Arequipa

Well this is my second day in Arequipa and ive gotta say, i love this city. Its the second largest in Peru (behind Lima) and is essentially a Spanish colonial city with a very strong British and American affluence. Overall, it balances really nicely. Its abit classier than the rest of Peru but still cheap to stay, eat and do. The hostel here is great aswell. The Point Arequipa is in an old mansion with plenty of space, a pool table, table tennis, free breakfast and free internet. Theres also hammocks in the garden to lounge around in and a cheap bar. What more could you want???

I had to buy a new pair of sunglasses today - i finally lost my old ones after leaving them in one too many places. I was asking for it really! The new ones cost me 30 soles equiv of $11 so not too bad. It still seemed like a lot - i cant adjust easily to the different exchange rates. Im converting soles to dollars to pounds and getting confused. Today was pretty good except for one crucial thing. I think ive lost my USB pen drive. The one with a lot of photos and uni work on. Ive got copies of my uni work on my laptop but not the photos. Thankfully i loaded a few up onto facebook but im still missing some great shots from the Sacred Valley and the Pisac Inka Ruins. Hopefully ill find it!

On an up note, im on a 2 day tour to hike El Misti starting tomorrow. The dormant volcano towers up to 5825m above Arequipa with supposedly great views of the surrounding area and Andean Mountains. Thats if the fog lifts! Its been hanging at about 3500m the last few days. It should be a good trip and by no means trivial. As with anything in that sort of altitude, sickness can become a problem and thats probably the major factor on this hike. I havent suffered too much so far - just a mild headache and lethagia at times so far. I feel good now and got plenty of chocolate/sweets to get me to the top, providing the weather allows! Ive learnt from some guys at the hostel that 2 things can help altitude sickness - coca/cocaine or ibruprofen. Ive got the latter, obviously! Although coca leaves are really common around here - kind of a unpure derivative of cocaine and certain not as harmful (more of a sedative). Ive tried a couple of leaves (u just chew them like mint) and they taste really bitter - didnt do it for me!

Have a good weekend everyone.
Laters