Arequipa

Yesterday was a 5 a.m. wake up call to start our voyage up the Andes to around 8,500 feet above sea level. ..Arequipa, Peru. It was at least a 12 hour drive up the Pan American Highway but we had multpile stops in between to make it seem a little better. The drive was beautiful. The highway is carved into the mountains on the coast almost the entire way. It's nothing like driving down I-40 I can tell you that.

First stop..the Nazca fault line. It's the equivalent to the San Andreas fault line in California. It was huge. Once again, I've never seen anything like it. Next stop...45 minutes later...the walking dunes. There were miles and miles of different size dunes you could walk across. However, it was like sinking sand, therefore, a little difficult to walk across. It depends on which way the wind is blowing as to which direction the dunes face. Next was my favorite stop of the day...Puerto Inca. It was a civilization built by the Incas in the 1400s/1500s on the coast. You could still see the foundation of their houses. Some of us decided to take our first hike of the trip with Raul. We climbed up the rocks, passing the ancient civilization on all sides. We finally got to the top where we could see the beautiful white waves crashing into the rocks and bright blue water for miles. It was worth the trip in itself...I can't even imagine what Macchu Picchu will be like. After our hike, we dipped into the Pacific very briefly due to the cold water. Most people at Elon are from the North so they thought I was being a wimp since I live on the warm Atlantic. Next was a power nap and then time for lunch. We pulled off the highway and sat on some rocks near the coast..so simple yet so beautiful. Found lots of shells and the bus driver had to fix the speedometer on the bus.

Today, we had our first Spanish class at Maximo Nivel school about 1 minute down the calle(street) from our hotel. Bex and I are in the same class which is awesome. We just look at each other and laugh half of the time. We love our teacher and pretty much want to be her one day. Her name is Kris. After our awesome spanish class, we had another sociology class and then were off to explore the city. Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru full of 1 million people. It's full of cobble stone walkways and Spanish architecture. Much different from Lima. It reminds me of Spain in a way...historic, beautiful, unique.

Keep warm for me in North Carolina and where ever you may be. LOVE.