Another long but scenic bus ride and we were back in Arequipa. We tried another Peruvian staple at lunch- a pepper stuffed with meat and veggies and baked with cheese, called rocoto. I admit I went with the avocado version as I'm too big of a baby for the hot pepper.
Julie showed us around Peru's second biggest city, Arequipa, or the White City, so-called becuase of it's beautiful white walled buildings constructed from bricks of ash of the Arequipan volcanos. If only Europe had been so creative with their excess of ash. Of course we went shopping for alpaca accessories in these adorable little shopping and dining areas within the courtyards of former Dominican monastery. In colonial times, a cloistered life in the monastery of Santa Catalina was the prized fate of the second daughter of Spanish and mestizo families. Good thing I was born a few centuries later or I'm sure Ben would have had me in there in a minute. The monastery is simply beautiful and the women there had a life expectancy twice that of women on the outside (probably because they weren't mothering 15+ children) but I don't think the cloistered life is for me.
Tuesday evening we flew back to Lima and checked into the hot Miraflores Park Hotel for another Orient Express overnight. The hotel's brand new restaurant Mesa18 is another place-to-be in Lima - very swanky and contemporary cool. We enjoyed another fabulous meal (have I had a bad one yet?) compliments of another of Lima's top young chefs. Lima is such a hot culinary city - even our GM host Max had to admit it and he is from Buenos Aires! (But we won't tell your fellow Argentinians you said so.)
Lima is such a cool city because of this hip present, building on a rich and ancient history. Peru is home to the third oldest known civilization- right behind Mesopotamia and Egypt. On Wednesday morning we got a taste of this ancient culture at the Larco Museum - including an extensive collection of Pre-Incan erotic art... they sure wanted to document their good time in detail!
Midday we hit the road again bound for the beach!
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