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Up at 6am again!! This time for our flight to Arequipa, Peru. Thankfully being a Sunday morning, traffic is pretty good so with our last glance at Lima (for now...), we departed at 9:45am. Flying into Arequipa, the sky was clear so we had a lovely view of the mountains coming into the airport. We were met by our local guide, Jeanita, who pointed out the three volcanoes that surround Arequipa - Chachanga, Misti and Pichu Pichu. Only Misti is still active but they are all evident in the skyline each way you turn!
We headed to a couple of different viewing spots for some photos of the valley and the city, before lunch at a beautiful restaurant, which reminded us of beer gardens at home. Whilst the seafood was recommended, we couldn't see the sea so I opted for fettuccine with pork. Yummy! We then headed into the city for a walking tour. From the main square, we visited the cloisters of one church but couldn't yet enter the church as it didn't open till 5pm. We then walked through the main square, which is dominated by the basilica cathedral, to the Santa Catalina Monastery. There are still nuns that live here, however most of the old sections of the buildings are now part of a museum that is set up how it would've been for the sisters from the year 1600 onwards.
We then walked to the hotel and checked in. Ana, our new friend from Brazil, Emma and I headed back into the main square to have another look around. We managed to visit the first church and was so glad we did as tucked away at the back is St Ignatius Chapel. It is all exquisitely painted in flowers, fruits and other symbols, including the domed roof. It is also carved in places and is made entirely of sillar, the lava that flowed from the volcanoes here. It was absolutely breathtaking! We had been told the main Basilica Cathedral would open at 6pm so headed there after wandering around for a bit to find it wasn't open. It is huge and looked pretty from the outside but no luck getting in :( We did do some shopping and bought some Arequipena chocolate and some alcoholic drink that is supposedly very nice.
We then headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and met for pre dinner drinks at the hotel - another pisco sour (and much nicer than the one yesterday!) before we walked to a restaurant for dinner. It was lovely inside and we were encouraged to try the alpaca. I was still stuffed from lunch so ordered the gnocchi made with quinoa and local Andean potatoes (they have over 3000 varieties!) and it was delicious! I did try Emma's alpaca - tasted a bit like pork to me. We also had some local cocktails - I had a Qenqotropic and Emma had a Macchu Picchu - and thoroughly enjoyed them!
Once we were all stuffed from dinner, we headed to a discotheque popular with the locals. There were about 6 people in there when we arrived just after 10pm...and it was happy hour. After some dancing and drinks, I'd had enough so at 11pm Emma and I headed back to the hotel. Night :)
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