Arequipa, Peru

We had a great time and and were given an excellent first impression of Peru during our three day stay in sunny Arequipa. We stayed at the Wild Rover Hostel again (sister Irish hostel of the one we stayed at in La Paz) to catch up with our friend Eogene Casey whose manager there.

Arequipa is called the 'White City' because the majority of the buildings there are made up of a white volcanic rock making the whole place look like a giant museum. There's also a massive volcano and two tall mountains which tower over the city. The volcano, El Misti, is a staggering 5822m (19,200ft) and can be climbed in 2 days, though we weren't really up for that or the 3-day trek around Colca Canyon.

We took it pretty easy while we were there, ran some errands and went out to dinner with Cosagee (Eogene), toured a monastary that was built in the 16th century, and hung out by the pool that was inside the hostel. It was nice to just relax a bit as for the previous 7 weeks we'd been pretty busy with hikes, overnight busses and tours and so chilling with Cosagee and not doing a whole lot was a welcome respite.

After three days we said our goodbyes to Cosagee and boarded an 18-hr overnight but to Cusco, where we would be starting our 5-day trek to Machu Piccu.