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So onto Peru...
Flight from Bs As was very good... the best seat back tv I´ve seen (which was great after the 12 hour flight with AirFrance where there was no seat back tv at all)... and great views as we flew over northern Argentina and the Andes.
While waiting in Lima for the connection to Arequipa we booked our hotel who organised a taxi to pick us up from the airport. First time ever I´ve had a man waiting for me in arrivals with my name on a board!!
Arequipa
Arequipa is Peru´s 2nd largest city (after Lima) but just doesn´t really feel like it. This must be due to the lack of high rise buildings. Most buildings are only 2 to 4 storeys. This is because the city has been devastated in the past by earthquakes.
The historic/tourist centre of the city is compact and very likeable, especially when sitting on one of the superb balconies around the Plaza de Armes near the central cathedral for a late afternoon coffee. Both times we have done so, there has been a procession of some sort going on and the roads have been shut.
Ok, so we hit a few of the sights in Arequipa including the Santa Catarina Convent. This was an amazing place to visit. The convent itself is a sprawling warren-like series of buildings, squares, roads and passageways taking up a whole block of the city. In fact, it was the very next block to our hostal and we could see the tops of the buildings from our roof. So, it was a nice short walk to it after brekkie! Part of the convent is not open to tourists as around a dozen nuns still live and work there. If my memory serves me correctly (without looking at the guidebook) it has been a secretive place for over 400 years with only a lucky couple of outside visitors. Then in the late 20th century (I think about the 70s) the mayor of Arequipa effectively forced the nuns to open up to the public. A fascinating place which I feel lucky to have visited and have some photos to remind me of.
After lunch in the great convent cafe, we headed over to the museum that houses "Juanita" the ice princess. This was also fascinating. To see the mummy of the young girl offered to the gods atop one of the highest mountains at close range was amazing. We heard all about the expedition to recover the mummy and other artefacts. During the video explaining the expedition, there was a moment where they explained that one artefact was a solid gold inca statue of a man. The statue (only about 3 inches high) had an "erect penis to signify virility"... well at this point there were 6 of us watching and one of the other males in there, a European, decided to snigger loudly!! Not really the done thing old chap!!
Unfortunately no photos were allowed inside the Juanita museum so all I could take were memories.
Yura hot springs
Next day we headed out of town on a local minibus to visit some hot springs in a town called Yura. The bus journey was very interesting... some of the passengers crossed themselves when the driver started the engine to leave the station!
The springs themselves consist of volcanic water that has filtered down from the local volcanoe... and it stank of sulphur! Consequently we stank on the way back to Arequipa on the bus... I´m not sure how any of the other passengers put up with it...
Anyway, the hot baths themselves turned out to be not as hot as we thought but just warm enough. We met a great bloke from the coast of Arequipa whose name is Jorge. He´s a musician and was on vacation with some of his family. After discussing various places that we had been and others we had no time to visit, we all ended up in the local bar for lunch. Jorge had cuy (guinea pig) which he recommended to me. He joked that he probably wouldn´t be allowed into Britain as he´d want to eat all guinea pig pets! I resisted on this occassion but Jo & I did order LOADS of local foods so we were extremely stuffed afterwards. All locals were so friendly, a lady from another table even approached us to pick out the good dishes on the menu... sign language really helps!
Getting back to Arequipa involved a trip in a minibus driven by Elvis... at least that´s what the sticker said. It was so crowded we had to drop into 1st gear on some hills.
Back in Arequipa, we had a late dinner after the huge lunch. Before dinner we hit a bar to sample the local drink pisco sour (a brandy cocktail). At the restaurant I felt bad that I hadn´t yet tried the local delicacy so shunned the superb sounding steak with fried egg and ordered the cuy chactado... that´s fried guinea pig to you . I won´t discuss it here...!!!
Next day was the bus to Puno (and Lake Titicaca). I woke up with a very sore head... probably the pisco sour and local beer... and I hadn´t drunk any water!
Consequently the bus journey wasn´t great! Very thankful to the ladies in our hostal who helped to book the bus for us after our first choice was all booked up.
A little sad to leave Arequipa so soon, but we needed 2 days in Puno before the Andean Explorer train on Monday to Cusco (which only runs on Monday, Weds, Fri & Sat).
So, first thoughts on Peru... very friendly people, much more touristy than our travels in Argentina, very colourful... and loads, and I mean loads more travellers.
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