Back from Peru!

I don't even know where to start about our week in Peru, it will have to be a daily series of posts to keep everyone guessing and to let my typing fingers rest :)

Last Sunday, we got up, headed to the bus station, and caught a taxi to cross the border to get to the Tacna bus station. Everything went very smoothly, until the near fatal end to the trip (ask me in person for the details. Bottom line: everything was ok!!) We took our 6 hour bus ride in a very comfortable and nice bus line where we got to watch movies and play bingo. Lucky Nolan, won the first round of bingo, which bought him a free return ticket!!

We got into Arequipa at about 8 or so that night, and he and I had to choose the taxi driver that didn't have a clue where our hotel was. After 8 stops to ask for directions, we made a stop at the Peruvian police station, who also didn't know where the place was. Frustration was seeping from my pores not only because it was taking 2 hours to get there, but also because no one had heard of this hotel before...so FINALLY we called it, and the reason no one could find it was because the AREA of town it was in (like NYC has Bronx, Harlem, etc.) was the same name as the actuall street. Once we found it, it was a really nice little place with great service and a nice room. We were so strung out that we found the nearest restaurant, ordered familiar American food, and went to bed before 10:30. Sleeping off the stress was what we needed.

Day 2, an early sunshiny day in Arequipa! We woke up and went to the patio for our free breakfast where we met a man from San Diego who had travelled to Cedar Rapids before for business, and his daughter lived in Iowa for a year! This hotel maybe held 30 guests, and here we were eating with people familiar from Iowa. Small world :)

The rest of the day was spent walking walking walking walking and exploring the Plaza de Armas, the main square. We found a great little restuarant to eat at, and then took a tour of El Monasterio de Santa Catalina (Monastery of St. Catherine) - it was a place where nuns used to live who took a vow never to leave it once they entered, can you imagine? It was like a city within the city, incredibly huge and over 400 years old. The newer addition was not open to public, but was the home to 30 nuns who still lived like that and never saw the outside world once they entered. What a way to live.

Our bus left that night at 8:30 for Cusco, and was a 10 hour overnighter - brutal for sleeping, but better than wasting a day to travel. More to come later about city number 2!