Arequipa

Tired and pissed from the bus we made a huge travel faux pas that fortunately worked out ok. We got into a cab that wasn´t really a cab, in the night, in the rain. I started to freak out when we went down dark streets with no one on them. I was cursing myself for having let my exhaustion and frustration get the better of me and not think smart. Fortunately our driver was legit and got us to our hotel. BUt it taught us not to slack off again.
Our hotel was the La Casa de Melgar. And it was gorgeous!! seriously, try googling it. Otherwise i took a bunch of pictures. The whole hotel is made out of volcanic stone and was painted these rich colors of blue and sort of a rusty color. Some of the rooms had huge vaulted ceilings. There were gorgeous gardens and a beautiful open courtyard for breakfast. really really lovely hotel. can´t recommend it enough.
Arequipa actually turned out to be a fabulous city. And we only ended up there sort of haphazardly to break up the trip from Puno down to Chile. But the city had a very European feel to it, while also looking distinct with all the volcanic rock buildings. WE slept in a little and then went to the Convent de Santa Catalina, which we were told was the one must see in the city. And boy was that true! The convent is almost like it´s own city behind the walls. again, it´s all made out of volcanic stone and painted these rich beautiful colors. There were gorgeous flowers and every turn was an amazing photo op. Truly truly a photographer´s paradise. I think I took close to 300 pictures that day. It was that stunning! There are still about 40 nuns who live there and it just happened that i was walking alone in one of the streets when they came hurrying out to go to mass. It was really cool to see. The whole convent feels so primitive with the stone. The ovens are stone and built into the walls as are the beds. It´s like a maze too, v. easy to get lost. We also saw that they kept guinea pigs, the first we´ve seen on the trip. I couldn´t look at their feet i was feeling so guilty. ug..
AFter spending about 3.5 hours there we were so happy to have seen such a beatufiul place,and be dry and not on a bus, so we went to a nice lunch at the Zig Zag Creperie. oh my god the lunch was fantastic!! We had wonderful crepes with ham, cheese, spinach and mushrooms adn then some great wine. And for dessert we had a crepe with banana, sugar cane and some reserve rum from Cuba. so so good. It all felt so wonderful after the travel day from hell the night before. We really really loved the city and would have easily spent more time there had we known how great it was.
But sadly we had a bus to catch to Tacna to try and make it across the border into CHile that night.