Week 4 - the start of our travels to the rest of South America

So at the end of this week we headed off to Arequipa to start our adventure around the rest of South America! Here is our fourth week in Lima:

Day 1 Monday - We purchased our tickets for Arequipa on Friday (VIP). We taught John´s Nanny a card game called `Crazy Eights´ and now know all the suit names in spanish: Hearts = Corizons, Spades = Espades, Diamonds = Cocos and Clubs = Treboles... all the spelling is how we think its spelt. In the evening we ordered Bembos for delivery. It was not good, came cold...never again.

Day 2 Tuesday - Today was 9/11 so we had our 2 minute silence at 10AM. There was also no water until the afternoon so we had to ahve a baby wipe shower but we were used to this after the Salkantay Trek. For Lunch we went to `Pardon´s Chicken´ resturant, it was very busy but Johns Nanny managed to get us ahead of the queue.
   In the evening we went to have dinner with John´s Aunties and Cousins. We spent the evening watching Peru vs Argentina football game where the score ended in 1 all which was unexpected (Peru were expected to lose).

Day 3 Wednesday - In the morning we visited the `Mistura` festival which is the worlds second largest food festival! It was amazing and we got many free samples. I purchased some cheese however I am not sure it will last until christmas.  We couldnt indulge too much as we had to be back for lunch.
   In the evening we met with Jose and Sabastian where we discussed charity work in Decemeber. There is the possibility of working with the many stray dogs in Lima which I am personally really excited about! We had dinner at a really yummy and oh so cheap Mexican resturant.

Day 4 Thursday - I got my hair and nails done today for a mere 6.50 pounds. We then had a siesta in the afternoon and took Johns grandparents back to the yummy Mexican in the evening.

Day 5 Friday - Today we set off to Arequipa at 2.30PM arriving on Saturday morning (15hours). We travelled VIP which was so much more comfortable. We slept most of the trip.

Day 6 Saturday - Arrived in the morning and brought our bus tickets to Tacna where we got VIP again as there really wasn`t much difference in the price. We then got to our hostel (Hotel Nuñez) and showered off in our extensively furnished (4 beds) room. We then hoped into a taxi and made our way to the main Plaza which was beautiful. We learnt that Arequipa is known as the white city as a lot of the older buildings are made from volcanic rock which is white. We fed some pigeons in the main plaza and they are so friendly they were eating out of our hands. After this we got a tour of the main Cathedral where we learnt alot about the Catholic religion, which was quite difficult to understand so most of it went over my head but we got some great photographs from inside and on top of the Cathedral. Later on we walked past auditions for Peru Tiene Talento (Peru`s version of Britain has talent)! For a late lunch/early dinner we enjoyed a seafood broth from a very nice resturant! A bit pricey for Peru but worth it!

                                              Pretending to ring the bell at the cathedral...so heavy!

Today - We spent a long time this morning trying to find an outside swimming pool only to be taken to an indoor one. So we instead settled for sunbathing on the roof of our hostal. We are saving money today so bread rolls and cheese for lunch.

Love from Vicky and John