Adventure´s in Arequipa

The Plaza de Armas in Arequepa became our central resting place. Each tour of the city was bookended by a rest in the park. The block-wide plaza was home to a large fountain, communal meeting point of local Peruvian and pigeons adoringly pecking away at the bountiful feed sold by vendors. The city was surrounded by the a never-ending maze of canyons, three daunting volcanoes and sprawling desert with endless volcanic dust. We started off our explorations with a tour of the some churches and religious centers. The dated structure evoke awe in there enormity and grandiosity but the unquestioned catholic commitment leaves me with a bad taste. The endurance of architecture of the 400 year old city is only emphasized by survival of a volcano eruption sweeping away part of the city. The building seem to reflect the same altitude of endurance that is evident in Peruvians.
We quickly are loured into a tourist booking agency with prospect of rock climbing in the canyonous outskirts of the city. After renting gear, we meet a local guide that has plans to climb with his friend in the morning. Inviting us along, he offers us all the services of a guide but with no expectation of money. After find a hostel that is immediately upstairs from the agency. We eat our third meal ofChifa (Chinese in Spanish...I´ll explain in a later post) and rest for the next days adventure.The next morning, we take a cab through the city with the guide pointing out historical attractions and the driver acting in solidarity with the rest of traffic by refusing to use a turn signal at any of the dozens of turns. We walk out from the edge of town and wander through a raw materials mining area to a 200 ft cliff. The volcanic rock is beautifully alluring with its jagged holds and offers precarious assurance that these holds will not crystallize in our hands. I take first lead on the rock. On first inspection. I grab a large parturition of rock and pull myself off the ground, or at least that was my intention. The large chunk of rock detaches for the cliff and leaves stumbling away from the rock face. The guide looks nonchalant and acts as if it the normal start to the climb. As it turns out, this seemed to be the case. I let out a nervous laugh and say to Ian
"At least I know what I getting myself into." I turn back to the cliff and proceed by placing more pieces of protection than my usually adrenaline seeker self is used to. "The goal of this cliff was to climb faster then the falling rocks." I joked to Ian after my climb. The unique rock provided an exciting climbing experience that I would be inclined to return to soon. But I must follow my mother advice when she told me to try everything at least once. It was either that or make sure you stay safe. Sometimes it´s hard to recall motherly advice.
Arequipa lies at 7,550 feet. It is the perfect stopping off point to acclimate to the higher elevations around Peru. It is suggested that travelers spend at least two days here to avoid the altitude sickness that can occur in cities likePuno , the city tucked in the major port of Lake Titicaca. We of course read this after our time in Arequipa. We spent adequate time to adjust to a city likePuno, but not for adventure we had in store. We took a seat on a bench in La Plaza de Armas. We rested our bodies from hiking and climbing of the day. We flipped open our guide book to get some information about the towering volcano looming just north of the city. The brief description left us with more questions then answers. These answers would not come from a book, they would not come from a guide, they were our motivation. They were sought after. They were left to be discovered.