Arequipa, Peru

Arequipa and the Colca Canyon

Wednesday April 19th
The flight from Juliaca to Arequipa takes only about 25 minutes. On arrival at the airport we make a reservation for a hostal in Arequipa and arrange for a taxi into the city. Anna at the Posada Real in Puno had given us the name of a hostal but the girl at the airport said it would be much more expensive, so we signed up for another one she suggested.

The Hostal we go to is very central but a bit tacky looking. We decide to stay because we are going to the Colca Canyon the next day if possible. We have to ask for toilet paper and towels. The towels smell so bad we can not use them. The girl at the reception makes reservations for us to go on a tour to the Colca Canyon. We will leave early the next morning.

We arrive at the Arequipa airport.

We are only a block from the Plaza des Armas. This is the second largest city in Peru. The plaza is lovely. There are magnificent portals on three sides of the plaza and on the fourth side is the huge cathedral. In Peru the plazas are very well used by all the people. Many families can be seen strolling with their children, people young and old sitting on benches just enjoying the evening, lots of street vendors and some tourist police keeping an eye on everything. We find a place on the plaza to have supper. The chicken is very good. Then to bed.

The Cathedral in the Plaza de Armas.

Thursday April 20th
We are up early and waiting for our breakfast out on the patio. Everything is very dusty. (Peru is very dusty in general. I had not realized it was mostly desert.) The van is at the gate and we are on our way to the Colca Canyon.

The Colca Canyon trip is quite long so I have put it on a separate page. Return here later.
Click here to go to the page about the Colca Canyon Adventure

Easter in Arequipa

Friday April 21st
We arrived back in Arequipa around 5.30 to-day. Before returning to the hostal we decide to check out the Casa de Melgar, the hostal Anna had told us about. It was much nicer then the one we had been in on wednesday night and to our surprise the same price as the one referred to us by the tourist bureau at the airport. We made a tentative reservation and then went back to the other one to pick up our bags.

La Casa de Melgar, the hostal in Arequipa where we stayed.

It was only about four blocks to the Casa de Melgar so we decided to walk. The bags were pretty heavy and we had to keep stopping to rest. The tourist police office is right around the corner from the Casa de Melgar and we had to set our bags down on the sidewalk. The cop standing outside the office came across the street when he saw us. He picked up my bag and I thought he was going to help us but just said it was very heavy and went back to his post.

The Officina de Tourismo around the corner from our hotel.

La Casa de Melgar is very nice. An inner court yard where we can have breakfast. Hot water in the shower and clean towels. Friendly people. We have decided to stay in Arequipa until Monday or Tuesday and then fly back to Lima to go home. Sunday is Easter and we want to experience how the Latin Americans celebrate this major event. We are dirty and dusty from the long trip so have a shower and then go out to eat.

Our clothes are dirty after all the dust on the road. The lady on the hotel reception desk arranges to have them sent to a laundry for us.

The Officina de Tourismo and street scene.

We visit the tourist office for some information on what there is to see in this city. The mummy Juanita is usually here in the museum but for now it is touring Japan. The tourist police tell us as long as we stay in the main part of the city it is fairly safe to walk around. They warned us that outside of this area the risk of getting robbed is much higher.

Saturday: April 22nd
It is very hot in Arequipa to-day. We walked around down town this morning. The streets are very busy as it is Easter week. We went to see the Santa Catalina Monastery. It is a big convent and there are still a few nuns living there but most of it is a museum.

Barbed wire on the wall at Santa Catalina Monastery.

We stop to rest and look out over the city through the barbed wire. We are sitting talking to a young couple when I discover there is a slash on the top of my back pack. It was not big enough for anything to be taken out though. A good wake up call to be more careful. As we get used to the area we tend to relax and get careless. The streets were so crowded this morning it must have happened then.

This afternoon we booked our flight back to Lima on Lan Peru, leaving Arequipa at 12.25 Tuesday. This will have us arriving in Lima in daylight and we already have a room booked in Miraflores for that night.

We were walking around the plaza and one of the tourist police approached us and started talking to us. In spanish of course. Very nice and we could understand most of what he was saying. There is lots of security around and the tourist police see us going by their office all the time to our hotel. Gringos stick out like sore thumbs here. There was a big parade to-night. Huge statues being carried on the shoulders of the men. Some of them are military men. This is the second procession we have seen. After the procession there is going to be a rock concert in the Plaza. "Jesus Christ Super Star". We wait for it to start but soon become weary and decide to go back to the Casa.

Sunday April 23rd
We went to the Cathedral for Mass this morning. After Mass there is a big event on the Plaza with the raising of a flag and a parade of groups of the military. There were sentries up on the roofs of the buildings around the Plaza, so it must have been someone important on the podium. Wish I knew more Spanish.

Plaza de Armas, Easter sunday. There were some important speakers here and you can see the snipers on the roof guarding them.

The soldiers in the plaza shot off a gun salute right near where we were standing and it startled us as we had not noticed them raising their rifles. There is still some tension in the country from the elections. This is a very beautiful plaza with impressive buildings all around.

Plaza de Armas, Easter Sunday. Soldiers at the ceremony taking place on the square.

We had lunch on one of the second story balconies in the Plaza. Coffee and chicken again. It is hot and sunny here again to-day. A bit of mist in the distance and cannot see the mountains very well. There are three major mountains that can be seen from Arequipa. We sent e-mail and then went back to the hotel for a rest.

Monday April 24th
More sight seeing to-day but mostly just putting in time. The weather is great and the rest is good also. Hope it is this warm when we get back home. Walking along two young people come up to us. They had been on the bus from Tixan to Alausi in Ecuador with us. They had stayed in Alausi overnight and tried to walk the devils nose the next day. They had not been overly impressed. They seemed glad to meet someone familiar. He was from Los Angeles. She was from Greece and they had just met on this trip.

Tuesday April 25th

We are ready to go and I went out on the street and took the last picture on my film so I could put it in the lead bag and it would not have to be exposed to the x-ray at the airport. The street outside the Casa looking toward San Franciso church. The streets are nearly all cobbled like this one. Very rough for the cars. It is 9.30 and we are getting a taxi for the airport. The sky is very blue and it is warm.

Street scene from outside La Casa de Melgar.Dome of San Franciso down the street

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To check out some of my other adventures follow these links.
El Camino de Santiago, Spain
Bicycling in France
A trip to Iquitos, Peru
Trekking in Nepal