br>One week to go before we close our South America part of the trip, but before we do so, we will go skiing and wine tasting!<br><br>Ivo &amp; Annemieke<br><br><br><br>

... names - I thought it was a play on the word hoochi-mama) for some ceviche (another Peruvian delight we haven't tried yet). Ceviche was okay but the beer was good. After leaving a very hefty tip of 8 soles (that's less than $US3) the owner catches us before we leave and thanks us for our generosity. That was cool of Rowena to do that. Thinking I'm part Peruvian by now, I probably wouldn't have done it. :) We were done for the night and hit the sack.<br>

... set over the dunes. Ahh...this is the life!<br><br>The next day we had a pretty lazy day exploring the little town, and we even found (deep within ourselves somewhere) the energy and motivation to climb the massive sand dune right behind our hostel...and were rewarded with excellent birds eye views of Huacachina (if I ever get the chance to upload photos, you´ll see how cool the town really is). <br><br>We had ended up staying on a bit in ...

... have chosen a better place to spend my anniversary. A long day of buses and transfers brought me to one of Peru's stars - Arequipa. The colonial city was founded in 1540 in a fertile valley surrounded by the perfect cone-shaped volcano of El Misti (5822m) and is flanked by Chanchani (6075m) and Pichu Pichu (5571m). The haze makes it difficult to catch these monsters in a photo, but you can always make them out ...