After Lima, we headed south to the city of Arequipa. Arequipa is in the Andean region of Peru and sits at about 7,660 feet of elevation. Although Arequipa’s main historic downtown area feels pretty small, it is actually the second largest city in Peru and has more than one million people. Part of what drew us to Arequipa was its beautiful setting, as the city is surrounded by three volcanoes that you can see from pretty much anywhere in the city. We spent one month in Arequipa and stayed in an Airbnb above a nice family’s home in an area of the city called Yanahuara (about a 15-20 minute walk from the main downtown).
Enjoying our new alpaca blanket and mediocre internet! 
View of Misti Volcano from the city 
Plaza Yanahuara (10min walk from our Airbnb)
We really liked our neighborhood since it was a nice and quiet residential area that was still near the main downtown. You could also quickly access more rural areas, which was nice for Davy’s running.
Davy’s regular running route 
Arequipa has a really beautiful downtown with cobblestone streets, beautiful churches, and many old buildings made primarily of “sillar” (volcanic rock). It was very nice to walk around the downtown and stop at some of the rooftop bars/cafe to enjoy the views.
View of the Basilica Cathedral on the main square 
One of our favorite rooftop spots 
The bridge that led to downtown 
On our first weekend we tried unsuccessfully to make friends after Shari read a riveting New York Times article about how to make friends when traveling alone. As per the article’s recommendation, we signed up for an Airbnb experience. The best/cheapest option we could find was a rooftop pisco sour making class (even though we didn’t really care about making pisco sours). Unfortunately when we arrived we were informed that we were the only ones who signed up, so we just sat awkwardly as the bartender taught us how to make pisco sours that we had already learned how to make.
Hanging out with all our friends!
The next day we decided to go on a free walking tour (New York Times advice #2). There were a ton of people who came on the walking tour, so we decided to join a group in Spanish so that we could have a smaller tour. Unfortunately this meant that our tour group was primarily very unfriendly French people, so our second attempt at making friends failed as well. Fortunately the walking tour was still interesting, and we accepted our fate of not having friends.
Iglesia de la Compania 
The main plaza 
This llama was the best friend we made on the walking tour
One of our favorite sites in Arequipa was the Santa Catalina monastery, which is really more of a city within the city than just a monastery. The monastery was founded in 1580 but still has some nuns living there today (at one point it housed 450 nuns). We did a tour of the grounds, which included seeing chapels, courtyards, the homes of the nuns, and all the different streets they have within the monastery. It was quite beautiful and interesting, and we were surprised and impressed by how large it was.
Washing stations 
An old monastery kitchen 
One of the “streets” in the monastery 
One of many beautiful courtyards
During our second weekend Davy decided to climb Misti, the 19,000 foot volcano that can be seen from all of Arequipa. The trip only took two days (crazy) and started with a jeep ride from Arequipa (at 7,660 feet of elevation) to the start of the hike at 11,000 feet. The group then walked with heavy packs to base camp, which was at 15,000 feet. Everyone (including Davy) was unsurprisingly feeling pretty bad at 15,000 feet and went to bed at 6:30pm after attempting to eat dinner.
First day of hiking 
Camping site
The following day (if you can even call it that), everyone who was going to attempt the hike to the summit (which was only about half of the initial group) woke up at 12:30am to start the hike. One girl turned around pretty quickly, but Davy and three others eventually made it to the top at around 8am. The hike was obviously quite challenging, but the second day was almost easier since you could leave your heavy pack at base camp. The way down was fortunately much easier since you could slide down the volcanic rocks.
Shadow of Misti 
Sliding down the volcano 
Heroic guide carrying a hiker’s backpack on top of his own 
Feeling great at 19,000 feet 
Victory!
Shari opted not to do the hike and instead did a very extreme chocolate making class in town.
Making tasty chocolates 
Equally hard core
On our last weekend we were surprised to find that a DJ we like was playing in Arequipa, so we decided to buy tickets and check it out. Although we initially thought it may be a fake event, we ended up having a lot of fun. We also went to a very weird dinner (Arequipa’s food was not our favorite), which included eating food off of bricks.
Wondering why this brick isn’t a plate 
We also did a weekend trip to nearby Colca Canyon (separate post coming soon), and then it was time to head to Cusco! Although there weren’t as many things to do in Arequipa, it was still a beautiful and enjoyable place to spend a month (and prepare ourselves and our lungs for the even higher altitude in Cusco).
SPICY BONUS PICS
Petunia, our Airbnb host’s sweet kitty 
Not being able to drink the water is fun! 
Sup 
Spicy bonus monastery pic 
Adios Misti
Loving this blog — text and pix! Looking forward to more!
Thanks! Glad you are liking it!
Nice! Looks like some amazing scenery. 19000 ft is no joke. Big ups to the guide with the double backpack.
Regarding the attempt to meet people, in the words of the immortal Captain Jean Luc Picard, “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”
Yeah the guide was a beast. He only brought 1 liter of water for the whole thing. Beforehand he chugged this juice he called the “Juice of Seven Grains” and said that was enough for him.
Turns out Shari was just the only person in another Airbnb experience: Painting Alebrijes. We aren’t giving up!!
Wow – the comment part is working now. The part about not making friends was funny. I remember the tale of the climb but the rest of this delightful post I either never read or forgot. What fun!