AREQUIPA

From Cusco I flew to Lima where I spent the day before taking a bus to Arequipa in the south of Peru. In Ica - after 5 hours on the bus – Micha got on the bus and got the seat next to me (not coincidentally but planned). After another 10 hours or so on the bus we got to Arequipa in the morning. I was surprised how clean the city was. A lot of places in Peru (and South America in general) are quite dirty.

In Peru almost everywhere there is a lot of garbage along the road. And people quite often just throw there garbage out of the bus window.

After arriving in Arequipa and finding a hostel we spent the rest of the day organizing a hike in the near Colca Canyon, doing laundry and a walk through town. Most of the buildings in Arequipa's center are build with white volcanic stone and are very pretty.

After we returned from the Colca Canon I stayed another night in Arequipa. At night we enjoyed a few beers with the Colca Canon guides at the hostel before checking out Arequipa's nightlife. There are quite a few bars and clubs along Calle San Francisco and the atmosphere was good with lots of people on the street. It was kind of disturbing though that there were almost as many security and police guys around as people partying. We stopped at a small rock club where a live band was playing. First I thought it was music playing from CD but the guys were really good and sounded awesome. Unfortunately we got there late and could only listen to the last two songs.

The next morning I luckily went to check out the Monasterio Santa Catalina. I liked it a lot and could have taken pictures there for hours. Unfortunately I didn't have a lot of time since I was leaving in the afternoon. The Monastery is a huge complex with several streets and plazas, churches, beautiful little buildings and colorful plants. The monastery was founded by a Spanish woman in 1580, opened to the public in 1970 and still is an active monastery with around 30 nuns. I especially liked the buildings that were painted in orange and bright blue but also the many little staircases and plazas and would have liked to spend more time there to wander around.