Arequipa is just pretty. In this lovely city of Southern Peru with the distant icy peaks of Chachani Mountain and Misti Volcano constantly watching, I found the best ceviche and welcoming backpackers. Most use this place as a launching point to visit world-class canyons.

 

 

Getting there: connections through Arequipa are easy. The bus terminal is full of different companies with destinations all over Peru at a variety of times, for the same prices more or less.

I had booked with Civa online from Lima to Arequipa before I left the States, 16 grueling hours that was actually closer to 18, $19. The seats were plenty roomy and opening the windows for the breeze was felt nicer than AC.

The craziest thing was passing through the massive sand dunes along the coast; I had never seen anything like it. Some of the desert beaches had small towns and every establishment, from small houses to mansions, was pure white.

 

Day 3

 

For a cheap, local breakfast, Rob (a friend from school who happened to be on the same flights as me) and I exited the bus terminal and turned right, heading uphill for five minutes until we found the best bowl of ceviche in the world. Just like I was told, it was served with soft sweet potatoes. By it, I mean a heaping of fish, yes raw fish, and onions, doused in lime juice, mixed with corn, garnished with seaweed.

My digestive system didn’t mind this for breakfast at all. To make things better, we also found pan-fried alpaca with choclo and potatoes.

Enough about food. Rob left for Cabanaconde in Colca Canyon, the second deepest in the world. I booked a night bus for Cotahuasi, the deepest in the world, which will effectively send me off the gringo map.

With all my belongings on me for the rest of the day, I succeeded in becoming a hobo.

Across the highway from the terminal is the stop for combis, or minivans. 20 minutes and $.25 later, I went up a staircase and headed uphill for a few blocks before entering Plaza de Armas, or the central square of town.

It’s a beauty because of all the green against the white colonial buildings that Arequipa is known for.

I was just in time for the Free Tour Downtown Arequipa, a project put on by the local university. Tours meet daily at 10am and 3pm in the Chaqchao Chocolate Factory on Santa Catalina Street, and go for 2.5 hours.

I was taken through several churches and neighborhoods. Our guide noted in the Incan times, a prostitute cost three cacao beans for the night and if you liked her so much you had to have her forever, a marriage could be arranged for 30 beans.

At an alpaca dwelling where different species were kept, we were offered hands-on experience on how each species produces a different type of fabric. The native Vicuña camelid makes the softest and the sweaters can be found in Peru for $1000, which is supposedly cheap.

In the chocolate factory we sampled something organic and delicious, but I was indifferent to it because similar shops can be found in Cusco and all over the rest of Latin America. This one does offer a chocolate-making class for 60 soles ($18) where you end with making your own bar and it sounds so cheesy I want to gag, but I also only know about it because the backpackers I befriended were signed up for it.

The tour ends in a restaurant with Pisco Sour samples, a yummy slushie of Pisco liquor, egg white, lemon juice, and cinnamon. The toast, “arriba, abajo, al centro, al dentro,” was the same thing that my Miami roommates always did.

Basically in those hours I learned more about Peru than I did the entire eight days of my visit in March, without dropping a dime, so do not skip this tour.

Do wear light long pants or bugspray because I was getting eaten alive.

Other things to check out include the giant cathedral and raging pigeon scene in Armas. For dinner, I had more ceviche at Mercado San Camillo, which offers tons of Peruvian dishes as well as produce. Perhaps more backpackers would be interested in touring the famous Santa Catalina Monastery if it weren’t $12 to enter.

A girl with my same backpack had walked by. A second look and I’m screaming my best friend’s name over and over until we were trying to not get run over by cars as we ran to hug each other. I wasn’t supposed to run into her, but she had been sick and had to cut her Colca adventures short.

Katie and I frolicked with pigeons landing on our arms, shoulders, and even my head. Abbey was backpacking with her, and the three of us caught up.

Everything I’ve just written is cool and all, but let’s be honest, people come to Arequipa to go to Colca Canyon. But, as one Australian had best put it, why go to the second deepest canyon in the world when you could go to the first?

Everyone I asked didn’t know anything about Cotahuasi, so my intuition was screaming at me to go see it for myself. It’s just my rule. I got a sweet map from iPeru in Armas that was chock full of outdoor activities. I didn’t see what was stopping me from making it a DIY excursion, and because my busses are overnights which saves lodging and there’s no park ticket for $20, it’ll likely be a cheaper excursion period.

I hugged Katie and Abbey goodbye and boarded my bus into the unknown.