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Published: August 5th 2007
Our time in Arequipa, Peru´s Second City, has come and gone; we haven´t left the city without rewards though.
The city in the Southern Highlands of Peru. There is no real mountain chain to speak of in the area except for three volcanos which line the north end of the city (chachani, misti, and Pichu Pichu). Most people come to Arequipa to either climb one of the mountains (which range from 4800-5900 or something like that), or visit the nearby Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world. Coincidentally the deepest canyon is only an hour or two further north from the Colca Canyon, yet tourists continue to strive for the second best - kind of odd if you ask me. We decided that neither of these things were on our agenda - mostly due to laziness (they all involve a lot of hiking).
So when people in Arequipa asked us, "what are you going to do here for 5 days if your not doing those things?" We never really came up with a solid answer. Somehow we thought that the response "eating food and walking around" might cheapen our cultural experience in the city.
But, basically,
that´s all we did. For the most part (with two exceptions) here is how our days passed. Wake up in the late morning just in time to catch The Gilmore Girls in english (The Wrner Bros. Channel was very kind to Adina) then Adina would accompany me to my favorite Kebab place about three blocks from our hostal. I´d eat one, maybe two kebabs, then I´d accompany Adina to a restaurant of her choice (sometimes a crepe, maybe a fallafel, but generally it was an avacado sandwich). Then we´d stroll through the Plaza d´Armas for some ice cream. As a side note, the plaza was absolutely amazing. Beautiful white sillar buildings with the snow covered volcanoes rising behind them. From there we found some sort of activity to occupy a couple more hours, then back to the hostal for an afternoon movie (cable in the room was pretty sweet). We´d go out for a nice meal (all the restaurants were very tasty) and then back once more for a nightly movie. Pretty exciting, eh?
Just wait! We managed to squeeze two rather upbeat activities into our packed schedule. The first was a downhill mountain bike trip. The way it
worked was that they drove us in a 4x4 to the base of one of the Volcanos. The city sits at 2400 meters above sea, and the base of the mountain was at 3500. They dropped us off there and with a guide we pretty much sped offroad downhill the whole way. It was a lot of fun. Adina has the bruises to prove it. And my what bruises. She´s okay (she had a little trouble at the very start). She´s just worried how her legs are going to look in a bathing suit in a couple of weeks (when we´re at the beach).
The second heart pounding thrill came when we went White Water Rafting on a river just 15 minutes outside of the city. For those that know, we rode class 2,3 and 4 rapids. Adina had never been rafting before and I had only been once. We had a great time. The river wasn´t wild or anything dangerous like that but it was still enough of a thrill to leave us both smiling at the end. A direct quote from Adina: "I think this is the most fun I´ve ever had."
The city was pretty
relaxed the whole time. Even the activites were nicely paced. We had a great little hostal right in the middle of the busy part of the city. Oh and I forgot to mention, THE SUN. flip flops, t-shirts, sun glasses, not once did we have to wear those silly hats.
Now we´re in a small little Oasis called Huacachina in the middle of the Peruvian desert. Hope everyone is well and we´ll write in a couple days.
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lauren
non-member comment
wow!
jonathan, i am VERY impressed that you've been getting adina to love the great outdoors. my father would be proud. it sounds like you guys are having a blast! keep up the good plogging!!