I have to start by saying I think Arequipa is maybe one of my favourite non-seaside towns I’ve visited so far in Peru. But this could all change when I get to Cusco which I’ve heard is fab! I stayed for 3 nights in total, although 1 of those nights was spent in Chivay near the Colca Canyon. I was really lucky as the weather was great, near to 25 degrees during the day but standard in Peru is at night it feels like minus 10 degrees! I am constantly carrying around layers with me!
The main square in Arequipa is one of the prettiest I’ve seen in Peru and for once you can walk through and not feel like you’re going to get pickpocketed!
After the nightbus we grabbed some brunch at the local market and went to visit the lamas and alpacas before heading to the Santa Catalina Monastery. It was a very colourful place, with red and blue walls throughout and cute little cobbled streets. An Instagramers heaven!
In the afternoon before dinner we visited a rooftop bar to watch sun go down over Arequipa. No matter where I travel I always manage to find myself a good rooftop bar! For dinner we all went to a steak restaurant, the first time I tried alpaca! It tasted very similar to beef.
The next day was an early start as we were going to head to the Colca Canyon. It took approximately 4 hours in total (with stops) along a very windy road to get to the town of Chivay - this is where we’d spend the night before visiting the Colca Canyon early the next day. Chivay was a small town with little there so a group of us headed out of town to try out the local hot springs which were hidden away at the bottom of the mountain range. We spent approximately an hour there before we were all too wrinkled and needed to get out! For dinner we went to a local restaurant in Chivay where I had alpaca pasta for dinner! There was some local dancing for entertainment with some amazing traditional outfits!
The next day was an early start as we made our accent to the Colca Canyon - they say it’s the Grand Canyon of Peru, but I’ve been to the Grand Canyon and if I’m honest it doesn’t come close at all. It was still a beautiful place and we even managed to see baby lamas en route!
After getting back to Arequipa we went on a night out to celebrate someone’s birthday. Peruvian wine is absolutely not what I wanted to be pre-drinking on (terrible recommendation from the man in the supermarket!) Luckily we had a had a full day to cure our hangovers before the nearly 12 hour night bus to Cusco!
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