At last the bus journey is over and I have arrived in Arequipa. It’s 05:30 and the bus dropped me off at The Flying Dog – my hostel for the next 3 nights.

It was early and I wasn’t sure what do till check in at 10am. I knew the host would keep my bags but where would I go? Not into the street for sure.

The staff very kindly allowed me to stay in the beautiful wee courtyard where I met the resident black and white cat. He jumped onto my lap an fell fast asleep, what a lovely introduction to Arequipa.

My room was ready in half an hour and I was so pleased to know I would put some roots down for 3 nights.

It was a small, clean, comfy wee room with my own toilet and shower – everything I needed. It was right beside the breakfast/dining/social area with easy access to the kitchen for me to pop into to make a cup of tea when ever I had the notion – perfect!

Even though they didn’t have to do it, the establishment put on an early breakfast for all the new hungry and tired arrivals and it was very much appreciated.

I didn’t even bother to unpack, shoes off and under the covers till 12pm ‘ish – best sleep ever!!

I woke up feeling refreshed and decided to go out into town and test my navigation skills. Arequipa city streets are built in the style of a national grid, a chess board, perfect little squares. I was eagre to find some superglue as the lens of my glasses was continually falling out and I was going to lose it permanently for sure.

Street map to hand I headed out to discover what lay behind the heavy wooden door.

I wandered round aimlessly with real no fixed plan accept I had a wee shopping list: round hairbrush, superglue, mascara and English T-bags. I wandered up and down the parallel streets hopelessly searching. Its weird but I’ve been searching for ever for all of the above since Lima and never once have I found a shop that stocks any of them.

I wandered into a shopping mall full of single units and I spied someone who dyed hair. So some strange reason I went in, pointed to my grey roots and the colour at the ends and hoped she understood that I wanted the grey blonde and not the other way around.

I put the destiny of my hair colour in her hands and kept my fingers crossed as she applied the lotion.

An hour later she was rinsing it off and it was time to look in the mirror – perfect, my stripes were gone!!

I had a new found confidence and trotted round the neighborhood like a local, popping into a restaurant for a late lunch and visiting the local tourists attractions.

Enough was enough as I didn’t want to become over confident so I headed back to the hostel, maybe not quite in a straight line but I got there

Tomorrow I’ve booked myself onto the one day Colca canyon tour with pick up time at 02:30 so backpack packed and early to bed (9pm).

Well, living so close to the social area is definitely not the best idea – at night it turned into a night club and the music is deafening. Hours, hours I lay awake listening to the thumping music but I had to be tolerant – I was young once too.

Earphones planted and the music resounding in my ears became competition with the music that was out.

Nite 🎤🎹🎸🥁