Hola mis amigos! Estoy en Arequipa y il son muy bonito!
So the craic so far is that áfter travelling for a horrendous amount of time (flight delayed by 4 hours coming out of Madrid which they compensated for with a full 3 course meal and bottle of red wine) I have made it to Arequipa.
We landed here at about 11pm local time and got to the hotel about 12.30 for 3 hours of sleep (which I was able to add to the 1 hour I got in Heathrow Airport on Friday night) before we had to get up to catch a shuttle flight to Areuipa. We got in at 7 this morning and I was feeling pretty groggy but as soon as I stepped off the plane I was hit with El Misti and the mountains towering over the town to one side and the desert to the other and I couldn´t believe it. This place is BEAUTIFUL!
So far this morning I´ve seen an Inca mummy, tried the infamous coca tea and watched a random Peruvian dressed as Father Christmas direct traffic in the Plaza de Armas. No, really. I´ve got pictures and everything - when he saw me taking a photo he stick up his thumb and shouted "la ho ho ho". No kidding. This place is mad.

Well we´re off to check out the mountains and the markets this afternoon and then taking the bus over the Andes to Puno in the morning. From there it´s Lake Titicaca, the Uros Islands and then on to Cusco.

Sunrise over El Misti as we arrived in Arequipa

The view from my hotel room

Arequipa's Plaza de Armas

"La Ho Ho Ho"

Farming on the outskirts of town

Trying to get a photo with an Alpaca and then paying the price as it spat in my face after I gave it a poke to try and make it look up at the camera

Monastario de Santa Catalina, the World's only monastery contained completely within it's own citadel.

Looking out over the Citadel

The Altiplano between Arequipa and Puno

The highest point we reached on our travels

A herd of Vicuña. They're like the baby cousin of Llamas and Alpacas

A girl at a market we stopped by. She was one of many professionally posing for photos. 20p a go!

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