Arequipa

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From Bolivia, it was time to head into Peru. We still had a while before we were due in Cusco for the Inca Trek, so headed to the west coast to visit Arequipa, meant to be one of Peru’s loveliest. After a killer 10 hour bus ride that wound through the mountains and seemed to stop at every single town along the way, we got there late at night, only to be abandoned by a cab driver who had no idea where our hotel was, so we spent about an hour roaming the streets in our backpacks searching for the place.

Dubbed the ‘White City’ due to all the buildings made from light-coloured volcanic stone, there were some absolutely gorgeous colonial buildings and a huge, grand plaza, probably the nicest we’ve seen so far. We did some cultural touristy things and even went to a museum, highly unusual for us! It was the fascinating topic that got us….it contained mummies of young Inca girls recovered from the tops of mountains 6000 metres high (frozen into the ice) . The Incas would make long pilgrimages to these mountain tops and sacrifice these young girls to the mountain gods in the hope of favourable weather and no volcanic activity. Very freaky looking at these small frozen bodies and artefects over 500 years old.

We also visited the Santa Catalina monastery, built in 1580 to house Cloister nuns. Shielded from the outside world, this was like a city within a city and still has nuns living behind these walls. Again, the whole thing is made from volcanic stone and is really pretty.

The city lies in the shadow of the 5800 metre El Misti volcano, a perfect cone shape capped with snow that hovers over you from most places in the city.

The other great highlight of Arequipa was the food and the surprisingly funky restaurant district which was a very welcome change from the bleak Bolivian offerings.

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