Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
We have spent 3 days in Arequipa and its by far my favourite place in Peru so far. We are in a very chilled out hostel where they appear to serve breakfast in the always sunny garden at whatever time you fancy getting up and then if you fancy some more sun you can relax on either of their sun terraces with a view of the volcanoes in the background.
It´s a short walk to the obligatory Plaza del Armas which has palm trees to provide shelter for all the little benches that are permenantly full, Arequipa seems to be a popular spot for Peruvians to take holidays as well as us Gringos. The first time we walked through, we were stopped by some small children who wanted their photo taken with us in our traditional English attire. Very bizarre. As with all the towns we´ve seen so far it is a strange mixture of Colonial buildings and the Peruvian equivalents which all seem to have been hit by an earthquake. The square has the cathedral on one side with the volanoes behind and collonades running all the way around with colonial balconies that all seem to be restuarants serving traditional food at inflated prices for the tourists. It is a great view though.
Apart from sunbathing, we have been looking around, there is a beautiful old convent that is more like a little town. It´s very continental with lots of multicoloured walls in the little cells and the larger suites for the daughters of more well off families. We are planning to go and see a mummy found in the mountains this afternoon in this break between the treks we are doing from Arequipa. We are also thinking about getting some alpaca jumpers as it may be hot during the day but as soon as the sun goes down it´s freezing!
Emma
- comments