After the medical adventure in Nasca we headed down to Arequipa to visit the specialist and get the all clear. We also intended to spend a few days relaxing in Arequipa although it didn't quite work out that way. Arequipa is Peru's second largest city, although it's a lot smaller than Lima, and in the central area it has quite a European colonial feel to it. The buildings, despite not being that old due to earthquake damage, are very grand and the main square, Plaza Armas is really beautiful which all leads to Arequipa being known as the White City. The whole city is looked over by El Misti which is a huge solitary volcano which dominates the skyline, all in all Arequipa is a really nice city which we immediately felt we could spend some time in.

As we've mentioned previously something that we have wanted to do at soem point on our trip is some volunteering, having experienced such kindness in Nasca and found ourselves in a nice city we decided to look into opportunities here. It didn't take us long, we signed up with a charity called 'traveller not tourist' and agreed to begin work this coming Monday in the Casa Hogar Luz Alba Orphanage (more info here http://www.travellernottourist.com/our_projects.html) in Arequipa. This led to a fairly hectic day where we had to visit the orphanage to meet the director and then find ourselves somewhere to stay for a month as this is the minimum commitment for the orphanage. Having negotiated a discounted rate at a hostel which is slightly away from the main tourist area we decided to set off on Friday for the nearby Colca Canyon for a spot more trekking before begiining work on Monday.