Stories from Arequipa

We have just spent 5 days around Arequipa (2nd largest city in Peru), 9 hours away by bus from Copacabana. Despite Arequipa is surronded by high volcanoes and snow caps, it s much warmer there: no need for our winter hat anymore.
From the arrival at the bus station, everything went pretty smooth: a policeman even escorted us to a taxi from which he took the drivers name and number plate. We thought he was so friendly until we learnt by other (spanish speaking) travelers that there were recently some attacks in cabs. Arequipa and its surrondings feel pretty safe, so no worries we have not been facing the human fat traffikers. We have stayed 3 nights in Misti Casa which was not only cheap with friendly staff but super located (2 mins away from the central square: la placa de armas).
We spent 2 days discovering the city and its cool sites : 2 very beautiful covents, nice churches ( I can t count anymore the number of churches we have been visiting over the last weeks) and the museo del sanctuary. This very interesting museum is dedicated to Inca human sacrifices which we were not familiar with so far. In the area of Arequipa, scientists found over the last 10 years more than 10 frozen bodies of kids at the icy top of some volcanoes: the most famous body is the one of Juanita.
As we became so sporty during our journey, we decided to go for a 3 days trekk in the Colca Canyon: the 2nd biggest canyon in the world (it doesn t look like the US Grand Canyon as we discovered). The streets of Arequipa center are full of agencies selling similar tours. After benchmarking the different offers, we took one for 40€ per person..So cheap compared to the Inka trail! The departure for the tour was at 3 am (yes 3 am, pretty hardcore). On the morning we went by mini bus (on very bad gravel roads) to el Mirador del Condor where we could see many condors flying around in the mountains. It was really impressive, so impressive that we took hundred of pictures (which are a hell to sort out). The afternoon was dedicated to a 3.5h hike down the canyon: the path was very steep but we all managed ok except one Belgian girl who seemed to suffer a lot. After the hike, we went to our sleeping place: very dusty but charming mini bingalows in a very tiny village. We all woke up in good mood except the Belgian girl who started her day with a lot of tears as she had a bad night. We all tried to cheer her up until we started our walk (an easy 3 hours) where she became hysterical shooting at the guide. You can imagine the awkawrdness in the group when this happened. Ha travelling allows us to meet all kind of people;) The group was nice otherwise, they were 2 others French so I could finally speak French after many days:) After the 2nd day hike, we arrived to an Oasis (aka the Paradise") at the bottom of the Canyon for an afternoon of sun bathing and swimming pool. The hard part of the trekk was for the final day: 3 hours uphill. Yes we made it but yes there were some swearing involved and even some blood (a stupid mule pushed me against the mountain).

In Arequipa, there are not only Canyon and museums, there are as well some food specialities that we had to try (nothing as disturbing as the Guinea Pig this time). We tried the Chicha (a corn beer) in a "piquanteria" where the smallest bottle was one litter. Surprise when it arrived on the table, it is a pink drink with a lot of sediments..We didn t manage to drink the full bottle as we are concerned for the health of our stomac. Peter ate some "Pancita Dorada con chuleta de cancho" (of course with our little spanish, we had no idea what this would be) and I tried the Aeequipa "chupe de camarones": it was wonderful and gigantic (I am a prawn fan). Of course as I am a real lady, I had to spill the first spoon on my trousers and the 3rd one on my teeshirt.