Arequipa - Rest & Relaxation

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Overnight bus trips and early tour starts had taken their toll on both of us so we shouted ourselves a day off. As we had both got to sleep early, we woke fairly early at 0630 and walked the two blocks to Plaza de Armas to take some photos while it was still quiet.

We found a restaurant that had a terrace overlooking the Plaza and it served an English breakfast. I enjoyed bacon, eggs, mushrooms, and baked beans and Jo had a BLT. To top it all off the restaurant is one of the few that has a coffee machine (it is on their sign out the front). Peruvian coffee is excellent but almost all of it is exported overseas so the locals get scarce opportunities to enjoy it.

We walked back up to Hostel Regis where we met an English bloke from Basingstoke - the town we are looking at moving to next year - and we ended up chatting on the rooftop balcony for hours. At 1030 we bought our first beer and 3 beers each later it was well after noon and we were feeling fine (if not a little sunburnt). Jo wanted another nana nap so I headed to an internet cafe for a few hours to catch up on news from home and update my photos and the diary.

At 1630 we went to a cafe for a quick snack of papa rellena, basically a shepard's pie with the meat rolled up in mashed potatoes. It was served with a peppery sauce called Aji and was not too shabby at all. We had 1 1/2 each, with a coke and the bill came to S16.50 (NZD8.25).

We updated the blog and diary (again) and dinner was back at Tacos y Tequila - 3 tacos for S7.50 (NZ$3.75).

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