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  Arequipa, Peru
Thursday, April 12, 2007

It's hard to believe it, but April 9th was the one-year anniversary from the night Cynda drove me to the bus station and I officially hit the road.  One year is 365 days!  As I sit here thinking about what that means I quickly tell myself to stop thinking about it...I can get all philosophical and poetic after arriving home when it's all over, right? 

Why waste time with crap like that now?

I couldn't 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 when walking around town.  The city isn't huge on the backpacker trail, which I'm diggin' at the moment.  Most make a B-line for Cuzco and Machu Picchu and move on.  Thankfully, I didn't.

I spent this morning at el Monasterio de Santa Catalina, a huge convent that takes up an entire city block.  A wealthy widow that chose her nuns from only the richest Spanish families founded the convent in 1580, but her new nuns were generally known to live it up in the style they had been accustomed to.  After three centuries of hedonism, a strict Dominican nun arrived to set things straight.  From this point, the vast majority of the 450 residents never left the confines of the convent walls upon entering...casting the convent under a shroud of mystery until it finally opened to the public in 1970.  There are still a few resident nuns hidden away in there somewhere.

The other huge attraction is nearby Cańón del Colca, which is nearly the world's deepest canyon at 3191m in depth.  People have been returning from a 2-4 day hike of the canyon each day and everyone has had the same experience....the canyon is full of clouds and ya can't see a damn thang.  SOoo, I may skip it all together too and just move on to Cuzco.  I'm kinda hiked out after Argentina anyway...and Machu Pichu will be more of the same.

I had originally thought of staying here to study Spanish for at least a few weeks to improve my conversational skills.  I went so far as meeting with a go-between travel agent that was recommended by another traveler.  It's suuuper cheap at only S/10 per hour (roughly $3USD).  Unfortunately, the instructor was out of town for a few days and I couldn't meet with him immediately.  The delay of only a few days has me itching for the road again, so I think I'll skip it.  Mi espańol es muy malo...and will stay that way!

A few more days here because it's a good, chilled place.  I may even stay through the weekend and get my drink on.

Adios!

OH - received my package from the US a day late & now have full access to $$ again.  All is good.

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