Arequipa

Day 147 (November 22, 2018) – Arequipa, Perú

We spent an entire week in Arequipa, but it went by in a blur. We were busy making bookings for our New Zealand trip, which required a lot more pre-planning than most of our stops in South America. To be honest, we spent most of our time in our Airbnb apartment on our computers that week, but we still spent some time exploring the city. Arequipa ended up being my favorite city in Perú. It took a bit of getting used to, but there was a lot to enjoy. It felt very authentic, not overly touristy, and a good city to spend some time in.

At dawn on our bus ride to Arequipa. 

We arrived by overnight bus from Cusco. We splurged on one of the nicer bus companies, Cruz del Sur, but no matter how much money we spent on our overnight bus trips they have never been that much fun. The seats were spacious and we even managed sleep a bit. We didn’t see any scenery until dawn, but we were driving through barren desert. Seemingly out of nowhere, buildings and traffic appeared and we had arrived in Arequipa. We arrived tired and groggy, but a coffee and walk around town woke us up a bit.

The sunsets in Arequipa were amazing. Some of the best we've seen in Peru.

Arequipa doesn’t look particularly impressive. It’s an immense grid of two to three story beige buildings. There are no traffic lights anywhere in town, so all the intersections are a bit chaotic. It’s a nerve-wracking experience to cross any intersection on foot or in a car. There are a few pedestrian-only streets around the main Plaza de Armas, which makes walking around a bit easier, but you still need to walk through traffic to get to them.

Travis' happiest moment in Arequipa was when they put these enormous condiment bottles on our table to use with the hamburgers and fries. His saddest moment was when they took them away to give to another table.

The main Plaza de Armas is very pretty and there were tons of excellent restaurants around it. We finally had cuy (guinea pig) for dinner one night! We saw it all over Perú and Ecuador and I had been wanting to try it. However, I wanted to order it from a high-quality restaurant so I would know what it tasted like when prepared at its best. It ended up being one of our most expensive meals of the trip (a bottle of wine and appetizer added to the bill), but it was a good experience. I thought it tasted like greasy fried chicken. Very rich and heavy, but I would order it again. Travis wasn’t a fan.

At our fancy cuy dinner. We were told it was traditional to eat it with your hands, so we grabbed a piece and went for it. 

Arequipa felt more authentic than other cities we had visited in Peru. It was a living, breathing city filled with Peruvian’s going about their lives. Other cities can feel so touristy that it’s hard to see through the enormous tourist industry to the lives of the average person who actually lives there. Our apartment wasn’t anything special, but it was on a very industrious street lined with a dozen shops all selling solar hot water heaters and a few very inexpensive lunch spots that got packed out with Peruvians over lunch time.

There are lots of beautiful white buildings around Arequipa.

We were in Arequipa over Thanksgiving and we did our best to celebrate. Following with tradition, we made the best Thanksgiving dinner we could manage. We had a one-burner induction stove and only two pots, but we made it work. Turkey was hard to come by so we picked up a rotisserie chicken, made mashed potatoes, and even threw together some stuffing. A bottle of wine and some store-bought dessert made it all come together. I even flew the bird around the kitchen in accord with annual tradition. This is usually done before it’s cooked but we had to make a few exceptions this year.

Flying the bird in an annual Thanksgiving tradition. 

We did our best to celebrate Thanksgiving. 

Arequipa was a great place to lay low for a week and sort out our future travel plans for New Zealand. In fact, we had booked every essential detail of our three-week New Zealand trip by the time we left. It was the most prepared we had ever been on this trip. Arequipa would have been a good place to take another week of Spanish classes, but we just didn’t have enough time. We were flying to Lima to visit for a few days and then off to New Zealand.