Arequipa

We got a fairly civilised 8am cab to the airport for our flight to Arequipa, and found it much less sprawling and traffic-locked than Lima – and our hotel is just around the corner from the Plza de Armas, which is dominated at one end by the towers of the huge Cathedral and on the other three by fine colonial buildings with colonades and balconies. Hungry, we went pretty much straight away to a simple, traditional place for lunch – Xarza Mora, it was called, I had my first experience of the ubiquitous, and surprisingly tasty, colcho y queso. We had a wander round the Plaza and its environs, getting our bearings and generally chilling, and then went and sat on the rooftop mirador of our hotel to watch the sun go down over the mountains. Out again later, we found the Cathedral still open and went for a look and then found a local branch of the Peruvian café chain Tante where, still plenty full up from lunch, we still found room for some cake and hot chocolate…