Colonnades in the Plaze de Armas, Arequipa, Peru
Arequipa is where I was born. A city located in Southern Peru, with a population of almost a million people. Its cathedral and many of its buildings are built from Sillar, the local volcanic rock. This is why Arequipa is known as Cuidad Blanca – the White City.
It’s very easy to get to by plane or by road. You can fly from Lima to Arequipa in 1 hour 35 minutes. LAN Peru offers seven to eight flights a day. There are also many bus companies that travel from Lima to Arequipa which takes about 16 hours, usually overnight. Travelling bus bus is quite comfortable and cheap too. Cruz del Sur and Orltursa have a safe and confortable service. Read: Bus Travel in Peru >>
The climate is dry and sunny almost all year long with the exception of the summer months, from January to March that is the rainy season, but after the rain there is plenty of sunshine. The temperatures are very mild, generally between 10 and 25 C. In the winter it can be a bit chilly in the mornings.
Arequipa is called the White City because of the traditional buildings made with volcanic rock, the architecture is very interesting. In the historical centre thare are many buildings of the colonial era all made in volcanic rock and they are a mixture of European and native building techniques.
The Monastery of Santa Catalina it’s very interesting and peaceful, it was built in in 1580 and it has an area of 20 000 square meters. It is like a walled village with its own streets where once women who became Nuns entered and remained inside – but life was not so bad, only the wealthiest women were accepted and they had a very comfortable life with servants looking after them. For the visitor today, it is a fascinating place with many attractive features to photograph.
Outside Arequipa, but still in the Arequipa region the main tourist attraction is the Colca Canyon, one of the deepest in the world, it takes 4 hours by car and there are many travel agencies that arrange mini tours according what the tourist want, some people want to do some trekking and another people just want to admire the canyon with the condors flying around.
There is another canyon called Cotahuasi that some people say is the deepest in the world , it’s a long way from Arequipa City but the views are very interesting for the most adventurous people.
Night life in Arequipa is very lively there are lost of bars and night clubs not far from the mainsquare, many tourists go there.
Links:
http://www.santacatalina.org.pe/
Tags: Arequipa, Colca Canyon, Culture, Tourism, Transport