We didn't have an alarm set and were hoping for a long lie in but we were awakened at 6am by someone banging on our door looking for Stefano and Eva. Guessing they were late for their pickup but have no idea why they couldn't have checked what room they were staying in before banging on every door.

We decided to go on the 10am free walking tour of the city, we've found them the best way to get an insight into a city and to get hints and tips on where to spend more time later. The first thing we learnt about Arequipa is it´s nickname - 'the White City' which has less to do with the majority of buildings being white but more to do with the fact that the city was settled early on by 'white skinned' Europeans. Before moving away from Plaza de Armas we were told to look over to the Cathedral and shown the tell tale signs in the newer left tower which was replaced after the 2001 earthquake. Also inside the cathedral we were told that there is a carving of the devil which we should look for in our own time.

Round the corner we were taken into a Jesuit church which had local elements incorporated into the carvings, by the local artists, like pumas and corn. Inside, a painted copy of The Last Supper had them eating guinea pig, corn and chilis. The painting also had coca leaves on the table. We continued to convent courtyards which was highly decorated and had high doors so you could enter on horseback. A vendor selling 'queso helado' (frozen cheese) let us have a taste and it was delicious. It's actually just ice cream and was given it's name because of what it looks like. Up the stairs, the views from second floor were amazing - Volcans Misti and Chumbawumba. Volcan Misti is only 13,5km away from the city making it look bigger than Chumbawumba and if it would errupt, the town would be covered in 50 seconds.

We were taken into the museum where 'Juanita' is but just to see the topographical model of Colca Canyon and to learn about condors and volcanoes. Next we were taken to Bolognesi bridge, the oldest in town, which crosses the Chili River and again had great views of the volcanoes. The bridge used to divide the city and only certain people were allowed in downtown, common/indigenous people were not allowed across the bridge.

We walked back up from the river towards the town centre and entered through a small door to a big 'tumbo' which now houses 25 families. Tumbos used to be hostels on the Inca Trail to accommodate and feed people. They could also exchange goods like dry potatoes and meat from Cusco to fish from coast. After recent earthquakes the homes have been modernised and each family now has their own bathroom and kitchen. It is now classed as designated housing for middle and lower class and is cheaper to live in than other type of housing in downtown.

We worked our way through some small alleys to Santa Catalina monastery which in its day had in excess of 500 nuns, nowadays there are only 14 nuns left. A couple of decades ago city officials ordered the monastry to be opened to the public, 60 percent is now open to tourists while the remaining 40 percent is kept fore the nuns.

Next up was a walk through the Artisan Market which took you through to San Fransisco church and garden. The only interesting fact here was that the gates around the church and garden are closed at 8pm because previously patrons of the nearby bars would use the walls as a toilet.

As promised at the start of the tour, we were taken to a bar to sample some of the local drinks. We managed to taste chicha which is a fermented corn drink and then a maracuaya sour, a Pisco based drink.

We met Andy and Carlee back at Plaza de Armas and went for a sandwhich at Mammut and discussed our tour options for Colca Canyon. After talking with two agengies we ended up booking with more expensive Colca Trek as it was a different type of itinerary. Instead of early starts and 3 days of walking, it included bikes and visits to a National Park area behind the volcanoes.

The four of us all wanted to try the highly recomended Zig Zag restaurant so we booked a table for 8pm which gave us time to visit the Santa Catalina monastery beforehand. The outside of the monastry is standard grey, with a prison look about it but the inside was full of beautiful colors. We were able to walk through the vacated individual 'cells' of the nuns, "phone booth", a church, a more recent communal kitchen and sleeping quarters. It is often said that the monastry is a city within a city and to an extent this is true, there are even streets named after Spanish cities. The monastery is open in the evening on Tuesdays so we got nice light during the sunset and also saw the place lit by candles and oil lamps.

We were still a bit early for dinner so we tried to go to William Wallace bar in one of the hostels but it was closed so the next best option was the Wild Rover. If ever there was a party hostel, then this was it - as much as we like a party, we like to be able to walk away from it when we want so pretty glad we weren't staying here.

We made our way up to ZigZag at 8pm and were surprised when we were given a table by window, they made a point at the time of booking that we would proabably have **** seats. We each had a Trilogy of Meat which consisted of alpaca, pork and beef brought out on sizzling volcanic stone, we had sides of Andean and Pink potatoes, Ratatouille and a trio of salsas. All washed down with a very nice glass of red wine, it couldn't have been a better end to a day.