ANOTHER WEEK IN PERU

26. May – 03. June 2011

I arrived in Lima late at night and went to a hostel near the airport for one night. The next morning I went straight to the bus station to buy a ticket to Mancora in the north of Peru. The bus wasn't leaving until late afternoon and I had some time to kill. This was no problem since there was a Starbucks across the street. After an overnight bus ride I arrived in the morning in the surfer town Mancora. I checked in at the hostel and waited for Carlos to arrive in the afternoon.  The next few days we spend with walks at the beach, talking, watching surfers and enjoyed spending time together. It was nice that Carlos' brother Leo and his girlfriend came to Mancora as well and it almost felt like being back in Canoa. Almost.
One day we walked to the pier. There were a few fishermen and one was feeding small fish to the birds. There were tens of pelicans and frigate birds. An interesting sight.
After relaxing for a few days in Mancora, we headed south to Lima. There we spend two days – since I'd been there before, I could show Carlos Lima's old town, Miraflores and my favorite Starbucks. We only spent one night in Lima before taking the next overnight bus south. Next stop on the long way to Bolivia was Arequipa. The day there we spent walking around the beautiful old town with whitish buildings and visiting the Santa Catalina monastery. Last time I was in Arequipa, I didn't have much time at the monastery and didn't mind visiting it again. It is a very beautiful complex of small, colorful, old buildings and orange and blue plazas connected by little streets.
From Arequipa we headed to Puno at Lake Titicaca near the Bolivian border.