Arequipa

Convento de Santa Catalina

Yay movies! Our bus was actually late, so I only ended up watching one movie before getting some sleep, but those buses are definitely as comfortable as a plane, probably more so because you can actually recline and sleep! JS and I were decently rested when we got to Arequipa this morning, so we dropped our bags, had breakfast at the hotel, then set out to explore.

The main square wasn't too far away, and once again there were a ton of pigeons around, with locals selling bird feed to draw them in. There was a cute little boy running around scaring all of them, which was pretty funny. The main squares in the cities are pretty standard--the town hall, a church, and a square with greenery and a statue in the middle.

Convent kitchen

We have also officially entered the land of no toilet paper. Yes, the hotels do have them, but anywhere else, you're supposed to bring your own. And even in the hotels, you aren't supposed to throw it in the toilet, but in the trash to prevent clogging. And that will be all I have to say on the subject.

The main thing we visited in town was El Convento de Santa Catalina, or the Convent of Saint Catalina. It's really a city within a city, with a lot of colorful walls and little nooks to wander through. The convent today is pretty tiny, consisting of only fifteen or so nuns, so the rest of it is open to the public for a small fee. It was definitely pretty, though I was happiest at the end when we actually got to go up on a roof and look out over the city.

Misti Mountain in the arch

After grabbing some lunch, we caught the tourist bus around town and spent some time at a bunch of different locations. We saw the famous arches, which detail why Arequipa is called the lion of the south; it's always ready for a revolution if something happens in the capital they don't like. We also saw the great Misti mountain, which is actually a volcano that is still technically active today, though it hasn't erupted for a few hundred years. But it was apparently smoking last year, and residents keep building closer to it. Bad idea. There is another chain of inactive volcanoes with snow on the top that we could see nearby as well.

The next place was a beautiful overlook of those volcanoes and the river below, with the city of Arequipa as well as much of the farmland nearby. I bought some of the local ice cream, which turned out to be cheese-flavored, much to my surprise. But it was actually really good! I think the local cheeses here are a lot more fresh than in the US. Not that that necessarily makes them better, but it's definitely different than back home.

Alpaca!

We also visited an alpaca inclosure, where they make products from the wool, and a couple more touristy places before being dropped back in the main city. After, we grabbed dinner and a show at a nice place about a block away from our hotel, where JS was adventurous and tried the alpaca meat. I had a bite and didn't like it much. But then I'm not really a fan of steak in general.

Spins

It was neat to see the dances that they put on, in the traditional garb. The hats are pretty crazy. There were three dances, and the first was probably the most funny in that the boys were playing alpacas and the girls got to hop on their backs and ride them around. There was also some oddly high pitched shouting during the dance, which kind of grew to be grating. The second dance was difficult, a boy's dance though one of the girls did it too. Lots of "hey!"s in that one too. The third was pretty flirty with the boys and girls, with the waving of handkerchiefs and such. Very cute. And the girls' skirts kept flipping up, which I'm sure was part of the appeal to the boys.

Headed to Chivay tomorrow. We'll see how we do with the elevation!