Started the day on the roof terrace for complimentary breakfast with a 360 degree view of Arequipa and its surrounding snow capped mountains...idyllic.
We head out into the sun, with all our valuables strapped to us, to visit the many ornate churches and museums of Arequipa.
Many of the churches here are made of a white volcanic stone so have a light airy feel but others are full of intricate gold displays.
Once we'd had our fill of churches for the morning we stopped off at a bustling food market where an array of exotic fruits were piled high on numerous stalls.
To eat our oranges from the market we sat in the sun at the Plaza de Armas.
Here Libby did the first of her sketches while Hannah attempted to learn some Spanish to make communication a little easier.
Yet more churches, museums and the city courts followed by a typical Peruvian lunch of cheese and meat empanadas (the meat was our favourite and was like a spiced Cornish pasty). We then crossed over the river to the more modern side of the city via a bridge with incredible views.
Found our first alpacas so now feel like we're truly in Peru.
Libby navigated us up to the 'spy point' to take in the views across the city and of the surrounding volcanic peaks. Hannah geeked out looking at the volcanic features.
We then made our way across to the next top 'tourist location' which turned out to be a shopping centre. Not too excited by this we made our way back across to the old part of the city and had a look through numerous market stalls with a range of tempting alpaca products which we vowed to return to.
Libby sketched another church in a courtyard surrounded by purple blossom then we head back to bothy hostel to shower before it got too busy.
Temptation got the better of us and we returned to our favourite (the cheapest) alpaca market to purchase a couple of cosy jumpers.
After a meal and more scrumptious passion fruit juice we retired to the hostel for an early night before our 4am start tomorrow.
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