After getting onto the best bus company in Peru, "Cruz del Sur" we settled into our large comfy seats for the 8 hour journey ahead. Whilst the film choice (What Happens in Vegas...in English!) beat the usual Spanish dubbing, complete with Spanish subtitles! The ticket price, more than double that of other companies, was a bit steep. Although, we did enjoy the mid-trip game of bingo!
We arrived in Arequipa at around 11.30pm, and it was much colder than Nazca! We quickly hopped in a taxi and drove to "Home Sweet Home" a recommended hostel near the Plaza de Armas. Unfortunately, they were completely full! And so against our instincts we followed the cabby’s suggestion and went to "Hostal Piccola Daniella", which has been our comfy Arequipa home for the duration of our time here :) We both very much enjoy the cable TV provided, regularly tuning in for our fill of American sitcoms.
The following morning we decided to take things slow, as Arequipa is at 2500m, not very high altitude, but potentially enough to cause Sophs problems. We went for pancakes on a balcony overlooking the Cathedral and the Plaza de Armas which were nice, however, for some reason didn’t agree with Sophie....which her stomach all too quickly illustrated! We took the rest of the day very slow to make sure Sophie wasn’t suffering from the altitude. The next couple of days were spent making sure Sophie felt a bit better and sorting out my bank. Which, after seeing I took out a small amount of money in Peru, blocked my card. Meaning I had to call up, be put on hold, and finally talk to the identity theft prevention people and get my card reactivated, A tad annoying, after I had checked with my branch and assured this would all be fine. Anyway, with all money matters sorted and Sophie feeling a bit more human we decided to go shopping in the many stores down one of Arequipa´s main streets, "Santa Catalina". Most shops all sold variations of the same things; jumpers woven from alpaca hair, chess boards (Incas against conquistadors) and warm hats. I also found a shop with a good selection of framed Amazonian butterflies (Edward ;)). After some retail therapy, we decided to go back to the balcony restaurant, have a beer and try to teach Sophie chess….which she managed to win. After which we returned for another night of "Friends", "two and a half men" and "Gossip Girl".
Another highlight of our time here has got to be the coffee/cake shop that we found just off the Plaza. Huge magnificent cakes and a reminder of home with Irish Coffees, nice hot chocolate and tea. Needless to say we stayed here for a good couple of hours!
We decided to make an excursion into the famed Colca Canyon (Over twice as deep as the Grand Canyon) after checking local tour guides, we decided it was best to DIY and so with a small day sack each we jumped onto a local bus and headed into the mountains…
