Peru - Wednesday 14 October 1998
Totally broken we arrive in Arequipa, a city with 1 million inhabitants, on approximately 2400 meters height. I'm still sick as a result of the bus, and the altitude doesn't make it any better.
A taxi drives us to our hotel. It's a beautiful hotel with all kinds of streets, terrasses and a lot of flowers. Finally having a breakfast... with real good coffee!
We decide to stay in the hotel this morning and have a rest. In the afternoon we go to visit some tourist places in the city. We start at the Saint Catalina-abbey. It's an old nun-abbey, where nuns used to live completely separated of the rest of the world. This is a complete city inside the city!
There is also a museum for a mummies of the Inca-girl Juanita, who was offered to the Gods. In the museum is also an impressive movie about an expedition to find her, deep under the ice on El Misti mountain.
In the evening we join Patricia to a 'real nice restaurant'. On our way to it, Diederick decides to buy two films for his camera. One of it appears to contain only paper and stones. Good. The restaurant is a typical, expensive tourist-restaurant. On the menu: fried chicken and potatoes. I decide to take a fish soup.
The restaurant appears to be lousy. There is a huge time-lap between the first of us gets his food and the last. I'm the last. I get really angry about it, also to Patricia - hoping that she will translate it to the owner of the restaurant. Well... even if I hadn't, it wouldn't have been a nice evening.
On our way back to the hotel I speak with Patricia about it. I try to explain that most members of our group prefers to go to simple, real Peruvian restaurants. She explains that most other groups prefer not to go there, afraid of getting sick of the food.
