Another Quick Update

Just a quick update, as the internet cafe is about to close.

I arrived in Arequipa last night around midnight and took a taxi to my hotel. I woke up this morning and spent the day exploring Arequipa. I had breakfast in the garden of my hotel and then was the first person to arrive at the Monestario de Santa Catalina. This place is a monestary for nuns and is like a city within a city. There were lots of little streets with small apartments off the streets for the nuns. It was very peaceful there and I enjoyed having the whole place to myself for most of my visit.

Then I walked a few blocks to Arequipa´s Plaza de Armas and bought a Peruvian news paper. I sat on the balcony of a cafe overlooking the plaza and had a beer. Then I went to the Museo Sanctuary where Juanita is - a well preserved frozen mummy of one of the Inca´s sacrifices.

Next I caught a taxi to a suburb called Yanahuara and had a great typical Arequipan lunch at a well known restaurant (Mayo de Sol). After lunch, I walked over to the local plaza, which had a great view of Arequipa.

And that´s been about it. I´m exhausted, so I´m going to return to my hotel and watch a movie before going to sleep. Great day!

Tomorrow I´m going on a two day tour of Colca Canyon - the world´s deepest canyon. When I return on Tuesday, I have a few hours before I board an overnight bus (with bed seats) to Ica - Peru´s wine region (a 10 hour bus ride for $40).

I plan on spending one day visiting wineries, and then I´ll go to the close town of Huacachina, where there are large sanddunes. I will spend a day there sandboarding and maybe go on a dunebuggie ride!

Then it´s onto Lima for a flight to Iquitos in la selva (the jungle) on the Amazon River! There are no roads that lead to this city... you can only reach it by river or airplane.

I´ll spend a few days at a jungle lodge outside of Iquitos and then head back to Lima and catch another overnight bus to Mancora - a beach resort town on the northern shore of Peru known around the world for great surfing. I´ve also heard they have great tuna there!

Ciao.