Walking around Arequipa

November 16^th-18^th 

I took my first Peruvian night bus from Nazca to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru with a little over a million inhabitants.  One theory behind the origin of its name is from the word Ari meaning “summit” and Queppa which is “behind” so it’s the city located behind summits.  This makes sense as there are 3 volcanoes around the city: Misti which last erupted in 1985, dormant Chacani and extinct Pichu Pichu.  Arequipa is known as the “White City” since a lot of its historic buildings are built with white volcanic rock known as Sillar.

On the overnight bus:

My first view of the main square:

Some random suit of armor outside a building:

The courtyard of the Flying Dog hostel:

I never did play, but it was a nice looking billiard room at the hostel:

My cavernous bedroom:

Being at an altitude of 2335 meters above sea level, I decided to take it relatively easy the first day to acclimatize as Nazca only sits at 520 meters.  I met up with the Dutch couple, Reinier and Sibel, for drinks and dinner in the main square, also known as Plaza de Armas.  Pretty much all Peruvian cities have a square with this name, a hangover from the Spaniards I would guess. 

The Plaza de Armas:

Chacani Volcano:

A beautiful sunset:

Misti Volcano:

Reinier was brave and tried the Peruvian delicacy cuy for the first time.  If you’re not familiar with cuy, well it is guinea pig.  Yup, guinea pig…those cuddly little pets that many kids love as pets in many Western countries.  We all agreed that the dish would have been more appealing if it didn’t still have its little legs and head sporting its small front teeth.  Reinier did offer me a bite which I decided I had to try.  It was alright, a bit greasy but I think part of that was that it wasn’t the best restaurant.  When in Rome!

Reinier and his cuy:

Yum?!?

The following day I booked a walking tour which started at 10 am.  First, I charged up with an awesome breakfast at a place called Eco Brunch, which was recommended to me by Reinier and Sibel, and it did not disappoint…super yummy.

 

The meeting point was on a pedestrian-only street a few blocks from the Plaza de Armas.  We started off with only 6 tourists, but we were soon joined by 8-10 more people once we reached a small park called the Plaza de San Francisco.  We walked along some narrow streets with the guide explaining some of the history of the city.

Starting the tour:

Next, we ventured into Mundo Alpaca - Alpaca World!  We walked by the shops at the front of the complex filled with a variety of clothing from sweaters to scarves made from alpaca or llama fur, lots of nice looking stuff.  Back outside there was a pen with both alpacas and llamas hanging out.  We learned that and an easy way to tell the two animals apart is by looking at the neck.  Llamas have longer necks than alpacas.

An alpaca:

A llama:

The sorting of the fur must be done manually:

We spent a good chunk of the tour in Alpaca World, a bit too much to my liking.  Sure, we learned a lot about these animals but wasn’t this supposed to be a walking city tour?  Getting back on track, we wandered our way towards the centre of the city.  One interesting tidbit that the guide mentioned was that important historical buildings sport a blue and white little shield mounted on the wall and there’s a QR code near the door.  You can quickly scan the door and find out interesting information about the structure.  Great idea.

 

Outdoor, Covid friendly, confessions:

The tour finished on the same rooftop that I had visited the previous evening with Reinier and Sibel.  The group joined in a toast with some little drink and then we parted ways.  Overall, I think the tour could have been better but it was alright.

Another beautiful sunset in Arequipa: