Arequipa, Peru
We were reunited in Arequipa at Bothy Hostel, after Susie had spent the night in Lima airport and Alison, Rach, Ritchie and Hannah had got the overnight bus from Cusco. The girls had been told that their bus would arrive in Arequipa at 7:30am, coinciding perfectly with Susie’s 7am landing. However what they hadn’t anticipated was that they would be made to switch buses at 4:30am, and wouldn’t make it to Arequipa until 11am. Susie therefore had a very panicky 4 hour wait in the hostel not being able to get hold of them. All became well when they burst through the doors and we were the fab five again. After an epic 6 hour nap, we went to the top rated restaurant in Arequipa to celebrate our reunion. Zig Zag offered an amazing selection of meats and fish, and all of us went for the ‘trio of meats’ option. Sizzling beef, alpaca and duck with various accompaniments and dips were placed in front of us, whilst bibs were tied around our necks. The quality of food was absolutely fantastic, another fave of the meals we’ve had so far this trip.
The next day we had breakfast in the sun on our hostels’ rooftop terrace with a panoramic view of the surrounding mountains (Misti and Chachani). After exploring the town and the various shops we had delicious savoury crepes at Crepissimo, before getting our cultural fix spending a couple of hours looking round the monastery. There was a swanky-looking bar that overlooked Plaza del Armes that had caught our eye, and unsuspectingly it provided the most amazing view of the city and the sunset. However one aspect of Arequipa we didn’t anticipate was the dramatic temperature change after the sun sets. Unfortunately, having got a bit carried away with our Pisco sours watching the sun descend on the city, we were stuck there shivering in our shorts and tops. Our waiter came to the rescue and delved into a cupboard and pulled out 5 giant red ponchos! We smugly finished our drinks in this new found warmth and then sprinted home after to get more layers before dinner, since sadly we weren’t allowed to keep the ponchos. That night provided yet another excellent dinner at Zingaro restaurant, where Hannah and Alison braved the guinea pig, and Susie, Rach and Ritchie had trout in various yummy sauces. Alison has a mild issue with food that still looks like the animal when it arrives on her plate, so we were all curious to see her reaction when the guinea pig was presented to her. She actually did very well, until we couldn’t resist taunting her a bit with the head. For anyone interested in trying it, the general consensus was that it tastes fairly average, you don’t get much meat, and it’s more of a novelty that wouldn’t get ordered again.