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Arequipa: Day 1

Flying to Arequipa was pretty smooth - getting to the Lima airport in rush hour traffic took about an hour from Miraflores, and was not cheap by Uber (around 100 soles for an Uber XL). I'd definitely recommend arranging a hotel shuttle, which was only 35 soles. The Jorge Chavez airport was pretty busy - tons of people flying domestic, so every area of the airport had lines: baggage drop, security, boarding. Luckily, there are lots of staff available to help the lines move relatively quickly - but I can see why they recommend arriving 2 hours early. 

Once we landed in Arequipa, we discovered there is only one baggage carousel in the airport, so finding your bags is pretty easy! From there, there is a strict bag check, to ensure you are not bringing any fruits or vegetables into Arequipa - it wasn't a typical customs check because no one checked our passports or asked any questions, so it's only to prevent agricultural contamination. The hotel was a 20-minute drive through sometimes winding streets that took us up and down in elevation - it seems drivers in both Lima and Arequipa are used to driving fast in narrow spaces. I don't think I would have been comfortable with the drive if I hadn't taken altitude pills.

For the rest of the day, we slowly explored the historic center, to help us adjust to the increased elevation (7660 feet above sea level). Compared to Lima, Arequipa feels like a much older city, with a lot of the historical structures preserved and still in use today, maintained to retain the structural integrity and repurposed to serve the tourism industry. The buildings are made from white volcanic rock, which gives the city its nickname "White City". We had a filling lunch at a restaurant within a preserved 18th century cloister (Claustros de La Compañía) - sampling different local dishes like Malaya Dorada (very tender beef) and Adobo (pork stew), and marveled at the beautiful stone architecture while wandering around the cloister. From there, we saw the Plaza de Armas, spotted a giant condor flying around the Basilica, and popped in and out of various stores. I found out that both Lima and Arequipa have a "Plaza de Armas" because during Spanish colonial times, these were the main squares of each city, literally translated as "weapons square" - central gathering places for military purposes and public life.

We ended up at the Arequipa branch of Mundo Alpaca (the alpaca museum) which was many times bigger than the one in Lima, in addition to having real alpacas and workers demonstrating the different parts of the process to make alpaca products. It also had gorgeous displays of beautiful art and preserved textiles from pre-Columbian southern Peru - worth visiting if you like history and culture! Of course, the store had many items for sale, and the selection was arguably better than what we saw in Lima - maybe because Arequipa has fewer visitors?

After all the walking, we grabbed a light snack at a coffee shop before calling it a night. Tomorrow will be a pre-dawn wake-up in order to visit Colca Canyon, which will be a whopping 12,000 feet above sea level!

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