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We've been in Arequipa a couple of days now and having a really relaxing time. The bus from Tacna took ages due to some Police searches on buses along the way. We had no idea what was going on but they kind of searched the top section of the bus very quickly and took in all our passports, etc. Very strange. I think it probably delayed us by a couple of hours. We finally arrived into Arequipa around 8pm and we were very lucky to have a nice taxi driver who took us to a decent hotel close to the Plaza de Armas. We decided that instead of lumbering around with our backpacks we'd stay there. It was $10 each for the night and included breakfast, private bathroom and cable tv.
That night we went for a wander into the centre of Arequipa and were struck by how beautiful the city was. It's by far the prettiest and picturesque city we've seen in Peru. It's like a large Cusco but much cleaner and more modern. We had a lovely dinner in Inka Wasi on the square and had quite an early night (having not really slept much in the last few days).
Yesterday, we decided to explore Arequipa a little more. Before we did though, we checked out a couple of the hotels nearby and found one that offered a better room, etc for a bit less. So we're now paying about $6.50 a night! Anyway we wandered around quite a bit of the City, upto Plaza St Francis and back around past the Santa Catalina Monestary and into the square. We even ventured out to the west to some of the leather works at the edge of town. I bought myself a rather nice wallet. We also went to a really posh department store where Kim bought herself a rather expensive Alpaca coat - it is really nice though!
In the afternoon we stopped off in a nice little creperie called "zig zag" for some crepes and a lovely cappucino. In the evening we ate at Inka Wasi again. I had an amazing chicken curry and we shared a crepe for dessert - rather yummy! It's election-time at the moment so nowhere is allowed to serve beer (a little disappointing. Hopefuly Monday we'll be allowed to buy ourselves a beer!)
Today we've been wandering around the town again. We decided to take a look at Santa Catalina (a huge convent in the town). It was really very beautiful and we enjoyed wandering the rooms and courtyards of the convent. There are still some nuns there in an area of the convent shut off. We stopped briefly for a drink and THE most amazing chocolate cake in the cafe that was there.
This afternoon we're just taking things easy. We may book a tour to Colca Canyon - maybe one or two days, we've not really decided yet.
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