After a few days in the desert near Ica we headed east to Arequipa (alt. approx 2500m), the 2nd city in Peru. The city sits in the shadow of three volcanoes, the most prominent being El Misti. With a fantastic looking Plaza De Armas surrounded by cobbled streets and alleyways, it is a far nicer city than Lima, and has a much more cosmopolitan feel to it than anywhere in Peru we had been to date. We spent a bit of time sat drinking coffee (and beer!) on the restaurant balconies overlooking the Plaza - very nice, although we kept getting bothered by locals playing Simon and Garfunkel on the Pan Pipes. From Arequipa we made our way north over the Alitplato (high altidude pampa) to a town called Chivay (alt. approx 3700m), at the head
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