Arequipa - El Misti Volcano

In Arequipa, we did a two day trek on El Misti which is a 5825m volcano. The first day we walked uphill for 6 hours, the air is very thin and gets thinner each hour you go up. It was very difficult, as least half of it was just climbing up very jagged rocky ground, and we were carrying our big bags, plus the tent, mats, sleeping bags, food etc. Sam and the guide Alex arrived at camp before Samantha, who was walking around 4 steps and then siting down for a rest. She was not very well from altitude sickness. Once we all reached camp, we had soup and pasta for tea and then went to bed at 6pm, as Sam had to be up at 1am. Before bed we noticed the city lights and the stars once again were truely amazing, with a gorgeous bright orange sunset. At 1am, Sam and the guide left for the summit of the volcano to climb the last 1325m (the recommended height to climb in a day is around 700-800m t0o avoid altitude sickness...). Unfortunately Samantha couldnt go as she was too unwell. She stayed in the tent alone, on the side of the volcano very scared. After twenty minutes of Sam having left, an animal of some sort started sniffing around the tent and eating any remainders of ths soup. Samantha very scared, tried to sleep. Sam meanwhile had reached the top in 4 hours, whilst his toes and lips had swollen up and his fingers were numb, but didnt suffer any altitude sickness luckily. He was freezing cold and his bottle of water actually froze along with his toes and fingers. A good example of the body concentrating on the essential organs lol. After staying at the top for 10 minutes or so due to having a big toe the size of a small potato and being frozen Alex the guide told me we would be down in less that 1 hour. 4 hours up, 1 hour down? From the summit they literally ran down one of the faces of the volcano because it just consisted of sand. For Sam that was a sport by its self, it was like skiing, but your hiking boots were the skis. It was pretty fun running down 1325m down a volcano back to base camp. From base camp we then walked another hour or so to the bottom and to head back to Arequipa.
Also in Arequipa Sam went to a Monostary that took up an entire city block. Inside it had its own street names and everything. Sam also went to see a 500 year old frozen girl 'Juanita the ice maiden' (still had skin, hair, organs, nails) that archeologists discovered on a nearby mountain to the volcano we climbed. At a restaurant in the main square Sam wanted to be a little adventerous and try 'Cuy'....Guinea Pig. When it came it had been opened up to be cooked, but it still had a few organs left in and teeth. There was hardly any meat on it, but it made a good photo.