About Arequipa
Arequipa's famous white cathedral
Arequipa is a city located in the south of Peru, founded in 1540. It is the second largest city in Peru with a population of almost a million people and is a centre of commerce and industry.
The weather is very nice most of the year but the rainy season starts at the end of December until March, but it’s not a problem, it is always sunny after. If you are coming from a place where the air is very humid you will feel the difference in your skin and sometimes you will find a bit difficult to breathe because of the altitude (2300 m), but don’t worry its nothing serious, just use lots of moisturiser 
El Misti - Arequipa's volcano watches over the city
Arequipa is surrounded by three volcanoes; Misti (5,822 metres/19,101 ft), Chachani (6,075 m/19,931 ft) and Pichu Pichu (5,669 m/18,599 ft). Misti has been quiet since 1874. They used to look very interesting with snow in the cold season but now with global warming they don’t have snow at all but they look very nice anyway.
Yanahuara a district of Arequipa with it's white arches looking over the city.
Arequipa has lots of great places to go and the architecture is very interesting There are many buildings made from local volcanic rock called “sillar”. This type of rock has a distinctive white colour – that’s why Arequipa is called the ‘White City’.
The older buildings are mainly Spanish style, as they were buit in colonial times. There are very interesting churches, if you are into churches, and lovely houses to visit
These days, one of the many attraction of Arequipa as a region is the Colca Canyon. There are daily tours to go there, it takes 4 hours to get there in a minibus from Arequipa, you just go to a travel agency and they arrange everything for you or you can go by yourself, which is much cheaper but I wouldn’t recommend it if your Spanish is no good.
Satellite view of Arequipa. You can zoom in to see more detail.
If you want to try exotic flavours, Arequipa has a good selection of restaurants, the traditional ones are called “picanterias”, picante=spicy, traditional Arequipan food is very spicy. There are also many vegetarian places around the main square, they are cheap, most of them offer “menu”, menu is a three course meal at about midday. People from Arequipa take their lunch very seriously, a sandwich is not an option
I was born in Arequia and everytime I go there by bus I feel at home when I can see Misti.
