Peru - Lima (25.08.2014)

I took a night bus from Arequipa to go to Lima (1015km / 16h).

When I arrived to my accomodation early in the morning (Backpacker's Family House) I met 3 boys from United States.

Later in the evening we went together to "Parque de la Reserva".
It's a famous place in Lima where you can admire many beautiful water fountains ("El Circuito Mágico del Agua").
There is also a show combining water, music, light, images and laser effects.
Then we went to a nice restaurant called "Alfresco" where I ate a quartet of Ceviche, a grilled pepper tuna and a chocolate fondant glazed with Chicha Morada. Yummy.

The day after I did the Free Walking Tour of Lima.
We saw the changing of the Guard in the Presidential Palace and we visited the historic part of the city center.
It's a nice city but it's always cloudy because of the pollution.

The last day I did a cooking class to learn how to cook few peruvian dishes and especially  "Ceviche" and "Pisco Sour".
I was with a french couple who was also doing a world trip but by bicycle.
First we went to a local market in Miraflores to buy the different ingredients.
Then we prepared the following peruvian dishes:
1. "Tiradito de Aji Amarillo"
2. "Ceviche"
3. "Papa a la Huancaina"
4. "Lomo Saltado"
We also learnt how to prepare classic Pisco Sour & passion fruit Pisco Sour.
Finally, we ate and drunk what we did. Yummy.
I really recommend this cooking class.
The chef "Hector Aguilar Valle" is really nice and very competent.

Peru - Arequipa (19.08.2014)

From San Pedro de Atacama I took a bus to go to Arica in the north of Chile close to the Peruvian border (700km/10h50).
I was planning to stay in Arica 2 or 3 days to surf but the weather was not good and the city didn't seem very welcoming.
So I decided to go directly to Arequipa in Peru.

When I arrived in Arica early in the morning I met a guy having the double nationality Australian and New Zealander (Carlos).
It was funny because he was travelling with a lot of heavy bags which contained DJ equipments, Indian spices and many other things.
In fact, he came from India to work in South America as DJ and cook.
But he could do lots of other things.

It was better for me to cross the border with someone in order to not getting ripped off.
Moreover one of his friend told him how to cross the border safely and for cheap.
So we took a public bus to go to Tacna in Peru in the other side of the border (58km/1h45) and from Tacna we took another bus to go to Arequipa (371km/7h).

I left Carlos in Arequipa because he took another bus to go Cuzco.

When I got off the bus I met 2 Chilean girls who was travelling in Peru.
We shared a taxi to go to the city center and we found an accommodation.

The day after I did the Free Walking Tour of Arequipa.
The tour was divided in three parts: History, Modernity and Gastronomy.
We visited the main historical places, the alpaca wool factory and we tried few food specialities (different kinds of potatoes, organic chocolate, pisco sour, ...).

I would have wished to stay few more days to visit the Colca Canyon but I had to go to Lima to meet my parents.

PS: Sorry for the quality of my pictures but my camera broke down in San Pedro de Atacama. So I used my phone camera and my GoPro to take them.