Arequipa ´the white city´

It seems to me Peru has everything - wonderful cities, landscapes, culture and people....and its relatively cheap! We were not to be disappointed when we arrived in Arequipa, the ´white city´, and whisked to the Casa de Melgar, a beautiful hostel and former religious building it is assumed, as the rooms are plain and simple with serious parallels with the Franciscan monastery across the road. Like the monastery and many other buildings in the centre of the city the thick solid walls are built from sillar, the gorgeously white petrified product of the many volcanic eruptions eminating from the surrounding volcanos. It has beautiful gardens and is a tranquil sanctuary from the thousands of cheeky little taxis that constantly peep, bleet and whine down all the ancient cobbled streets. Their hope is to compact you into their tiny interior for the cheapest taxi ride I have ever come across - the equivalent of 40p anywhere in the city.
The colnial city was founded by the illustrious Francisco Pizarro in 1534 and nestles in a fertile valley under the perfect cone shaped volcano of El Misti.
There are a plethora of sights - mostly left from the colonial days. Spanish biuildings of all styles: churches, mansions, catholic convents and monasteries all built atop the original Inca buildings. The Plaza des Armes could be Cordoba with the cathedral dominating the plaza also built from sillar, white and gleaming and a survivor of all the earthquakes the city has...in fact there was a tremor on Good Friday..4 on the richter scale. There are occasional Inca remains but mostly the native indian hawkers remind you whose country you are in.
The history of Peru as of the rest of South America sings from the same hymn sheet - native indians pootling along happy to run the gaff when the Spanish turn up, invade, burn all their temples and make them go to catholic church every day! The native indians in most of the countries, whats left of them, seem second class citizens and many live in poverty - very visible to us westerners. We have to discrimminate in the end giving our change to the children or really old men and women - we can´t help everybody....its all guilt anyway....
On our arrival the first night we were plucked from the cloister in the Plaza des Armes by Ruben who took us to the very top of the plaza, the roof no less where we had the best meal in our south american adventure - not suprising as the chef was the professor in the local catering college. We sat there chomping and listening to a french choir singing a choral work in the catherdral next to us, which was broadcast to the whole plaza by loudspeaker and video as the cathedral was full. Quite ethereal.
The following days in this beautiful town consisted of visiting a Franciscan monastery,a Dominican convent of 17th century party nuns, trekking to Colca Canyon with a tour bus of international funsters, eating more fabulous meals (making sure we missed out roast guinea pig)and getting to know Emma and Rosie, just qualified medics on a months rotation at Cusco hospital and who were later to be bad influences on your intrepid friends!