Arequipa

We arrived in Arequipa this morning, it is my favorite town in South America so far. It is Peru´s second largest city, and although it is very busy, it is safe and considerate, I would say. We walked around all day, stopping to get fresh maracuya (passion fruit) that we ate along the way, and chocolates. The plaza is beautiful, it has more trees lining it than any of the other plazas we have seen. I was able to buy really soft alpaca wool so I can make a Peruvian scarf!!
For lunch we went to a restaurant that was recommended to us by the woman at the hostal, we told her that we wanted traditional Peruvian Arequipeno food, and she sent us to a place where we were the only foreigners. We had cuy, which is deep fried guinea pig. It is one of Peru{s traditional dishes, so we had to try it! It is served sort of spread out, like a flying guinea pig. It was pretty good, but nothing I ever need to have again. We had another plate of traditional meats and potatoes, lots of raw onions and rice. And lamb soup, yummy! We drank a sort of fermented cactus flower wine, it was really good too.
Tomorrow we are going on a two day tour of the canyon just outside of Arequipa, we are going to see wild condors, hopefully, hike around and go to hot springs. I{m excited!