South America Adventure Part 2: Arequipa

Arequipa is a truly delightful surprise. Where Lima had been a bustling big city with many of the same pains and delights as any other, Arequipa was quaint, colonial, beautiful and clean.

We arrived after dark and took another slightly terrifying cab ride from the minuscule airport (picture an average sized Walmart with an average size parking lot in front. Arequipa airport and its parking lot out front are smaller than that). In the dark, it was hard to tell what we had arrived to as we wound around hilly dirt roads through sparse housing, and we wondered if this was the South American equivalent of a small Swiss mountain village. We eventually turned onto a decently sized highway (wondering why we hadn't taken something like this to begin with) and once we starting bobbing along over cobblestones, we knew we had reached downtown Arequipa. It was too late to start exploring, but we did need some dinner and the friendly hostel staff had sent us direction main square. Much to our surprise, it was simply beautiful. We ended up passing by all the touristy restaurants we had been recommended, but were now very excited to see what Arequipa had to offer the next day.

The next day, we strolled through the cobblestone streets, gazing over all the beautiful colonial-style buildings made of white sillar stone, a type of petrified ash from the nearby volcanoes.

We spent our time in Arequipa alternating between trying local foods and exploring the city via various tours, which seems to be the way things work here in Arequipa.

Aside from a free walking tour of the city, and a strongly recommended guided tour of the monastery, it was even only by tour that one could visit the cathedral on the main square.

At least they were informative. We learned about the original indigenous area of Arequipa, about how most of the churches incorporated many elements of local mythology into their decorations to attract the locals to come to church; we even visited an Alpaca wool exhibition, where we learned about the process and types of camelid wool and even got to feed some alpacas and llamas!

The "official" highlight of our two days in Arequipa was probably visiting the convent, the Monasterio de Santa Catalina, a veritable city within a city. Young girls would begin by spending 4 years as an novice nun, and then take an oath to spend the rest of their lives there as nuns, never to leave.

While the official highlight of Arequipa was the convent, the real highlight however was sipping Pisco Sours on a balcony overlooking the gorgeous Plaza de Armas and the cathedral, and watching the world pass by below.

It was strolling along the cobblestone streets, between the clean white houses, catching glimpses of each of the three impressive volcanoes flanking the city.

Two of the three volcanoes: Chachani to the left and El Misti to the right. The extinct Pichu Pichu chain lies to the right.

It was sampling the local food and drinks: Pisco, Alpaca steak, potatoes, and the less local food: gluten-free crepes and gluten-free pizza!

Potatoes originate in Peru! There are over 3000 different types. We sampled a measly 7 kinds.

There was one thing we sadly didn't get to do: Visiting the Colca canyon, one of the deepest in the world at 1.2km depth. We weren't too sad, as we knew we would get to see plenty of impressive nature at our next stop: Cusco, and the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu.