Arequipa

Saturday 9th April

Arrived into Arequipa at 03:45  ... earlier than expected. Myself, Neil, Alfie and Katie got a taxi and made our way to Arqequipay Backpackers Hostel and checked in. Our rooms weren´t available so early but thankfully we were all able to crash out in the TV room for a few hours until the rooms were available. Amazing hostel!

We later checked into our room and then made our way downtown to see the city. We had to change all our Bolivianos into Peruvian Sols as we had no money. We had some breakfast on the city plaza and later in the afternoon, we done a 4 city tour ... Arequipa is beautiful city.

Some pictures of the plaza and streets of Arequipa:

Some photos from the city tour, the surrounding countryside (including visits to a Llama farm and horseback riding), and some friends we met from Paraguay on our tour:

We didnt get back to the hostel until 20:00. Chilled out for the night and took it easy.

Sunday 10th April

Didnt get up to early today but we were supposed to be picked up at the hostel by a tour company to go rafting in the afternoon but apparantly the river was too high after rain overnight so it was cancelled. Hung out at the hostel for the afternoon and then went downtown for a walk around and for some dinner. Quite a relaxing day. Chilled out at the hostel that evening, watched a movie and ordered a takeaway. Needed a day like today just to relax and do nothing. We also booked a 2 day trip to Colca Canyon for tomorrow so looking forward to that.

Monday 11th - Tuesday 12th April

Our trip to Colca Canyon began this morning. Picked up from the hostel at 09:00 and made our way to the town of Chivay north of Arequipa. Some beautiful scenery on the way.

After we checked into the hostel in Chivay and had lunch we went to some hot springs for a few hours in the afternoon and then back to Chivay for dinner and a traditional folk show.

Friends from the Colca Canyon trip:

Next morning, we had an early start, leaving the hostel at 06:00 and making our way through small local towns of Yanque, Achoma and Maca. Very traditional and it was nice stopping of in small villages on the way to the canyon.

We finally reached ´Cruz del Condor´ where we watched Condors and had great views of the Colca Canyon.

Some pictures of the scenery (Misti Volcano) on the way back to Arequipa:

We arrived back to Chivay for lunch before making our way back to Arequipa. We arrived back about 16:30 and myself and Neil went for dinner before heading back to the hostel and chilled out for the evening. Was good to be back at Arequipay Backpackers Hostel  ...

We booked our bus ticket to Cusco for tomorrow evening at 21:00 (623km, 10 hours, 122 Sol)

Wednesday 13th April

Checked out of the hostel at 10:30 and chilled out for the morning and afternoon in the backgarden of the hostel. Beautiful day ... so hot! Later that evening, me and Neil headed downtown for dinner and a final walk around Arequipa, before heading back to the hostel to pick up our backpacks and heading down to the bus station to get our overnight bus to Cusco.