Libertador Arequipa - A Summit Hotel

... Got talking to a Peruvian with v. good english on the seat next to me. Always interesting to get the lie of the land from a local rather than a guidebook. Arrived in Arequippa just after midnight, and checked into Home Sweet Home, I kid you not, that´s the name of the hostal.
I´m nearly done, but I´ve got to tell you about 2 places i visited on Mon, one was the Monsaterio Recolatta, which has 4 wonderfully serene cloisters and a gem of an old library ...

We made our way back to Arequipa for the sole intention of climbing Nevado Chachani which is the highest of the volcanoes in that region at 6,075m. In the local Quechua language, it literally means “skirt”; and a female character is normally attributed to the mountain in local legends.

Chachani has extremely low levels of precipitation and is therefore unusual as it does not have a permanent ice cap or glaciers. This means apart from the obvious problems with altitude ...

... nos chamou mais atenção, foi a meticulosidade e organização desta família. Tudo em seu devido lugar, todas as informações impressas em papel ofício, inclusive como soletrar corretamente o espanhol.!! Se eles tivessem pelo menos mais um quarto na casa, daríamos a eles o título de “Melhor Hostal já visitados por nós”!! Bem, segundo Edgar os suíços são famosos pela meticulosidade, mas este senhor realmente surpreendeu-nos de todas as formas. Primeiro, depois de ...

... Visitamos la bellìsima capilla de San Ignacio, con pintura mural de aves y plantas de la selva.

En los claustros de La Compañia hay ahora tiendas finas. Aprovechamos unas super ofertas en Alpaca 111.

Las chicas se probaron todos los chullos que encontraron.

Almorzamos en ...

... blive ramt i nakken af en spytklat fra sidste hotels kaele-alpaca), saa vi satte os godt til rette og noed larmen og osen.

Hele scenariet blev dog en smule uklart, da vi uden varsel - og som de eneste - saettes af midt i ingenmandsland, fordi alle andre havde koebt en 4-timers tur frem for vores 2-timers. Let gryntende steg vi af, men heldigvis gav "guiden" en taxa, da vi stod der og saa allermeste ulykkelige ud.

So from Chile I took a train across the border from Arica to Tacna in Peru. Not just any old train mind, a single carriage relic that was probably 100 years old. It took 2 hours to do the 50km ride chugging along slow as anything with the diesel fumes pouring in through the open window. Superb way to arrive in Peru!

From Tacna I hopped straight onto a bus to Arequipa, Peru´s second city nestled in between 4 volcanoes, the closest of which Misti, sits right on the ...

... same bus as us. We arranged to go to the Colca Canyon with them, we would all go to Chivay the next day and meet up there. I wasn't sure about the Colca Canyon hike as I knew that it was a tough hike and I was far from 100%, not that I'm up to much when I am. Nevertheless, I decided that I would go to Chivay at least and see how things went.

(see Chivay entry for Colca Canyon)

So we ended up in Arequipa for another night as when we finally ...

... durch das Abschmelzen der Gletscher vor ca. 15 Jahren am Gipfel eines ueber 6000 meter hohen Berges freigelegt. Die Inkas haben solche Opfer anscheinend regelmaessig gemacht...um Vulkane zu besaempftigen, Duerreperioden zu beenden, Flutkatastrophen auszutrocknen usw. usw... 18 geopferte Inkakinder hat man bislang auf den Bergen rund um Arequipa gefunden!

... say I'd never heard of it, but I settled down and prepared to be ´entertained´. Ahem.

The next 120 minutes were excrutiatingly painful viewing, it was extraordinarily and quite brilliantly appalling. I've never seen a worse film in my life. Honestly.

This was the plot:

JCVD's bike runs out of gas in the middle of a nameless US desert. He decides to drink a bottle of tequila ...

... delicacy. However, in Yanahuara we only managed to find cuy included in menus belonging to touristic restaurant and the prices fell out of his budget range.
After walking back to the central part of town, Eduardo walked back to the hostel while as break from the local food, I decided to treat myself to an American-style fast food lunch. Thereafter, I went looking for the Franciscan monastery of La Recoleta. I wasn’t sure if I was going in the ...