Journey to Arequipa

What is it with us and bus journeys? They are certainly never straightforward. Our promised 12 hour journey from Cusco turned into 14 hour marathon. We got on the bus at 8pm and congratulated ourselves on finally making ourselves understood to the Peruvian bus company by securing a 'posh' service (well at 5GBP each, why not?!). After a meal of what can only be described as kebab meat, the Host on board put in a video tape. 'Hooray' we inwardly cried as we congratulated ourselves some more. Only to discover that the 'movie' was a 45 minute description of the bus company's service...in Spanish. Bored to tears, we rejoiced when the host returned at the end. He then handed out bingo sheets and we realised to our horror that we were going to have to play Spanish bingo. Bearing in mind that we can barely count to 10 in Spanish let alone recognise the expression ' 2 fat ladies'. Eventually and fortunately we fell asleep and slept through until about 5am when we were woken up by tyre screeches and found ourselves in the middle of the Peruvian highlands surrounded by snow with the coach stuck in it. We were the lucky ones as another tourist coach ended up in the ditch. Boarded an hour later by the transport police, we wondered whether we were seriously jinxed.

Finally we reached Arequipa at 10am and found our hotel 'Casa Del Melgar' - lovely for $30 - and discovered Arequipa warm and sunny compared to the snow we had left behind in Cusco.

The first day in Arequipa was a mad rush choosing a travel agent from 100 on offer and booking our Colca Canyon tour (notice the word 'tour' and not 'trek') plus of course we had to watch the Greece vs. Portugal Euro 2004 final - what a shocker! We finished the day by visiting Santa Catalina Monestry, dubbed as the most important religous site in Peru. We had had our full of cathedrals in Cusco but we decided to brave it and for the 25 soles entry fee (same as price of lunch!) we were expecting a lot...we weren't disapointed. The site was once a recluse for over 300 nuns in the 16th century and is like a town within Arequipa. The highlight for us though was the architecture. A cross between Peruvian and Spanish, it is beautifully designed and is hard to believe that the area was built by the nuns themselves so long ago. Stupidly, we left our camera behind but the website is really, really good and definately worth a look http://www.santacatalina.org.pe

Early start for the Colca Canyon tour so we hit the sack early, dreaming of monestery's and becoming Greek nationals.