So after two weeks in Arequipa it was time to move on.. yes I said I was tired of being on the move, but after two weeks I really think I saw everything of Arequipa, plus I learned all enought Spanish :) But before I tell you how great Cusco is let me tell you a bit more about my two weeks in Arequipa.

In my first week I spend a lot of time learning all these spanish grammer stuff.. which I still don’t really understand :) Well I know what they mean but trying to speak it.. So in the morning I got up at half past seven and had a great breakfast on the roof terrace with a view on Misti. Than at 9 my classes started until 13. After 4 hours of spanish I couldn’t do much than having a cheap lunch (mostly around 6-8 SOL for a soup, main dish and desert) and than I went sight seeing or just walking around. After I had enougth I went back to the hostel and sat again on the roof terrace to do my homework and try to learn everything I learned that morning. In the evening I didn’t do much; I went out for diner and watched a movie in the hostel.

On friday I went out with some people I met on the spanish school. We went to this great place called ‘Deja Vu’! DJ’s play all the famous music (both english as spanish) and locals and travelers dance all night long. It’s a great mix! I was here already last week with Irina, a german girl I met on the Colca Canon. And now again I had a great time dancing until 5 in the morning. So saturday was my big hangover day :) At the end of the evening I met up with David, an english guy I travelled with for a month in Argentina. It was great seeing him again!

We went out again on saturday and I showed him and his friend Camaron around in Arequipa.

The second week I had my spanish classes again, every day from 9 till 13. Afterwards I met up with David and Camaron to have lunch and to do some sightseeing. At night we also went out for diner and went playing pool, or went to the cinema to see some great movies. We’ve seen ‘Angels and Demons’ and ‘Terminator 3′. We also watched an classicer from Alfred Hitchcok called ‘Life Boat’ in the cultur centrum.

So Arequipa wasn’t boring at all! So here are some tips what to do in Arequipa:

1. stay at Hostel Posada del Cacique. It’s a small hostel, but good value for your money. I paid 20 SOL for a night. You have free internet, TV room, great roof terrace, always hot water, and the staff is really friendly and helps you with everything. Also they really like talking spanish with you. If you want a party place.. go to Hostel Bothy.

2. if you want to learn spanish here go to EDEAQ, great spanish school. It gets you out of your hostel and is located in the center of the city, 1 minute from plaza de armas. 6 US dollars an hour for private lessons.

3. take the city tour bus! We took it (the yellow one, not the red one) costs 35 SOL and you see all the tourist placed of Arequipa. I like the miradors, you get a great view over Arequipa. The tour is in spanish but also in english. The tour takes about 4 hours and is not rushed. If you want more time at one place you can always go back by taxi.

4. if you want to see a movie you have to options, there are free movies at some university places (I got my informtion from EDEAQ), or go to Cineplanet.com.pe. It’s located in Cayma. For about 10 SOL you see the latest movies, and a super sized popcorm (which you can’t finish!!) costs only 10 SOL.

5. visit Monasterio de la Recoleta. Costs only 5 SOL to get in, and I found it more interesting than Monastery of Santa Catalina. Visit it in the morning so you have more time to see everything.

6. Monastery of Santa Catalina, of course you have to see this place. Its far to overpriced with its 30 SOL entrance, but if you take your time it’s a nice place to walk through.

7. Juanita! Don’t miss Juanita!

8. Colca Canyon! Yes go here!! Don’t do a 2 day trip.. do at least 3 days and really go into the bottom of the canon. I booked at Land Adventures, good value again for what you get. You stay 1 night at a local family and 1 night in Copanaconde. You can also do it on your own. Just buy a good map, find out which route to take and take the local bus.

9. walk around in Arequipa! You will see so many nice buildings and places. It’s amazing!

10. go out on friday and saturday! Live music at some places, and go dancing at Deja Vu!

11. for eating I recommend this Mexican restaurant, great borritos and tacos! Also check out Turku and some pizza places (sorry can’t remember the names)

Okay, can’t come up with more tips for you but when I do I will post them. So Arequipa was really nice, I enjoyed every day. If you come to Peru don’t miss this place!

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So how to get from Arequipa to Cusco in one day? Sinds a week there were roadbloks all around Cusco and no bus could come into Cusco. And to make it worse.. no bus would even go to Cusco from Arequipa :( After hearing a lot of stories about people got stuck in a small village about 30 km away from Cusco, of people travelling for more than 24 hours we decided to take our own luck.

On Thursday the 18th we left Arequipa around 5 by bus. A company called `Ryana` took us for 20 SOL to a small place called Espinar, somewhere between Juliaca and Cusco. We arrived at 11 in the night and had to wait until 4 in the night for the next bus. We spent some hours in a hostel near the bus terminal playing cards and getting some rest. At half past three we were back at the bus terminal waiting for the next bus. Together with about 20 other locals we got on a bus towards Sicuani. The busride took about 2,5 hours and costs only 7 SOL. When we arrived in Sicuani the bus made a U turn, and everyone had to get out as fast as possible. Our bags were already out of the bus. So there we were, on the S3 route to Cusco, in front of the first major roadblok. We started walking with all our stuff following the other locals. We walked about 45 minuten into Sicuani, and at the bus terminal there were no busses of course.

At the terminal a man offerdto bring us as far as possible. So we jumped onto his motorbike with a trailer and off we went. He took us about 20 minutes, but then about 20 people surrounded us and punched his tires. We were in a strange situation right than. But luckily the locals didn`t had anything against us foreigners! So we got our stuff again and start walking. While walking we met four locals from Cusco how told us that it would be a 3 to 4 hour walk until a place called `Checacupe`.

During our walk we talked to a lot of people, both comming from the other direction and people going the same direction, and all told us different things. It went from 4 hours to 9 hours :S So we really didn`t know how many km we really had to walk. We passed roadblok after roadblok, village after village. We took as many local transportation as possible, some took us pretty far without problems, but some got their tires punched.

Two kids how took us a couple of miles, had to flee away from a ground of people how saw that they were giving us a transport. Two tuk-tuks in front of us got away just on time, but one of them got a big stone thrown into the cabine.. it was really nasty to see and be honest, pretty scary as well. But once again, no one carred about us so we just got our bags and moved on.

Around 5 we arrived finally at Rio Salcca, were another major roadblok was plus a couple of hundred trucks. We passed the roadblok and were told that it wouldn`t be far until the bus.. but the truth was, we had to walk for another 2 to 3 hours.. by the time we arrived Checacube the sun was gone, and we were tired and couldn`t walk any more. I had huge blizzards under my feet which made walking a real hell.  On the main scuare we finally met some other travellers! Together with them we g0t onto a pickup how told us he would bring us to the bus for 5 SOL each. Locals warned him that his tires would get punched by he didn`t cared. The 8 km drive was really scary and exiting. Half way we got stopped by some locals who wanted to punch his tires, but instead, he talked to them, they also got onto the pickup and gave us a save passage to all the other roadbloks we crossed. At every roadblok everyone streamed something, but in the end we passed them savely.

We got to the bus just on time.. 5 minutes later, and the bus was gone! Everyone was so happy that we congradulated each other with this amazing journey!

In total we walked 54 kilometers, from Sicuani to the bus in Checacube.. I am glad we made it save to Cusco, because between these major roadbloks, we didn`t see any police how could protect us. But all the locals were really friendly and greeting us all the time. No one asked for money or what so ever. I didn`t expected that many roadbloks and I never thought we would have to walk more than 50 km to get to the bus.

So for anyone who wants to do the same route: good luck and enjoy the journey! :)

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On the 3rd of June, it`s been exactly 3 months ago when I left holland! Yes I am now more than three months away and it`s still going good. It`s really a great feeling being so far away from home and doing so many beautiful things, meeting new people all the time and of course seeing new countries while heading up north.

It`s been a crazy journey from Rio de Janiero all the way down to Ushuaia and now going all the way up again towards central America. Crossing the south of Brasil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and now Peru. But before I will arrive there it will be a long long journey.

Right now I am in Peru, in a city called Arequipa, which is the second most populous city of the country. Arequipa lies in the Andes mountains, at an altitude of 2300 meters. From any place in the city, but espesily from from the roof terrace of my hostel I can see the snow-capped volcano El Misti (5822 meters) with is not very far away.

Why Arequipa?

Many reasons! After being on the travel for 3 months I am sick of being on the move. Sounds strange for someone that loves to travel I know. But it`s nice to stay at one place for some time; I don`t need to unpak, I don`t need to search for a hostal, bustickets, good restaurants, or a shop to buy something I need. It`s also nice to have a place to go to where you know the people, where they welcome you everything like your part of the family :) Second reason is that Arequipa is a really nice city. After being in Brasil, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia I have not seen a city so big but peaceful, clean, full of historical buildings, descent restaurants and shops.. It`s almost like Haarlem :)
And the third reason is that I wanted to take Spanish lessons. So I decided to stay here for a while :) First we went to the Colca Canon and after that I started my Spanish course at a spanish school called EDEAQ (Escuela de Espanol Ari Quipa). Every day (monday - friday) from 9 till 13. I have two teachers which I have 2 hours each. And taking the classes in Arequipa is also cheap. Right now I pay 6 US dollar an hour.

So these are the reasons :) I already uploaded some photo`s of the city but will make much more during the next week. Because I take one week more lessons. Hopefully I remember everything and can speak some Spanish next week.

Some facts!

- So far I have travelled about 11.000 km`s..
- Visited 5 countries already..
- I`ve taken more than 30 long bus rides..
- Slept in more than 50 different beds..
- Stayed in more than 30 different hostels..
- Met more than 40 people which I travelled more than 2 days with..
- Reached the top of 6088 meters..
- Had more than 10.000 mosquito bites already..
- Got sun-burned 5 times..
- Been sick 1 time..
- Got mugged 1 time..

Plans

After Arequipa it`s time to head north again. From here I will take the bus to Cusco where I also will stay at least two weeks for some more Spanish lessons. From Cusco I will properly go to Nasca, Ica, towards Lima and than up north. But much planning has not been made.. :)

Hasta luego!

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Kelsey made a nice video at the geysers called El Tatio near San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), enjoy wachting it :)
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