Journey:

This was our longest journey yet. We had a 17 hour bus journey from Lima to get to Arequipa. We left at 15:00 and arrived at 08:00 the next morning. The journey wasn’t too horrific as we had paid for a nicer bus (S.115) with the company TEPSA. We had reclining seats, blankets, pillows, free supper and drinks. It could definitely have been a lot worse. Thomas also got a compliment from a slightly crazy old lady sitting in the seat opposite who said he had a lovely nose.

Accommodation:

Le Foyer Hostel. Located very close to the main square which was a big positive. However, this was also a negative as it was very near to all the bars and so was impossibly loud at night. The roof terrace was a nice touch though and at breakfast you had a great view of the mountains overlooking the city.

Sights/activities:

Colca Canyon

There are a huge amount of Tours leaving each day to the Colca Canyon from Arequipa. There are one day tours, two day tours, and trekking tours. In the end we opted for the one day tour as we were short on time.

We were picked up from our hostel at 3am to embark on the 3 hour journey to reach the canyon. After a breakfast of bread and jam and some sort of quinoa drink, we then visited a small town where we got to cuddle lots of baby alpacas (in true tourist style.)

The next stop was the canyon itself where we spotted some enormous condors flying around the top. The canyon is one of the deepest in the world at 3,270m (the Grand Canyon has a depth of 1,857m.)

We then were dropped at a hot springs, the price of which was not included in the tour. It was another very touristy stop, and a not very impressive stop at that. (Although it was optional.) Our lunch consisted of a buffet meal (again not included in the price) but somehow we only managed to get away with paying for one not two.

The scenery on the drive back was beautiful and consisted of a national park where we spotted alpacas, llamas and vicuña (which is kind of a wild alpaca.)

This tour cost S.45 each (and another S.70 each for the price of entry to the canyon) and packed a lot into a short space of time. For us, it was the most convenient way to see the colca canyon as we didn’t have a huge amount of time, but for those that have a few days to spend here a trek or a stop in Chivay would give you more time to see more of the very beautiful canyon.

Be warned it’s high altitude (at one point you stop at 5,000m to see some of the mountains in the area.) I walked uphill for maybe ten minutes and thought I might faint (pretty sure it was from the altitude not my lack of fitness anyway.) I was restored with some water and m&ms when I reached the top but to prevent altitude sickness there are pills or coca tea (or coca sweets which I discovered later.)

Plaza de Armas

One of my favourite squares in Peru. Beautiful white buildings and a grassy centre, with the vast cathedral sitting along one side. Great for people watching.

Museo Santuarios Andinos

This museum tells the story of Juanita, the 12 year old Inca girl sacrificed in the 1450s atop a mountain. It starts with a video, followed by a tour showing some of the things found with Juanita (and other sacrificed children) in the area. Finally, it ends with Juanita herself who has been preserved in a refrigerator. A very interesting museum, one of the most interesting we have been to in the whole of South America. (But maybe we’re kind of morbid as the mummified body was the major reason this was so interesting to us.)

Mundo Alpaca:

It’s not a big museum but you can go visit and feed some llamas and alpacas, (for FREE) as well as see some people making some traditional clothes from the hair. There’s a shop on site selling alpaca products but it’s very expensive. There are far cheaper places selling alpaca clothing throughout Arequipa and you can negotiate them down quite a lot.

Food:

Tacos and Tequila

We had an amazing meal just below our hostel at a Mexican restaurant (as you can guess by the name.) It’s fairly inexpensive and has tasty tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and a whole range of Mexican food. We had these along with the Peruvian Pisco Sour drink (which is delicious but dangerous.)

Argentina empanadas

Normally the empanadas we had come across in South America were filled with either cheese, chicken or meat. Here we found some different varieties, with our favourite being the Argentina empanada which was meat and potato.

Queso Helado

A kind of traditional creamy ice cream sold on practically every street corner in Arequipa. There is lots of other ice cream for sale too (despite the cold weather), our favourite is ron con pasas (rum and raisin.)

Drinks:

Casona Forum

5 different clubs/pubs in one. They like to play lots of latin music on the bottom floor so after a while we moved to the 80s level (where the 60 year olds were hanging out) where it was much more fun. It cost S.25 to enter the 5 different levels or you could pay S.75 to be VIP which gave no benefits but allowed you to stare at people from the floor above.

Pisco sour

Pisco, lemon and egg whites. Whatever Pisco is it’s a killer. 3 cocktails was enough to give me one of the worst hangovers of the trip (coinciding with a 12 hour bus journey.) The drink tastes amazing though.

Coca tea

Arequipa isn’t too high in comparison to some areas of Peru but altitude sickness can still occur (especially on a trip to the canyon) so the locals chew on coca leaves to prevent this. We had coca tea for the first time here and it kind of tastes a little like green tea. Definitely worth a try to prevent altitude sickness anyway.

Summary:

My favourite place so far in Peru. From my very negative feelings at the start in Mancora, the South of Peru was definitely turning those feelings around. The picturesque Arequipa was lovely and the Colca Canyon blew me away with it’s wonderful views and condors flying everywhere. Hopefully Peru would get even better with our last stops in historic Cusco and Machu Picchu.