Exploring Arequipa

Before leaving Arequipa for Cusco yesterday Adrian and I did a bit more exploring, and decided to pay a visit to the Santa Catalina Convent, which was recommended by our trusty guide book. We thought it´d be a half hour thing: pop in, have a cuppa, wonder off. I think we were actually in there for nearly three hours.... and I don´t think I´ve ever taken so many photographs in one location before.

It´s basically a walled town completely seperate from the rest of the city, despite being very central. It´s so peaceful and you see some of the ´cells´ which have been kept exactly as the nuns left them. There were once over 400 nuns living their (fairly) solitary existences there, but now there are only 50 or so living in an area kept seperate from the part open to tourists.

It´s all narrow cobbled streets with walls painted shades of blue and red, and potted geraniums everywhere. It was a super sunny day too which made it even more beautiful. I could start a whole new blog with the photos I took, but I´ll just have to be selective and pop a few on for now....

Crossing the border

We left Valparaiso to embark on a 30 hour bus journey that would take us north to the Chilean border town of Arica. We arrived there ridiculously weary and very late at night, but fortunately had befriended another couple who had booked a room at a hostel nearby. We got a room there and relaxed in front of the telly with a bottle of wine and watched a movie about a Mexican chef and his 3 headstrong daughters. Food, food, food, all the way through. It made us miss cooking so much!

The next morning we got up and with our new friends, hopped in an ancient Ford (see photo!) which would take us across the border into Peru. It was all very straightforward and we arrived in Tacna (Peru´s answer to Arica) not long after. Then we had ANOTHER bus ride from Tacna to Arequipa, which is where we are now. Got here last night feeling all bussed out but fortunately found an amazing Peruvian/Swiss restaurant that did super delicious fondue. Felt much better after filling ourselves up on that and a bottle of wine...!

We have one more night in Arequipa tonight before we´re on the move again, this time to Cusco where we´ll be joined on Sunday by our mothers - phew!

Paradise Valley

We travelled by bus from the mountains of Santiago to the coast, to a town called Valparaiso (literally translated, means Paradise Valley). The land, full of multi-coloured houses, falls from great heights into the Pacific and rickety wooden diagonal lifts take the residents up and down the town´s steep hills. The whole scene is so idyllic that the whole place is now a UNESCO world heritage site.

Valparaiso is said to be the cultural capital of Chile, and we certainly find this place inspiring. Amy has now run out of film thanks to her trigger-happy camera work and the sound of musicians in restaurants and on the streets has filled our heads with ideas. Among the brightly-painted houses with stunning views, boutiques sell hand-made crafts and jewellery and interior designers dodge stray puppies at the Sunday antiques market.

Here is some of Amy´s handiwork to enjoy.

Chess players in Plaza de Armas

Time travelling

Arrived in Santiago before we left Aukland! We got a second chance at our Wednesday afternoon, a la Groundhog Day.

After a sleepless 10 hour flight we touched down and hopped into a shuttle bus which dropped us off at our hotel, Recidencial Londres, which made us feel right at home. It was a magnificent building at least 150 years old with super friendly staff who helped us out when our Spanish wasn´t quite up to scratch.

We managed a great day snowboarding at El Colorado in the stunning Andes, and did a LOT of walking around museums and up steep hills to little viewpoints over the city.

Santiago is a great city with loads of cool little districts where you can hang out, eat and drink, but we found that a healthy meal was hard to come by - these Chileans sure do love their meat!

City of Sails, ghost town

We left Queenstown for Aukland just a couple of days before we were due to fly to Santiago. We couldn´t bear to part with all the beautiful scenery any sooner!

We arrived on a Monday night and the place was a total ghost town - literally nobody was about and when we dropped into a tiny bar called the Wine Loft, the barman was closing (at 9pm!) because no customers had been in all evening. We wondered the streets looking for somewhere to have a nightcap, and in the end had to settle for the bar in the Crowne Plaza.

We did pop up the Sky Tower to check out the view over the self proclaimed ´City of Sails´though, and it was pretty cool.