Bonita Arequipa!

Hi there,

We have been in Arequipa for the last few days. We arrived on a longer-than-expected bus from Puno. The trip was rather uneventful. Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru, so, it's been nice to see and to use some familiar conveniences. The city is called "la ciudad blanca" because many of the buildings - especially an enormous church in the main square - were constructed using white stone. The stone comes from the surrounding mountains that are volcanic. This city is a bit closer to the coast and at a lower altitude, so, the temps have been a bit warmer.

We visited the nearby Colca Canyon for the last two days. It was a bit anticlimactic and too much car time. The tour was a lot less exciting because it is rainy season and the views were always obstructed by a thick fog. We went with a tour that involved a lot of sitting in the tour van and viewing what should have been spectacular views of volcanoes, terraced countryside, and amazing wildlife. Too bad. But, you can't change the weather and it was interesting to see another part of the country.

Today, we went to a museum that showcased the local archelogical findings that included artifacts - even a mummy, Sarita, that they display in a glass, freezer-box! - found near the tall volcanoes we were supposed to have seen in the Colca Valley. The museum was interesting and amazing as we were able to see really old items that were in really remarkable shape because they were frozen on the top of the peaks for so long. Then, we went to an old Dominican convent that was turned into a museum after 391 years of seclusion in 1970. The art work and architecture was very impressive. The convent takes up a huge city block and it is like a small city within this big city.

We hope you are all doing well. We are hoping that the posted comment we got from some anonymous person was just a kidding around thing. We were just making jokes in our last post about "the highest lakes" and we don't mean to offend. Hopefully, we haven't!

Take good care!

xo,
K & P