Blogs from Arequipa, Arequipa, Peru, South America - page 15

From Ica we took our first overnight bus 12 hours down to Arequipa. The bus companies in Peru don't have the most reliable reputations; Cruz del Sur is supposed to be the most safe, but a bit more expensive than the others. We got the last two tickets on the bus so not only were our seats not next to each other, but they were right near the bathroom! We were booked in the semi-cama class, which basically like a regular bus seat and only partially reclines (cama class reclines almost all the way into a bed). Lesson learned: book tickets early and make sure you are far away from the bathroom. Arequipa is Peru's second largest city. Most people visit to see the Colca Canyon which is the world's second largest canyon (bigger than the ... read more

Ola, We arrived in Arequipa, southern Peru, to a beautiful sunrise. After getting off the bus, we booked our transport to our next destination and the cabbed into the city to our hostel called Hostel Sol de Oro. We had some food and then headed into the old town. Once again, the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site but, unlike Quito, Arequipa deserves its title. Most of the buildings in the old town are at least 300 years old and they are built of sillar, which is a white volcanic rock that glistens in the sunlight. Our first stop in town was the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. It is a huge convent with many beautiful courtyards, buildings and passageways. We were both pleasantly surprised with it and spent almost two and a half hours there! ... read more

Arequipa is a very beautiful city, colonial style. And, the weather is good! Our first night we stayed at "The Point", not recommended if you wanna see something of the city, and not just party. It lies quite a distance from the center. We moved out immediately the next morning and found a cosy place called "Hostal Santa Catalina", and paid only 40 soles for a "matrimonial" with bathroom and tv!! Wow, was this heaven after some of the dorms we've slept in.. They even had a rooftop terrace. Anyways, the guys at the reception are also really eager to help you with booking tours. We've had some bad experiences with some of our agencies, so we wanted to do our own research this time. We decided to do the 3 day Colca Canyon trekking with ... read more

Hallo zusammen Ich bin schon seit fast zwei Wochen in Arequipa (Peru). Es gefaelt mir super. Arequipa ist vom Vulkan Misti (5822m), vom Chachani (6075m) und von weiteren Bergen umgeben. Die Bewohner von Arequipa sagen, als der Mond sich von der Erde getrennt hat, hat er vergessen Arequipa mitzunehmen. Arequipa wird auch die weisse Stadt genannt, da die Gebaeude mit den hellen Vulkansteinen gebaut sind :-)) Ich bin momentan ins suesse Studentenleben eingetaucht, das heisst ich lerne spanisch :-)), puhh ganz schoen anstrengend, habe immer von 09.00 - 13.00 Uhr Schule und dann meistens noch ca. 1-2 Stunden Hausaufgaben :-), manchmal schwirren die Spanischwoertli nur so im Kopf rum .... naechste Woche werde ich auch noch die Schulbank druecken und dann werde ich weiterziehen..... ;-) sodeli hier noch ein paar Foeteli von Arequipa.... ... read more

Arriving after an absolutely freezing bus ride we first went about sorting out a bus for Manuela. This would be the morning that Manuela was parting ways with the group and heading back to Chile. So after sorting out a bus for her to the border town of Tacna we grabbed a cab with our new English mates from the trek and headed for our hostels. We had decided to stay in what they would refer to as a poshtel. Basically a hostel with a bar and wifi. We're not exactly talking hotel standard here but the boys are on a tight budget so went to one of the cheapest places they could find. They got out first as the cabby actually knew where their hostel was. After figuring out that the cabby was bullshitting us ... read more