The White City

We arrived in Arequipa at about 8.30 am, find a hostel to stay in and go for brekkie in a cafe overlooking the beautiful main square in the city with Stina, Anna and Jim.

The view from the square was amazing - the sun was shining down (impossibly hot for 9.30am), palm trees and fountains in the square, beautiful buildings and churches and in the background we could see the snow capped peaks of the Andes - really breathtaking.
Arequipa is called The White City because so many of the older building in the centre were made from the white volcanic rock of the surrounding area. Of the 5 or so mountain peaks we can see from the square, 3 of them are volcanoes with the most recent eruption only being 15 years ago.

We decide that we want to go on a tour of Colca Canyon tomorrow so we set off with the others going to several of the tour companies to see which one will give us the best price. After 1 1/2 hours of hard bargaining, Elaine manages to get a whole US$2 off the original asking price! Wow!

We then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the city and finished off the night with a few drinks in town with Stina and Anna...