Arequipa

After a long night bus I finally arrived in Arequipa in southern Peru, my favourite Latin American city since Mexico City. Arequipa is famous for its grand colonial architecture made from white volcanic rock, which when seen in the sun against the backdrop of snow capped volcanes was really beautiful. Despite the frequent earthquakes in the region, one of which happened a few weeks earlier that I had felt 400km away in Lima, there are still a lot of interesting historical buildings to be seen. Ok, many of the buildings have been rebuilt multiple times but they are still beautiful!

The entire historical centre of Arequipa is a UNESCO world heritage site. The Plaza de Armas (main square) by the Arequipa Cathedral is a beautiful spot to sit amongst the locals as the sun is setting and enjoy a queso helado, or "cheese ice cream". Despite its name queso helado doesnt actually have any cheese in it, it's made from milk, egg yolks, sugar, coconut, cinnamon and cloves. It is sold on every street corner from traditional wooden vats and it's very delicious! Some more of the excellent Peruvian cuisine that I tried was Caldo de Gallina, or hen soup, which was perfect for the cold nights at high altitude. Lomo saltado is another peruvian favourite, which is basically stirfried beef with onions, peppers, and tomatoes, served with chips and rice. Peru is the only country other than Wales where I've seen chips and rice served together so I had to try it! I guess that as Peru is the home of the potato they want to put it in everything and I can't really blame them.

One of the most famous sites to visit in Arequipa is the Monastery of Santa Catalina. The huge site dates back to the 16th century and was a working monastery that housed about 300 isolated nuns until 1970. It was completely shrouded in mystery until it opened it's doors to the public, surrounded by a 4 meter high wall that no one other than the nuns were allowed to pass. It was an amazing site, a huge city within a city complete with picturesque alleyways and courtyards, lined with living quarters, kitchens, study areas, and churches.

On my last evening in Arequipa there was a huge party to celebrate the 400 and something anniversary of the founding of the city! I didn't realise that this was happening until I heard the fireworks booming away, so I had to go and see what was happening. I got to the Plaza de Armas just in time to see a celebratory parade, starting with some 10 foot tall skeletons! As they teetered past many other processions filed past in various outifts, some traditional and some just fun, along with scenes on trailers and lots of music. There were also street parties going on, long tables lining the street serving drinks and grilled meat. I felt lucky to catch this celebration before I had to move on.もっと詳しく