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Published: January 6th 2012
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After a short stay in Lake Titicaca, we boarded our bus to Arequipa. After reading about unsafe roads and sketchy bus rides (due to fluctations in altitude and windy roads), we decided to take a more expensive bus company - Cruz Del Sur. This company did not hold back on security measures. We were lined up, padded down, metal detected, bag searched, and video taped before, during and after boarding the bus. We thought to ourselves: hmm, this has to be the safest bus ride ever or the most dangerous situation we have ever put ourselves through. Although, we felt our personal belongings were safe, we were not sure how all the security measures would make the bumpy roads more safe... but on to more interestings things. We arrived safely in Arequipa. The climate was warmer than any city we had been to yet. We were at a lower elevation and it felt like mid 20s during the day. Arequipa is an awesome city! Yesterday we walked around the centre of the city and sat in the main square. Palm trees in the centre of the sqaure had nice some green colour to contrast with the white walls of the surrounding
buildings. The Spanish heavily influenced the city´s archetitecture but not all the Peruvian touches were eliminated.
We also visited Santa Catalina monastery for nuns. It was really spectacular - a city within a city. We had a guided tour by a really nice Peruvian women, who knew a lot about the history of the monastery. We also quickly visited the Cathedral in the main square- it was a classic main square Cathedral. Its quite impressive both outside and inside. In the main square there is a massive Christmas tree made out of some inorganic material - but they had some very nice lights on it and some pots with flowers on the tree. Last night, we went to the grocery store and bought some sandwich stuff and a bottle of wine and ate at our Hostal. The Peruvian wine we bought was vile (I know I should stop my ¨wine - ing¨¨ but it was really bad) and so we left half a bottle to any hostal goer that felt like they needed the back of their throats thoroughly scorched.
Today, we visited the Colca Canyon via a bus tour. It was kind of
touristy and we would have rather done the overnight hike up there with a group but everything was booked by the time we got into the city. Nonetheless, the tour was worth it just for the scenery. We were brought up to 5000 metres above sea level high up in the mountains and the canyon. One girl in the back of the bus was sick the whole way up – I felt for her as I know how much that sucks. We stopped at a spot where Condors are known to fly and we got the opportunity to see them! It was quite spectacular to see them soar between the mountains (in the canyon).
All that bus riding made us really hungry, so we went out to a restaurant called Zig Zag that overlooked a beautiful courtyard. The meal was really out of this world. We paid a little more for it (40 American for both of us including tip and taxes) but it was well worth it! We shared Quinoa soup and I had beef filets with an amazing mushroom sauce and baked potatoes. I didn´t feel bad getting beef and potatoes as I learned that Potatoes
originated from Peru. Go figure! Devon had
Gnocchi in a pesto sauce (also really good). Like the wine, the Gnocchi lacked some Italian touhes but hey it was still good.
We are meeting a girl we met at a bus station for lunch tomorrow. All of us have the same flight tomorrow so we will be sharing a cab to the Airport. Devon and I are headed to Quito, Ecuador, tomorrow to celebrate Christmas. Stay tuned people – more travel treats to be served soon.
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