The Best of Arequipa, Peru
I love when this happens: You show up at a place not expecting much and end up really, really liking it. Hello Arequipa, Peru’s beautiful “White City.”
Gorgeous colonial architecture, picture-perfect weather, yummy picanterias (little hole in the wall places serving down-home Peruvian food), a hard but beautiful 3-day trek into the world’s second-deepest canyon, and one of our favorite guesthouses ever. We stayed for almost two weeks! Here’s a glimpse of our time in this beautiful corner of Peru.
What to see:
Arequipa has a grand and beautiful Plaza de Armas, surrounded by buildings made of local pearly-white sillar volcanic rocks. Arequipa’s old colonial center is also just a joy to walk around, finding hidden courtyards and fun little shops.
Arequipa also has a fantastic food market, the Mercado San Camilo, that’s worth a visit (or, if you’re us, half a dozen). Quick tip: If you’re only in town for a few days, the free tour offered by the tourist office is very well done and includes a stop at the market.
There are tons of museums and churches to see here, but our two favorites were the Museo Santuarios Andinos, which houses the frozen body of a twelve-year-old girl who was sacrificed by the Incas on top of nearby Ampato volcano, and the Santa Catalina Monastery, a 500-year-old convent that covers an entire city block and was only opened to the public in the 1970s.
We also liked the elaborate mestizo-style La Compañia church and it’s gem-like San Ignacio chapel, which is covered in ornate paintings of jungle birds and flowers — this is where early Christian missionaries were trained before being sent into the Amazonian jungle.
Where to stay:
We absolutely adored our guesthouse, La Casa de Ana. It’s about a 15-minute walk from the Plaza de Armas in the charming suburb of Yanahuara. Ana could not be more warm and welcoming, the rooms are comfy, and the breakfast is delicious. We used her giant kitchen to cook our own dinners, and grilled out on the roof one night with David and Claudia — an awesome Swiss couple who just completed a 2 month cross-country roadtrip of the US. We highly recommend it!
What to eat:
There are lots of bad options in the colonial heart of Arequipa. But going just a five-minute walk away yields some good eats.
On our last day in town, there was even a food festival in Yanahuara! You know we were there.
And if you’re feeling fit and outdoorsy …
You could always hike a canyon. We spent three days trekking into (and back out of!) the Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world, twice as deep as the Grand Canyon at its deepest. We figured it was good training for the Inca Trail. Day 1 started with a 3:30 am pick-up (!!). It’s a six-hour drive out to the canyon, including a stop for breakfast and a half hour or so searching for Andean condors at a lookout. At around 10:00 am, we started the steep descent. Hiking down may seem easy, but it is torture on your knees. We did see some condors on the way down, though!
We stayed the night at San Juan de Chucho, one of the many tiny villages that dot the bottom of the canyon. We stayed with a mother and her two kids — Benjamin, who had to hike across the canyon for school and did his homework by candlelight (no electricity out here!), and Maite, a sweet little girl who needed a good bath. It’s mind blowing to think about living in this remote place, a place that requires you either grow what you need or haul it in by mule.
Day 2 was a fairly easy morning’s hike through the canyon to Sangalle, the lush “oasis” at the bottom of the canyon. A nice dip in the pool here was perfect after two days of hiking!
Day 3: The climb. We woke up before dawn, lit our headlamps, and I told Jordan, “Oh sure, I wake up every morning at 5 a.m. and say, ‘I feel like hiking a canyon.'” And hike a canyon we did. Straight up for 1,100 meters (about 3,600 feet)! The canyon was beautiful that early in the morning, though, and best of all, it was still cool. The last of our group finished about 3.5 hours later and then, hungry and triumphant, we ate the most well-deserved breakfast of our lives!
A lot of tourists give Arequipa short shrift, passing through on the Gringo Trail for just a few days. If you have the time, however, it’s a great place to linger and explore!
