Out of Arequipa

It seems that the recent troubles in Arequipa have cleared up a bit over the weekend, and that the roads in and out of the city are once-again open. For now, anyway. Not sure how long they'll stay open (it's still pretty volatile around here); but Chris and I seized the opportunity this evening, and grabbed a night bus to get us out of Arequipa, and over to the city of Nazca. Apparently, Nazca has been pretty much free of riots and roadblocks, so we should be fine there. Vamos a ver (lit: "we'll see").

Was a very nice bus that we got last night, since we decided to go with Cruz Del Sur, one of the nicer and more expensive bus companies in Peru. I usually prefer to go with a cheaper alternative to these guys; but Chris convinced me to go with them for this ride, due to it being an all-night bus, and due to the recent troubles (a less reputable company might suddenly bail out on us, in these conditions). Wasn't semi-cama, but the seats were still very comfy, and we even got fed dinner during the ride. I slept like a baby on the bus; but Chris said that he barely got any shut-eye — don't know why, since he had ear-plugs the whole way, and since it was a nice bus on a nice road (think "opposite of Bolivia" :P).

My week in Arequipa has been nice: but I don't know if I was just expecting too much, or if it was a bad time to go, or what; it didn't impress me as much as I thought it would. Arequipa struck me as a little bit too much of an "upmarket" city (the tourist centre, at any rate), with not enough of a party scene (definitely not in Cusco's league for that), and with too much fine architecture and serene sidewalks. I like a bit more craziness in my South American cities, thankyou very much. However, I admit that I didn't make much effort to go and see the "real" Arequipa; and I think that if I spent a bit more time here, and got to know some locals, then it would be a place that I could really enjoy. For now, I'm putting it down in the books as mas ó menos (lit: "so-so", or "not bad").