The monasterio San Catalina in Arequipa, a city within the city, turned out to be one of the greatest monuments I've ever visited. Not that it is spectacular or impressive, it it just an endless maze of little rooms and streets, but it is so cozy and picturesque and so beautifully restored that it's a real delight for architects and photographers alike - so I enjoyed it double.

Other than that Arequipa has no special sights, but it's still the nicest city I've been in outside Europe I think - can't think of another I'd rather live in.

Umm wait of course Arequipa has another special sight: the three huge mountains right next to the city. Tomorrow I'm heading up the middle one, the 5822m high volcano El Misti. I'll sleep in a tent at about 4500m, and then Saturday I wake up at 3am to climb to the top. There'll be little moonlight this time.

The mountain looks like one big bare rock with almost no ice on it, so I'm not sure if the route will be nice, but I'm mainly going to see the "sulfurous, yellow crater with vulcanic fumaroles hissing gas", and I also won't mind the "spectacular views down to the salinas and back to the city".

Check back in two days to hear how it was. I'll try to find a place where I can upload pictures again then, it's been a while.