Arequipa

Back to the Lima airport: we arrived on time only to find out that our flight was delayed. Plans were foiled again. I had hoped to go out to one of Arequipa's gay bar's after we arrived. However, we arrived late and were too tired to head back out into the chilly night. Arequipa starts at around 2200 meters in altitude (over 7,000 feet). The weather is sunny and warm during the day and drops low at 4pm once the sun goes down. The sun here is fiercely strong.


The Airbnb we stayed in was in Yanahuara, a neighborhood that is 15 minutes walking distance to the center of town. The place was huge and beautiful and made of volcanic stone. The sister of Alejandro, the owner and the person we booked through kept asking if we made a mistake with our room. She didn't understand why we would want to share a bed. "This is okay?" She kept asking. Obviously she didn't get it, that we were together, sharing the 'matrimonial' bed, as it is translated to both Spanish or French.


Through Peru's AA website, I made a contact with a member of AA who met up with me to hold an informal meeting. It was way too early to go dancing so C and I shared a sweet crepe and a brownie. Around 1130 made our way to Imperio, the gay club in Arequipa. There were loads of cute baby dykes and homos and older folx too. We danced awhile but it was packed and ridiculously smoky in there. Since we would be commencing the cycling tour the next morn, and we didn't want to feel like poop, we headed back to our Airbnb at 1am.