Peru July 21

We arrived in Arequipa bus station around 9 am. We took a taxi into town and it was 5 soles total. Which meant 1 sole per person. Which meant about 33 cents in dollars for a 7-8 minute cab ride. We finally decided on a hostel called La Reyna. It was right across the street from the Monaserio de Santa Catalina. Different Santa unfortunately. It was also a block away from the main plaza of the city, which is quite gorgeous. We had only 4 beds for 5 ppl, but we did have a balcony that looked out over the monastery thing and the city one way, and a mountain and El Misti the other way. It also had about 8 more levels up higher with better views as you went up. It was 13 soles a piece per night, which, divided by three is about $4.30 per night. God I love this place, Jew Heaven. After we checked in we left and had a pre-lunch snack at this café that is worked by all orphan children and one adult. I had a delicious Empinada for 2.50 soles. I splurged because I was helping the children. Vaughn and I then split from the rest of the group to go shopping and to figure out our Colca Canyon hike. We made no progress before lunch at all. We met back up with Hannah, Sarah and Steven and ate lunch at a little nicer restaurant. I had al paca medallions with mashed taters and veggies. I ate all the veggies!!! And the meal was a little expensive, but good. Vaughn and I then went our separate ways again to figure out our trip. We ended up talking to Pablo (whose real name is Edwin, but for some reason we liked to call him Pablo). He was very helpful and told us to come back at 5:00 for the maps of the canyon. So we went out and bought most of what we needed for the trek, finished off by a power shopping spree at the El Super (Arequipan Kroger). We went back at 5:00 and got the maps and some advice, one being to get a mule when we get to Choco because a steep pass is right after it. But, since Vaughn and I are ex-high school athletes (which means we can do anything), we thought to ourselves we wouldn’t need a mule because we are too cool. So we thanked Pablo and left to go to dinner with the group. We ended up going to a restaurant with a 5.50 sole special. I got a huge bowl of delicious unknown soup, a quite tasty steak (decent size), 5 fries and some rice. Not back for $2.00. After dinner Vaughn and I remembered that we needed a pot for the trip. After an hour or so of looking through malls and lit up streets, we decided to go to this one last store and then give up. Low and behold, the store had a pot in our price range!!! We went to bed around 10 because we had to wake up at 5:00 am for our bus to Cabanaconde.