Arequipa

Two days and 1200 km later here I am in Arequipa. I did see some crazy breakers along the coast, they looked abnormally large. When I checked Lonely Planet it said waves along that part of the coast can reach 6 metres. Beautiful desert mountains on the left, the Pacific and those large ass rollers on the right and the double decker Cruz Del Sol blasting between them. Arrived here about 11:30 pm, found my hostel and was in bed by midnight. I think long bus trips take more out of me than long flights.

Its Sunday so that means Arequipa is closed. A beautiful sunny day so I wandered around to get my bearings. Found the Spanish school, a german restaurant with bratwurst (best in peru the book says), The main square and of course cathedral, a museum I want to go to that has the remains of Inca human sacrifices. Not any ordinary but kids that were found at over 21,000 feet in the surrounding mountains. **It was an honour to give your kids to the gods**. I also found my 8 soles restaurant (soup, quarter chicken, fries and salad, $2.50). I negotiated for my room because I am staying for 2 weeks. I have a private room and bath, hot water plus breakfast (eggs, coffee, bread) for $8 a day. It was $12. Now your thinking why try and get it down to $8 when its cheap anyways. Well saving $4 a day for 14 days is  $56 and trust me when I say, $56 goes a long way here.  As an example I am heading to Chile on november 7th. That $56 will pay for my bus ticket, food along the way plus my 3 nights in Arica Chile so there is method to my madness.

I am also going to find the time to hike in the Colca Canyon, deepest canyon in the world. Twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. There is a Condor Lookout along the way where these massive birds just float on the thermal updrafts and they are so close you can almost touch them.
There are some amazing very climable mountains near here. The most popular being Mt. Misti and at
5,825m (19 110 ft) and Chanchi at 6075m (19,931 ft). Either one is a two day hike and you need an experienced guide and because of the altitude they bring oxygen just in case.
There is also a GVI school here and some of the folks from Ecuador are going to be making thier way here by next weekend.  So I am going to settle in for 2 weeks, do some studying, get some exercise, experience some culture and history and get prepared for the move to Chile and Easter Island.

Final thought of the day. Somewhere along the way I am going to pick one of these towns and stay permanently. Find a job as a guide or teacher but opening my own hostel/bar is my goal. Right now my top 5 towns on the ever changing list are:

1. Leon Nicaragua
2. Cuenca Ecuador
3. Arequipa Peru
4. Otavalo Ecuador
5. Suchitoto El Salvador.

I am looking forward to Mendoza Argentina, Sucre Boliva and Cartegena Colombia.This list will expand, contract and change over the next 3 years but one day I will just STOP and Stay.