Had a 6:30 AM wake up call today, went down for a buffet breakfast which was fair, then met Dania at 8. She walked us over to the airport to get our boarding passes, gave us a few tips about Cusco and a map for later in the trip, then said adios. Probably didn't need this much hand holding. Security is different for Peru local flights. Here you can carry liquids on board but have to take off all metal objects including watches. Our flight to Arequipa left on time at 9:20. It is different to get instructions in Spanish first then English. The safety video was only in Spanish. We notice that when we use our limited Spanish, the effort is appreciated wherever we are. On this 1 hour + flight they served a drink and gave us a snack pack. Tried Inka Cola which is made here. Tasted like Double Bubble Gum. This food offering was a heck a lot more than on our 5 hour flight from Vegas. I think we will try to fly with the overseas airline when leaving the US in the future. They really seem to treat you better from our past experience. The incoming flight to Arequipa, elevation about 7600', was really pretty since we flew by several snow capped volcanos. Arrived a few minutes early, retrieved our luggage and met the guide we will have for the next 3 days - Victor-Huago.
Before we went to the hotel we toured some of the town's various districts, stopped at some great view points to see Misti Volcanco and the other volcano's of the area
. Our guide told us that mining is the number one industry of the area followed by agriculture. He showed us some of the local fruit and vegetables and reviewed what was good and bad to eat. Next stop was a local square bordered by an ancient church built from Sillar, a white volcanic stone quarried locally, and where Arequipa gets its nickname "the white city." Of course it is not so white anymore due to the dirt and grime of the ages. If polished though it would definitely be white. The stone carvings on the outside of the church were very impressive. It was the first of many churches we saw today all with beautiful carvings, paintings, and metal works.
We went to our hotel, Casa Arequipa, which is in a residential area. Had lunch at Tipiha, a short walk from the hotel. The menu was in Spanish and the waiters didn't speak much English so we ordered pollo de Hawaiana which was basically pineapple chicken with orange juice sauce. Glad we split since it was huge
. It went well with Peruvian beer. After lunch we went into town to visit the Monisterio D Santa Catalina which is a city within a city. It was founded in 1579 and we toured the old section with a special guide. Then we went to the Andean Sanctuary Museum to see Juanita the famous ice mummy discovered on the Ampato Volcano in 1995. We saw a short video about the discovery of Juanita and other children that had been sacrificed to the gods then we toured the museum to see the artifacts discovered at the site and finally the 12 to 14 year old Juanita who is kept in a frozen maintained environment. That was the end of our Arequipa tour. At 7:30 we went to Sanbambastas for dinner. It was within walking distance from the hotel which was good since we were exhausted. We had what was equivalent to a tapas dinner. The deserts were to die for. We noticed on our walks around the neighborhood that a lot of the homes are protected by electrified fences which brought back memories of South Africa. We crashed at 9:30.
A pleasant day in Arequipa
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Arequipa, Peru
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