On our third day in Peru, we had breakfast at our hotel in Lima before heading to the airport to catch our flight to Arequipa. Breakfast was pretty ordinary, just an omelet, potatoes, a roll, and some more salchichas.
Salchichas, omelet, roll, butter, potatoes
The flight from Lima to Arequipa left at 10:20 and was only about an hour and 20 minutes. As soon as we got off the plane we could see the impressive volcanoes that border the city. After we were dropped off at our hotel, we had some time to kill before our city tour in the afternoon so we went out to get some lunch. The guide that brought us to our hotel made a few restaurant suggestions, as well as some recommendations on what to eat. We ended up at Chi Cha, which unfortunately turned out to be a chain restaurant, but the food was decent.
Our city tour started at the Santa Catalina convent, which is like a city built within the city. It housed cloistered nuns was closed to the public for 400 years, until 1970. The nuns that used to live there were mostly of wealthy Spanish descent, and they had servants and slaves. Their wealth was quite obvious because some of their rooms and furnishings are on display. There are cloistered nuns who live there now, but their current setup is very different. The walls inside the convent are really colorful, with bright oranges and blues everywhere. The streets are cobble stone and are named after Spanish cities. It really was an interesting place to visit.
Bright orange walls
Bright blue walls
Spanish style streets
Restored kitchen
Spanish style courtyard
Bright blue columns
After leaving the convent, we drove to the outskirts of the city to get a better view of the volcanoes and the beautifully lush, green valleys. The volcanoes are called Chachani, Pichu Pichu, and Misti.
View of the valley
Misti volcano in the background
Next we drove to the Yuanahara district of the city, which is famous for its buildings made from white volcanic rock (called sillar). There was a pretty church with intricate carvings in the front.
San Juan Bautista Church
We made our way back to the center of Arequipa and went to visit another church with beautiful carvings in the front, La Compania. The church is also made from white volcanic rock, and our guide pointed out images with hidden meanings woven throughout the carvings.
La Compania Church
Next we walked over to the main square in Arequipa, the Plaza de Armas. There are palm trees all around and a huge fountain in the middle, plus tons of pigeons everywhere. There were lots of people just hanging out in the square, and the mood was very festive.
Plaza de Armas
Arches all around the square that reminded me of Spain
The last stop on our city tour was the main cathedral. It’s an enormous structure with identical towers on each end. There was a gate surrounding the cathedral that had beautiful wrought iron work.
Cathedral facade
Intricate iron gate in the front
Inside the cathedral is a statue of the devil “in jail,” trapped underneath a pulpit. It is kind of a freaky looking statue, and I think it’s very rare to see any images of the devil in a Catholic church.
The devil in jail
After our city tour ended, we walked around the plaza for a while then went back to our hotel for a drink before dinner. Our hotel was quite beautiful, in a completely restored stone building. It looks like an old castle but the bartender showed us pictures of what it looked like before the restoration, and it really was quite a mess. The details they put into the construction are really pretty amazing.
The bar at our hotel that looked like a room in a medieval castle
We ended our night in Arequipa with an adventurous dinner at a restaurant called Wayrana that involved crayfish and cuy. It was our first taste of guinea pig on our trip, but not the last. More on that later!