Peru Day 12 – Arequipa

On Friday we woke up knowing two things – we had to be at the bus station at 4:30pm for Lima and that we couldn’t leave our bags for the day at the hostel.

We got up and took a taxi (with our bags) to the town square – where I recalled from the night before there being a 4 star hotel.  They let us keep our bags there for the day (very nice thank you).

As Tim and I wandered around the square with a few hours to kill we decided to split up and meet back at 4pm.  Arequipa, is a big city and it was nice to get a feel for it.  The Spanish architecture is everywhere and seeing a colonial town made for a nice comparison.

I went to a music store, a couple of churches, a craft market, it was a slow but nice day.  I met a match salesman – he just sold books of matches on the street corner.

I went back to the square and loved seeing the snow capped mountains in the distance.  As I tried to take a photo of the mountain and a church a policeman stopped me and told me not to photograph the church.  I thought this was weird as its not a government building or anything and then he explained himself.  He told me not to photograph the church from the square but told me a building that would let me up and give me an even better vantage point!

Very nice guy.

Tim showed up on time at 4pm and we headed for the bus station.
At the station we were amazed as ever at the  myriad of little convenience store like stands that all sell the exact same thing!

We boarded the bus (first class) and found that it was just me and Tim on the 14 hour ride back to Lima (at least in first class).

They played some music and some Spanish Karaoke and then the dog of a movie “The sound of thunder” which you shouldn’t see and I’ve seen like 4 times (thank you HBO).

At about 1am first class filled up but it was a nice ride that actually arrived in Lima early!  So there we are last day in Lima at the bus station at its 6:45am….

[Re-posted from my University Blog & Edited 07/01/2011]