C & C globetrotting around the world…

We arrived by overnight bus in Arequipa. With a population of nearly one million people, Arequipa is Peru’s second-largest city 1,000 km South of Lima. Built in the 16th century, the city has many colonial-era Spanish buildings built of “sillar”, a pearly white volcanic rock, from which it gets the nickname La Ciudad Blanca (“The White City”). There are many speculations where the name comes from, but it is clear that it is derived from the Quechua language of the Inca. The Incas referred to the area of Arequipa as the “land or place behind the volcanoes”, or other location behind the mountains, or “ariq qipao”. The city lies at the foot of the El Misti volcano. El Misti is currently inactive, but has had strong eruptions in the past. Arequipa has more than 80 volcanoes nearby, most of which can be found in the Valley of the Volcanoes. Because it was built on a very earthquake prone area, the city was completely destroyed by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions during the 17th century. “Sillar” appears to be the prime structural solution to the constant earthquakes.

We walked around the streets and arrived at Plaza de Armas. Here we finally saw why the city is called “The White City”. All the buildings surrounding the beautiful plaza are made of this white stone. The Cathedral is imposing and has the mountains in the backdrop, a wonderful sight. The arcades on 3 sides of the plaza also made for beautiful pictures. From there we visited Iglesia de la Compania which is just around the corner. It was nice and we were able to enter for free. Since today was our 350^th day since we left Montreal, we had a fancy 3-course dinner at “Nina Yaku”. There was a special with a set menu for $15 per person, so we decided to spulrge. We got a Pisco Sour cocktail, then took a quinoa soup and an avocado salad as appetizers, then alpaca steak with grilled veggies and mashed potatoes. With that we got a glass of red wine, a chocolate cake and a creme caramel. Everything was delicious and we had a great evening.

From Arequipa we went to the Colca Canyon and returned for half a day. We had planned on visiting the Santa Catalina Monastery, Peru’s most important religious monument, but they were closing early. We had asked the first time around and they had confirmed the opening hours. When we returned to visit it, the schedule had changed and we would have only had 30 minutes to visit it instead of the usual 2 hours it takes. For $15 per person, we thought that was not worth it. Although it’s supposed to be really nice, we passed. Arequipa is definitely a pretty city in comparison to many other Peruvian cities.