The drive to Arequipa

After lunch, we were on the road to our next destination, the city of Arequipa.  We climbed up to 4800 metres above sea level again.  The sun disappeared, the temperature plummeted, and it started to rain.  Soon, the rain turned to sleety snow and there was snow on the ground all around us, even on the road!  We should have stopped at a viewpoint to see a volcano, but visibility was very poor so we carried on driving.  Talk about four seasons in one day!

Further on, the snow and rain cleared, but we were still at over 4000 metres, so it was very cold.  We saw lots of herds of llamas, alpacas, and vicunas on the high plateaus.  We had a toilet stop at a mountain and volcano viewpoint.  It was bleak, but beautiful - and absolutely freezing!

Night fell, and we drove into Arequipa in darkness.  We were held up in rush hour traffic, so the last few kilometres were slow.  Just as we approached our hostel, we were followed by Santa in his sleigh playing Jingle Bells!  Very festive!  It's not a very good picture, but you get the idea 😀.

We arrived at the hostel at anout 6.30pm.  Half of us were camping in the grounds, and the others had upgraded to rooms.  We got our tents set up and made ourselves known to a Swiss couple in a campervan who were also staying here.  They must have thought they were in for a peaceful stay.  Then they found themselves surrounded by lots of tents and had a truck kitchen set up in the pot wash area!

Some people walked into the historic centre for dinner, but a few of us stayed in the camp.  We went to bed by 8.30pm.  Even though we had descended to 2300 metres, it was still very cold!Read more