Today, March 31st

Day One in Arequipa. The breakfast was delicious and we woke up nice and early. There are a bunch of nice gringos here from the UK, Sweden, and the US, so we've been hitting it off really well so far. I prefer the locals, but what can one do? Our bunk mate is a cool guy named Stav from Israel. He just finished his mandatory military service and is crashing around the ol' Sudamérica to blow off some steam and some money.
However, there is some pretty bad news today for Andy. During the bus ride, one of the cops took all our passports off the bus to "process" them, which we basically interpreted as wasting time to feel important. He returned them, of course, but Andy came up missing a 100 Sol bill today and he thinks the cop took it. No way can we go back and verify that of course, he's just out about $35. Pretty crummy luck. Lesson learned, I guess. He keeps all his large bills and credit cards and stuff in the passport, which is, in my opinion, something to keep separate. But we feel real bad for him anyway. THEN, this morning, he discovered that between yesterday and today, he lost his ATM card. It likely fell out of his pocket on the bus, he thinks, and is basically without a way to withdraw money as they don't accept Wells Fargo cards here as far as we know. We're trying to fanangle a way to maybe transfer his money into my account via Bank of America, and then I can withdraw for him with my card. But of course, it requires extra work to cancel the previous card, possibly try to get a temporary one issued, and screw around with the internet process. Poor Andy, he's pretty bummed. However, it's not a total loss: he didn't lose his passport and it's not like he lost money, just the method to withdraw it. So we'll get him all squared away today, as well as finding the campsite in which we want to camp for a few days, get me a haircut, and explore the city.
Arequipa, so far, seems pretty cool, especially in the daytime. The drivers are nuts, the streets are full and lively, there is an AMAZING old plaza in the middle of town, pretty girls are exceptionally common and exceptionally pretty, and everything is dirt cheap. We love it so far. I'm off now to help Andy rectify the crappy bank situation with my Spanish and then we'll get some food and take a walk.

Love to all, wait for the next post. Chau
Brad