Arequipa

Last stop in Peru, the white city of Arequipa, so called because they used mainly white volcanic rock to build the town. It's going be nice to be in a town again protected from the dust flying around like when we were visiting the canyon. The arequipa region is very dry, almost like a desert. As we flew in we couldn't see any trees!

The main square is really pretty and quite different to any we've seen in the rest of South America. As this is a colonial town, there are a lot of churches and convents to visit. We visited the main cathedral and it was beautiful, especially the view from the roof! Part of its towers were recently rebuilt after the 2001 earthquake damaged them.

We unexpectedly chose a strange weekend to visit Arequipa, now the mining convention is finished, its election time here, from Saturday morning to Sunday night. Since arriving in Peru we have seen fliers everywhere and even houses fully painted to support a political party or candidate. Literally everywhere, even on the abandoned houses in the middle of nowhere! We could hear more and more megaphones blasting out political views so we knew we were close to the date! What we didn't know was... that the selling alcohol is forbidden on electoral weekends! Arequipa was even dryer than we expected! 😭

Not only were the bars closing early, a lot of the Museums and Churches weren't open either so we took the time to relax a little, enjoy the time we had here by doing very little, eating well and chilling out. We hadn't realised how tired we were after the last few weeks, we feel like we've done a fair bit in Peru so we deserved a rest. It was a good place to rest, until they celebrated the results of the election on Monday morning with firecrackers, at 530. 😏 Genuinely thought there was an earthquake as it was so loud.

It's a shame we didn't get to visit all the museums and cultural sites that the city has to offer, hopefully the results of the election were favourable, despite this, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. The town is very pretty and pleasant to wander around, all the charm of a colonial town with the amenities of a tourist spot without the hawkers and market sellers shouting for your attention. A really great place to finish off a fantastic whistle stop tour around Peru.Read more