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Border crossings have been very lapsed so far…and the Peruvian one was no difference. Our bus dropped us off at the Bolivian side to get our exit stamps and we then had to walk across the border to get back in the bus. Casually strolling past the armed guard onto the bus, our guide chased us stating that we had to go to the federal office to get our entry stamp….for some reason the armed guard just allowed to stroll on through.
Our night bus arrived at Arequipa in the early hours of the morning. Luckily we could check straight in and get some sleep. Unfortunately Lewis was unwell for our first day here so we just stayed in the hostel and done nothing. Arequipa, is Peru's second largest cities, it is whitewashed in volcanic stone and surrounded by majestic mountains and El Misti volcano. The next day we visited a few sites, including the Museo Sanctuaries Andinos, which exhibits "Juanita, the Ice Princess" - the frozen Inca maiden sacrificed on the summit of Ampato (6288m) over 500 years ago. For the Inca's mountains were violent deities who could kill by volcanic eruption, avalanche etc and could only be stopped by human sacrifices. Because of the freezing temperature on the mountain (-20c) her remains were frozen and kept well preserved, her hair, hands, clothes were still intact.
We had an unfortunate incident on our final night in Arequipa….whilst having a nice chilled early night watching the Matrix (as you do while living the dream travelling South America) I could see something crawling out the corner of my eye….quickly turning the light on, it turned out to be a lovely BIG bed bug….YUK! after inspecting our bed we could see the mattress was riddle with them….especially unfortunately for Lewis as they appeared to like the taste of him more than me and he now has a few nice "gnat-bite like" bumps. After complaining to reception we moved rooms and managed to only have to pay for one night….every cloud has a silver lining I guess, we saved 60 Peruvian soles.
We have an overnight bus tonight, heading to Cuzco…..at least the bed bugs won't bite tonight!
xxxxxx
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