The second largest city of Peru, Arequipa is settled in the Andes high plateau, surrounded by three volcanoes: imposing Misti, the Chauchani with its eight craters and the smaller Picchu Picchu. Of the three, Misti is considered one of the most dangerous active volcanoes in the world, as at its feet sleep a population of 800000 inhabitants. Both Chauchani and Picchu Picchu are dormant.
Also known as the White City for the porous, lightweight white stone used in the city center’s buildings, it was declared Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2000. This white stone, called sillar, is a volcanic rock that comes from nearby quarries.
Arequipa is a proud industrial city whose main economic activities are industry, mining and alpaca cattle for meat and fibers. It has a strong identity and sought to gain independence from Peru in two occasions. It even has its own mock passport that can be bought in souvenir shops.
- Day 1:
We arrived to Arequipa on the night bus from Cusco at 8:30 a.m. and took a taxi to our Airbnb near the city’s Plaza de Armas. At 10:00 a.m. we joined a free city tour of the city with a guide that brought its streets to live.
The tour started near the Plaza de Armas and we followed the guide to the first stop, the University of San Agustin’s college of arts located inside an ancient Spanish mansion. There we could appreciate the Andalusian patios with their geraniums plus the Arequipa earthquake buttresses and thick walls that have earned this city its Cultural Heritage title. Inside the university, there was a free art exhibition created by its own students.
From the university we walked to the former mansion of the Tristan y Pagos family, now owned by Spanish bank BBVA. According to our guide, many of these former Spanish mansions are owned by banks because they are the only ones with enough money to maintain and repair the mansions in case of earthquakes.
Our next stop was in the artisans market, where we tasted the famous queso helado; milk, coconut and cinnamon ice-cream that looks like cheese; hence its name. We also tasted coffee done from local beans. In the market there were other crafted products such as textiles, ceramics, Nativities, jewelry, etc.
Our guide led us to the neighborhood of San Lazaro, the former settlement of the indigenous people before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. The conquistadors rejected this area for their main square due to the odd star-like shape of its streets and the many mosquitoes buzzing around. Our guide explained that the former inhabitants lived on a matriarchal community where everyone shared their food and efforts. It was later rebuilt using the white stone used in the Spanish mansions and that became a symbol of prestige.
Then we crossed a main road to go to Mundo Alpaca mini zoo and exhibition building, where this company has live exhibits of traditional textile methods, an exhibit of older machines from various countries such as Italy or Germany, used to industrialize the process and some alpacas that can be petted.
We ended the tour back in the Plaza de Armas, on a bar that had a nice lookout of the cathedral with the Misti volcano on the background.
After lunch, we went to the Museo Andino, with exhibit rooms dedicated to objects found in ritual sacrifice burials predating the Inca period to the Inca period found in the surrounding volcanoes. The highlight exhibition, the frozen mummy of a twelve year old Inca priestess named Juanita.
We ended the day enjoying a live concert of carols provided by music bands from local secondary schools.
- Day 2:
First we went to Yanahuara, a neighbourhood of Arequipa that also has sillar buildings and boats of one of the most scenic viewpoints of the city, from where the three volcanoes can be seen.
We crossed the river back to Arequipa’s city center and went to one of the most recommended places to visit: the Convent of Santa Catalina, a veritable citadel within the city.
Founded in 1570 with help from Viceroy Francisco Toledo and wealthy widow Doña Maria de Guzman, who donated her belongings, the convent of Santa Catalina belongs to the order of Saint Catherine of Siena and is still a working convent for nuns.
The convent was built using the famous white sillar stone over a period of more than two centuries as the convent was rebuilt in 1582 when an earthquake almost destroyed the building and constantly expanded by the nuns whenever they needed more space. There is even a new convent, closed to the public, where the nuns reside nowadays.
Open to the public are the old cells with their Andalusian patios with displays of possessions of the nuns that lived there in the past. Also the streets that connect the different parts of the convent, the old laundry, the old kitchen (and smaller kitchens found in some cells) and the choirs, plus a viewpoint near the church.
The convent is so vast that it took us two hours to visit it all. I really recommend its visit to anyone coming to Arequipa. It’s narrow red, blue and white streets decorated with geraniums, its quirky cells, its superb Zocodover square cannot be missed.
We had lunch after the visit and then went to see one more Spanish mansion houses from the colonial period: the Moral mansion. A 17th century mansion, it contains paintings, furniture and maps that belonged to the Spanish family that lived there for many years. It is the oldest mansion in Arequipa and clear example of Arequipa architecture.
We just strolled around the city center for the rest of the day. Dinned early and went to bed early as we had to wake up very early the next day for the Colca Canyon tour.
- Last Day:
Our bus towards Puno was leaving at 2:00 p.m. from the bus terminal, so we went to Tourism information to look for ideas for the morning. They recommended to visit the Spanish mansion of Bustamante, now owned by the Reserve Bank of Peru. Inside, the bank has a splendid ceramic collection from the Neolithic to the Inca period. It also has an exhibition on all the currencies from Peru, from colonial times to the current Nuevo Sol.
We strolled around Arequipa’s city center until lunch time and then left with our luggage to the bus terminal to wait for the Puno bus.
*Information obtained from the free city tour guide, the Spanish mansions and Santa Catalina convent’s website at https://www.santacatalina.org.pe/index.php/en/
