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Arequipa, Peru for Colca Canyon & a cool city

Arequipa, in Southern Peru, is a city in the Andes near a string of active volcanoes, known as the White City due to its stunning architecture & offers a lot in terms of culture & food.  The things I read & photos I saw urged me to visit but the number 1 thing I wanted to do was to get to Colca Canyon, outside the city.  So on day 1, we spent hours in tour agencies trying to sort through potential trips.  We ruled it out as day tours left at 3am, returned at 5pm & 12 of the 14hrs were spent in a bus driving.  No thanks.  I’d have been quite open to multi-day treks to the area but there wasn’t time for that given our somewhat rushed schedule given Amy turns into a pumpkin & has to head back to the states on the 25th of March & we still had a lot of ground to cover & big sites to see in Peru & Bolivia.  Next time. 

 

So instead, we lazed about relaxing & wandering the city, trying to find lookout points for El Misti, the imposing volcano overlooking the city, & failing as it was cloudy which is the risk you take when visiting in the rainy season.  But I enjoyed the city in & of itself.  It’s very quaint, nice shopping with hippies making my macrame & stone jewelry that I keep buying (takes up no space & adds no weight!) & lovely ponchos as Arequipa is known for its textiles.  And we ran into the women’s march on International Women’s Day & joined in which was simply incredible.  

 

We had a morning flight to Cusco & intended to sleep but the view from the plane was unreal.  While we didn’t visit the Colca Canyon, we flew right over it as the plane tracked the Andes all the way to Cusco.  Saw massive 7000m volcanoes right outside my window.  The view only solidified in my head that I will return & I will get there.  

Arequipa’s main square, behind which you can see the imposing El Misti volcano if the clouds had behaved
Kinda like this. Damn. Oh well. Rainy season.

These 2 were trouble (& fun). While waiting for their buddy to finish making my necklace – earlier in the day I had picked out a stone from Colca Canyon & macrame thread for a hippy necklace – they made me do a couple of shots w them but not before I give blessings to the pachamama, the earth goddess revered by indigenous Andes people. They credit her with all food & drink so before you drink or eat, you must give back. Even when doing shots, I had to flick a little alcohol on the ground first. I loved my necklace but it broke 3 wks later. Perhaps my hippy artist was imbibing a bit too much. I have the stone & necklace, just need to find another macrame hippy to fix it.
Women’s march in Arequipa around the main square on international women’s day. Of course we joined in after I had to document on video. Pretty cool.


Women’s day march videos

https://youtu.be/dqXkiiVbuIs
https://youtu.be/dgwNTk-YetA

Flying over the Andes & Colca Canyon on the way from Arequipa to Cusco. This volcano is active & nearly 7000m. Big boy.

One thought on “Arequipa, Peru for Colca Canyon & a cool city”

  1. You know I love the Women’s March. Did you figure out what they were chanting? I know no Spanish. Also – you keep talking next time. Are you going to travel back up north when you’re done traveling south & redo some of these spots or just on another trip someday? And finally, when is rainy season done or taper off?

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