Arequipa

After a day of rest in Huaraz after our trek we continued our trip southwards by bus. First 8 hours to Lima, where I decided that Lima is in fact a mucho depressive city with a constant cloud parked over the city. It's huge, dirty and polluted so after 2 hours in the bus station I was thrilled to get on the night bus to Arequipa. Just another 14 hours...

Peru really is a strange country when it comes to its nature. We drove on a highway that went through sand dunes that feel steeply into the ocean on one side. And then it continued with stone desert and every now and then a town with half-finished houses and garbage everywhere. It's all very boring to look at. But then you also have the amazing mountains and canyons and green valleys.

Arequipa's Cathedral with volcanoes in the background

After almost 24 hours on buses we finally arrived to Arequipa, Peru's second largest city and with its 760.000 inhabitants it only has a tenth of Lima's population. And it is so much nicer. It's a nice colonial town with beautiful buildings surrounded by high volcanoes around 6.000 m.a.s.l. One of it's bad sides though is that it's a victim of many earthquakes, the last big one in 2001. But they keep rebuilding it over and over... Tired after the bus ride we didn't do much, walked around in the picturesque city center, visited a museum and booked a tour out of the city.

Around Plaza des Armas

There are about 3 taxis for each person in Arequipa

In the evening we went on a date and had a beer on one of the balconies overlooking the magnificent Plaza des Armas. So, to sum it up, Arequipa was a very nice stop on our journey. Beautiful, friendly and you can actually breath the air without choking.

Look how happy girls become when someone takes them on a date!