October 20, 2005
Day 22
I had a hard time sleeping last night. My room is right next to a busy street with constant horn-honking, and it starts to get light at 4:30 AM here, so by 5:00, the entire room was lit up. I got up and walked around like a zombie for awhile, unable to sleep or wake up.
I don't think Morad slept all night. He was able to get a flight out of town today, so after packing up and having lunch we said our goodbyes. I hope everything goes well for you, Morad. Maybe you'll be back in South America in no time.
This afternoon was mainly spent catching up on my blog, but I also took a walk through the city. I went to Yanahuara, which is a nice suburb of Arequipa. The main plaza was aligned with palm trees, and there were lots of people chilling out, as usual. At the edge of the plaza was a mirador, a place to look over the entire city.
On the way back from Yanahuara, I walked past a religious procession. There were thousands of people marching down the street in a very somber mood. I wasn't too surprised, though, because that kind of thing happens nearly every day here. Keeping on the same theme, after I got back to the Plaza de Armas in Arequipa, I decided to look at the cathedral that takes up an entire block. It had a huge pipe organ in the back, and was generally very nice to walk around.
Later at night, I went to the bus station to buy a ticket for Cuzco tomorrow night. Tomorrow, I should definitely be able to get caught up on my blog. I had fallen way behind from going to the Colca Cañon. (The entire town of Yanque only had one phone. I don't think they had ever heard of the Internet.) I'll probably spend close to two weeks in the Cuzco area, so tomorrow will also probably give me a good day's rest in preparation for my trip.
