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Date: 25th and 26th October
We packed up camp this morning to head on our way to Arequipa but not before driver Steve cooked us a fry up breakfast which went down a treat, especially after our karaoke jenga the night before. It was a long 7 hour drive, we passed by a long beach and stopped for lunch on it that had a lot of destroyed houses and hotels, Mike told us that this are had been hit by a tidal wave in 1991. The afternoon was quite a bumpy ride up into altitude which gave us all a bit of a headache as we went up, and we arrived in Arequipa at about 4.30 at the camp ground we wer staying in. This town seemed to be very modern with the classic South American Plaza but lots of nice restaurants and shops around it, the city has a lot of white buildings in it and has the nick name the white city, due to the fact that when it was originally built white volcanic rock was used. When we got there we set up camp, the campsite was not bad except that there was a stream that flowed by with a funny smell! We had heard they had a burger king so a few of us decided that we would give our stomachs a rest from the local food and do a mission to the shopping mall where it was. The 3 of us, Deb, Felix, Rich, Joe, Aido and Steven went off, was only a short taxi ride but was well worth it, something basic, Russ and Aido had a group meal thing with 4 burgers and 3 lots of chips hehe!! When we got back to the campsite Amanda and Ben had cooked spag bowl and so out of guilt all 9 of us forced down a plate, after this though my altitude headache had got worse and worse so I had to go and lie down, I ended up staying in the tent for the night as just couldn´t shake the headache off (normal pills are useless against altitiute :() a lot of the others went our for Mikes bday and Rusty was there to carry the Jersey Flag, think he got in at 4 hehe. Next morning we got up fairly early as we were literally cooking in the tent with the heat (so hot here) and my head was still banging so needed some fresh air and water, even the migraine tablet Felix gave me didnt work. We got Rusty up as he was baking in his tent too so that we could go and have a look at some of the sites the town has to offer. Tanya also came with us and the 4 of us went off to visit famous Santa Catalina Convent, this place is absolutely huge and completely self contained, its over 20,000 square metres big. It is basically a mini town, young girls were forced into it by their rich families who paid 80 pieces of gold for the honour of having their daughter go there years ago and a few still get sent there today, starting at the age of 12. They stay there for their whole lives only comunicating with the outside world in one room with grates (much like a prision!!) The girls weren't even allowed to see their own bodies and had to get changed with their eyes closed and bath in dresses. The complex has 80 houses but only 30% of it actually still functions as a convent but the nuns have phones and the internet these days.
Next stop was the Juanita Museum. She was an Incan Mummy who was sacrificed to the Mountain thousands of years ago. She is actually 1 of 3 but is the best preserved and was at the highest point so the most important. She was accidentally discovered by climbers at the unbelievable height of 21,000 feet! remember the Incas climbed that in sandles, the museum was very interesting with lots of other artifactss including the sandles Juanita was wearing when she was found, this was unbelieveable to see. It was very very cold in the last room where Juanita was on display as she is stored at -20 degress to keep her in the same state and stop her from rotting, it was quite weird seeing this mummy still with her skin, quite creepy!!
Tanya went back after this but the 3 of us went for a bite to eat at the highest restaurant in the plaza to share a pizza and have a vanilla milksake (we are all getting addicted to South American vanilla milkshakes, they kick ass). We also went on a trip exploring the town and looking for more items for the coming fancy dress party (as fancy dress pro's we were well looking forward to it hehe). It was quite nice looking around the town, it was a fairly safe place with lots of people around and markets going on, with people selling lots of different things in the streets. However there were a few odd people, one mother actually let her kid do a poo in the middle of the street very sick woman!!!
That night we had home made burgers at the campsite and all chatted in the communal room before hitting the sack.
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