Arequipa 18th - 19th October

Flew into Arequipa this morning to lovely sunshine and wonderful views of snow covered volcanoes. Over lunch saw religious procession reminiscent of The Godfather celebrating the day of the lord of miracles. Our hotel is a lovely old building built round a courtyard of beautiful flowers. Tomorrow we go with Victor Hugo (our guide!) for a tour of the city and particularly its convent and cathedral.
Had fabulous meal last night in a fish restaurant in Lima, tried Pisco Sour for the first time which is delicious but S found it quite potent!

Had lunch overlooking the main square, R had a beef dish and S had fried cheese with guacamole, nice but very salty!

In the evening after spending half an hour in an internet cafe which cost only 1 nuevo sol (22p approx!) we had dinner in a typical Arequipa restaurant recommended by one of the guide books. R chose the typical filled pepper – very hot and spicy – S tried one mouthful and the roof of her mouth felt like it was on fire so was glad she had chosen tiradito which is raw marinated fish – delicious! Unfortunately S decided to try another Peruvian speciality for her main course – alpaca – which she found very tough and left half of it, worth a try but not for her! Had some delicious ice cream typical of this area, made from a special kind of milk which more than made up for the alpaca. Wandered around the main square after supper and admired the cathedral lit up at night without the backdrop of volcanoes in the dark – a wonderful sight.

The next morning, we were taken round by Victor. Arequipa is a lovely city full of white buildings and interesting things to see. We saw the convent which takes up 5 acres in the middle of the city and where nuns still live and the cathedral which dominates the main square and which was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 2001 when one of the towers came down. Also the museum housing the mummified (by ice) body of an Inca maiden nicknamed Juanita who was sacrificed over 500 years ago and whose hair teeth etc are still visible - not for the faint of heart!